I've never flown on Southwest before and hubby and I are flying to Vegas from Albany, NY with them the end of this month. I know they're "no-frills", so am not expecting food! What I'm unclear about is their boarding procedures and lack of assigned seating. Our tickets are not the paperless kind (we booked through Southwest Vacations and actually have paper tickets!), so I gather I can not check-in 24 hours in advance on line. Should I actually go to the airport the day before our flight to check in and get one of the A, B, or C boarding passes? I was told, by a Southwest employee, that if we wait until the day of our flight to check in, chances are good that we won't wind up sitting together, the lines will be incredibly long, etc. etc.! Could someone please explain all this to me? Many thanks!

My apologies - I somehow posted before completeing my question - hence two similar entires!

I fly Southwest all the time. When you check in on-line you put in your confirmation number. Both paper tickets and Etickets should have a confirmation number. Check your papers to see if you have a confirmation number. I try to check-in the first hour available and I always get A. It is a pain to have to stand in line but the fares are worth it. I also like being able to choose my seat after checking out the other passengers boarding. If I have a long flight, I always take food since peanuts and a drink won't last long. Have a great trip!

You can check in on line! You can print your boarding pass or reprint at the airport if you forget it, etc..

You do get little snacks on Southwest that is more than you get on AA which is NOTHING!

YOu need to stand in line at the airport under the A,B orC sign whichever you get.

It is not a bad experience - I like SW - they have always been on time and they are very courteous!!

Southwest has recently changed their boarding procedure...you should check out their website. There was a demonstration video of the new policy on the website.

Now, when you check in, you get A or B followed by a number. My DD came home in late Dec. for winter break and said they boarded by groups of 30 like A1-30, A31-60 etc. So, there seems to be less of the need to stand and wait to snag a decent seat. It is wothwhile to check in online as close to 24 hours before the flight to get an A pass. I think they've eliminated the C boarding passes.

I don't see why having a paper ticket will not allow you to check in online. There should be a confirmation # on the ticket, it's usually a combination of 6 numbers and letters, that you can use to check in online.

Based on our experience, you are going to like Southwest - a lot.

Do the online check in and print your boarding pass from home. Take it, and your photo ID, to the airport. The key part of the boarding pass is the bar code which they scan when you board the plane. Do the check in as early as you can. Upon your return, if you are at a hotel ask one of the clerks to do it for you. They're used to performing this service. We've even printed out boarding passes at libraries. We've never had paper tickets but I think that the boarding pass will be the key document.

Southwest isn't as bare-bones as they are perceived to be. We've enjoyed great service. For a long flight, we buy a sandwich and some water at the airport.

I love Southwest and they are my preferred carrier to fly anywhere now. I actually prefer not to have an assigned seat and be stuck somewhere on the plane or next to someone I don't want to sit by. And their seats (all planes are Boeing 737s) are comfortable. On a recent trip to Europe, I flew the first leg myself on Southwest and my Southwest seat was roomier and more comfortable than my AA seat flying overseas!

What makes Southwest work for me is that they treat their customers as if they care about them! What a concept! I'm sick to death of being treated like crap by the other "major" airlines and am only going to fly them now as a last resort.

Southwest's flight attendants are friendly and seem not to hate their jobs unlike FAs on the "major" airlines. They are fast and efficient. No, no food on board, but you do get snacks and since everyone else brings their own food on board you don't have to feel self-conscious about eating it.

Here's an interesting note about Southwest: you can change your tickets for no change fee!!! Try that on any other airline. True, you do pay the difference in fare if it has gone up since you first booked the ticket (so if you originally paid $99 and when making the change the new fare shows as $109, you'd pay the extra $10). But the upside is, if the fare goes down on Southwest, you can also just re-book it for the same times/days and get a voucher for the difference, to use on a future flight! My parents are flying to Florida this month for a cruise, and their SW fares went down by $50 each and we got a $112 voucher back to use later.

One potential "gotcha" with Southwest: if you forget to check in ahead of time, you might wind up in the "C" group and board last. Then you might not get great seats, especially if you are traveling with other people (you might get split up). You can checkin for your flight up to 24 hours before departure time and it's best to do it ASAP once you are allowed to check in, so you can get in the A or B group and get decent seats.

I love Southwest! Very efficient airline and their flight attendants are so nice and friendly.

Last month I got to try out the new boarding procedure which involves a letter (A,B,C) and number (both are assigned when you check-in) which indicates where in line you'll stand. At the gate, there are numbered sign posts with arrows that indicate where passengers are to stand when their letter is called. Reading about it I was wary but in practice liked the new system very much.

The other change they made is families with small children now board after Group A.

Last year my husband and I flew Southwest from Midway in Chicago to Vegas for the first and probably last time. The boarding felt like a cattle call. When we entered the aircraft looking for seats together, there was a man saving the two remaining seats in his row "for his dad" he said. Several passengers objected to this because you're not supposed to save seats for people not there yet, but the flight attendants who were nearby pretended like they didn't notice and they did nothing. When "dad" finally showed up to claim his seat with a buddy, they were both hale and hearty, not disabled or anything like that. I felt like I was in junior high again with people cutting in line all over the place. Won't take Southwest again.

madgirl, if you think the flight attendants on other airlines will treat you better than the FAs on Southwest, by all means, keep flying them. I for one am tired of feeling like a burden to jaded FAs on the "major" airlines who act like they can't wait to retire and that my very presence on their plane is some kind of inconvenience.

