southwest airlines - stop but not a plane change - can I get out?
 

I am taking a flight from the east coast to San Francisco on southwest airlines. It says there is a stop but no plane change. I can't figure out where or for how long the stop over is - it doesn't seem to say anywhere. Just that it leaves at 6:25am and gets in at 11:20 California time. So assuming a couple hours layover somewhere how does it work with letting us off. Do we get priority boarding to get back on so we get the same seat (assume we can leave our luggage in the overhead). Since southwest doesn't assign seats couldn't someone else take your seat. I did pay for priority boarding.

You should be able to find out from the flight numbers. Check the two flights and see what time each leaves and arrives. You should be able to figure out how long the stopover is.

The non-stop flight from east to west is usually 6 hours. There's a 3 hour difference between the two coasts.

Say you're leaving at 6am east coast time, on a non-stop flight, you should be arriving around 9am pacific time. Thus, your stopover is around 2 hours or less - it really depends on where you are stopping off.

Yes, you can usually leave your luggage and other personal items on board. Whether it's advisable or not in today's world is a matter of personal opinion. I always leaves things unattended that I don't mind losing. Otherwise, everything important or precious goes off the plane with me in my backpack.

The normal procedure is to give you a "reboarding pass" when you leave the plane. You will then be allowed on board at your convenience. I like to get back on board before the new passengers get on board.

The best thing to do with your questions is to call up Southwest and ask them directly what their CURRENT procedures are.

Have a safe flight!

They may actually not even let you get off the plane; but you can change your seat after they get a through count. They aim for a fast turn around, and I have never seen someone board a Southwest plane with a reboarding pass and I fly several times a year on Southwest.

IF they allowed it, I would think you would lose your seat as all the new passengers who are already queued up would board ahead of you.

Southwest doesn't usually allow you to leave the plane. As mentioned above, their turnarounds are very tight and they don't want to have to search for a stray passenger. I also fly multiple times a year on Southwest and haven't ever been in a position to leave the plane unless I was changing planes.

Almost all of the stops with Southwest(just a stop-no plane change) is 25 minutes. You will not have time nor will they allow you to get off. Southwest trys to turn their planes in 30 minutes at each gate stop. They don't mess around with anything. This is why I like to fly with them.

I guess we were all posting at the same time.

I just flew roundtrip on Southwest 2 weeks ago. Both flights were one stop with no plane change. On the way there, we were allowed to leave the plane after the FA did a through count. Someone (FA or gate agent?) asked for our names as we left the plane and told us to come back and show ID before general boarding. We did that and were allowed back on the plane before everyone else that was just joining that plane. No reboarding pass, just an ID was necessary. So we were able to pick whichever empty seat we wanted at that point. Actually, we claimed our new seats prior to exiting, left our backpacks sitting on them. There were only 9 through passengers so no big deal.

Going home, the first segment was slightly delayed and we were not allowed off the plane. We could however change seats before the new passengers boarded.

I would doubt your layover is 2 hours - Southwest turns planes over pretty quickly and it seems unlikely they would schedule a plane to occupy a gate for 2 hours.

Thanks for the replies. As I said, the total time is almost eight hours (departs 6:25 EST lands at 11:20 PST plus 3 hr time change + 8 hours). There is only one flight number. So I guess the answer is I'm stuck on the plane for 8 hours.I guess I was hoping there would be some kind of 're boarding' for passengers who are continuing on with the flight so we could leave but now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing that on any of the southwest flights I've taken.

what is the flight number and date? I will look for you, if you'd like.

I just checked the Southwest website and did not see any 6:25 departures from LGA or EWR. The flights they have going to SFO between 6 and 7 AM seem to change planes in Midway or Phoenix.

Southwest has several other departures on the east coast besides LGA and EWR

Yes, just post the flight number and someone can figure it out. I would suspect there might be 2 stops instead of just one, given the total time involved. Just doesn't seem right to have a 2 hour layover with no plane change on Southwest.

You would be wise to get all your questions answered directly by Southwest.

You might be able to figure out where your stop(s) are using this website. http://www.helloflight.com/airlines/...t_airlines.cfm
I do remember my first flight (on TWA) 10 of us got on in MDT and flew to IAD they let us sit in first class and served us OJ the let us off for breakfast and restroom break in IAD then let us back on to take out carry on to our assigned seats before the other passengers boarded. This was long before 9?11.

On the southwest reservations page, when it brings up all your possible flight options, just click where it says "1 stop" or "2 stops" in blue, and the full itinerary comes up telling you where the stop will be etc.

I have looked all over their website and cannot find it. I click on the blue "1 stop" and it says "makes one stop" - it does not say where or for how long.

Anyway, if someone else can figure it out I'd be very appreciative - it's flight 165 departs BDL (Hartford/Springfield) at 6:25 and arrive OAK (Oakland) at 11:20. It's on Thursday, March 8. Thanks

The flight goes from Bradley to Midway Chicago. Arrives at 7:55am [local time]. Flight departs Midway at 8:35 am and arrives OAK at 11:20. You won't be getting off the plane, but you will be able to move around the plane after the through count and change your seats if you wish.

As I posted above, I flew Southwest and was allowed to get off the plane and reboard before the new passengers. It will depend on how long your plane has at the gate - my flight was a bit early and I believe we had about 40 minutes of gate time. We did not have much time before we had to get back, perhaps 10 minutes.

Your flight has about 40 minutes at the gate as well - if you arrive early, you will probably be allowed to disembark and reboard. They certainly aren't going to ignore the 8:35 am departure time and push off at 8:20 just because you arrived early. Best to just ask the FA as you get close to Chicago and see if they think you'll have enough time.

Thanks Deb, how did you find that (swear to god I clicked every possible place on that web site).

LOL, I went to google, typed in southwest 165 :o)