What would you have done on, say, American Airlines if someone was sitting in your assigned seats and the person said he was saving them? Perhaps you would have had to flag down a flight attendant? You should have done the same thing on Southwest, saying you wanted to find two seats together and that obviously these two were the last available. You'll have rude passengers on any flight by any airline and unfortunately, sometimes you have to ask a flight attendant to help. I fail to see how this is Southwest's fault. You should have spoken up regardless of what airline you were flying.

koryn:

Here's what you do:

1) As close to 24-hours before flight time as possible, go online to the SW website and check in. Just follow the instructions. The closer to 24-hours previous, the better. The later you try to check in online, the worse the seating gets.

Let's say your flight is on Feb 2 at 9am, get your boarding pass on Feb 1, at 9am or afterwards.

2) If you have an "A" (which you should if you checked in as close to 24hours beforehand), then you are in the first group to board.

On flight day, at the gate you will see some posts with "1-5" "6-10" etc marked on them. Say your boarding pass says "19", then you have to go and stand where it says "16-20".

The nice thing about the current system is that you can sit down anywhere and wait until the boarding announcement for your flight is heard. You can then go and stand by the appropriate column.

In the past, it was first come first serve, so if you wanted to be at the head of the line, you got to the boarding area as early as possible.

Nowadays the early bird that gets the worm is the one that checks in early online and gets the lower number boarding pass.


Oh, BTW, yes you can check in online. Just use the six letter-plus-numbers code.

Your ticket just means you've purchased travel on this flight. Your boarding pass will get your seating for you and get you onboard.

Hope this helps!

Not all Southwest gates have the numbered slots yet, I believe.

I always fly on Southwest and really like the new system; used it in Dallas in October and it worked well.

You cannot check in until 24 hours exactly, in advance, local time. I have tried to check my DH in for a flight from Florida to ABQ and had to wait for the time in ABQ of his flight. A 10 am flight from FL required me to wait until 10AM Mountain time to check him in, even though it was noon in FL. Still got him an A pass. This is my only fault with Southwest.

If you haven't done so, sign up for their frequent flier program. If you can use their flights, then sign up for a SW credit card {Cahse VISA]. You get free trips really fast with it.
Deb

"no frills"! I have not noticed any frills on other airlines not available on SWA.

When you are in Vegas, just remember to check in 24 hours before your flight home as well. We did our check in from our cell phones via the internet, and then when you get to the airport on your departure day, you can print your boarding pass from a kiosk. It's very simple

One thing...if you can check in online for your return from a cell phone 24 hours ahead,you can just print your boarding pass when you get to the airport. The checking in online is important -not the printing of the boarding pass.

My, Andrew, you have a nasty streak, don't you.
Other airlines give you assigned seats, so you don't have to worry about folks cutting in line or showing up extra early to stand in line to get to sit with your companion. Although Southwest has adjusted their cattle call approach to seating somewhat, it's unclear how not assigning seats could lead to cheaper airfare. Afterall, they know how many seats are on the plane, and if they assign seats when you book your flight, first come, first served, that's only one or two more clicks online, not an expensive procedure. The big costs for airlines are fuel and labor, not the reservation software.

I'm sorry you thought my response was nasty - I certainly didn't think it so.

Open seating absolutely leads to cheaper airfares. That's why Southwest does it that way. It's not the cost of "reservations software" that's the issue, it's the fact that it's more efficient not to deal with assigned seats. It takes more effort to deal with assigned seats (more complication, probably translates to more man hours by Southwest employees). And no doubt it takes longer to board an airplane with assigned seating than open seating. When you can board faster, you can reduce the turn-around time on a connection. Time is money for an airline. Saved money means, down the line, cheaper airfares.

Southwest must know something about efficiency; unlike the major airlines, they have NEVER lost money in the last 20+ years, even in the lean years right after 9/11. Why on earth would Southwest want to imitate their money-losing competitors by getting rid of open seating?

I say again that occasionally one must deal with nasty passengers when you fly, no matter what airline you are flying. You had someone saving seats on your Southwest flight and instead of just asking a flight attendant to find you two open seats together, you blamed the airline. What if someone was sitting in your assigned seat and they refused to move? That has happened to me before. Would you have blamed the airline then too?

I know Southwest isn't for everyone. Some people really like assigned seats and don't want to have to worry about when they check in. Otherwise there are really few "frills" left on the other major airlines (unless you are going first class). I happily give up assigned seating and any remaining "frills" in exchange for Southwest's friendly, efficient (and honest!) service which in my experience is superior on average to what I've experienced on the major airlines.

I think the main point here was missed. This person has paper tickets and she is correct. She will NOT be able to check in online with paper tickets. Going to the airport 24 hrs before to check in is only a good idea if you think the flight will be very full (are you traveling on fri or sun? is it a holiday weekend?). My friend just did this during the Christmas holidays with them, flying Chicago to LA, and didn't go to the airport to check in - and he was fine. He actually even got the exit row seat he wanted. I don't think you'll have a problem. You can always ask to switch with someone even if the flight is very full by the time you get on.

btw, most other domestic airlines don't offer any food on the plane for free anymore. And Southwest is actually better than most because they allow you to check in up to 15-20 mins before the flight, as opposed to 40-45 mins for other airlines.

Oh, and it's the only airline that doesn't charge fees for changes to the itinerary after it's purchased (they only charge difference in fare if any).

I can't believe that Southwest Airlines still uses paper tickets. koryn, have you tried going onto Southwest.com and seeing if you can confirm your reservation? Is there a 6-digit confirmation code on your ticket? If so, type it in, see if you see your reservation. Or, try calling Southwest and ask them if you would be able to check-in online with these tickets.