Flying Southwest

[SeabeeSparky]

I've been to WDW with my sons for the last 5 years in a row. I've never had problems getting decently priced airline tickets yet. Until now that is. Pretty much the cheapest I am finding right now are on Southwest. Has anyone flown them, and what was your experience? Thanks!

 

[lilclerk]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I am not as concerned about the way SW does seating. I do like how they seem to be on time with most of their flights. I have not had good luck in the past couple of years with flights being on time. I do have DVC, and being able to get boarding passes at the resort is pretty nice. They don't do that with SW yet. I also am not getting any kind of deal on the tickets like others here seem to get. I think I might be saving $100 total for the trip and that is roundtrip with three tickets. Again, I do appreciate all of the comments and I guess I will just have to keep looking and hope a promotional deal comes up somewhere, be it SW or anyone else.

You can ask someone at the front desk of your hotel to check in online for you.
And download Southwest's Ding Fares thingy... I got flights from Providence, RI to LAX and back for $60 each. http://www.southwest.com/ding/what_is_ding.html

For a long flight, you may want to bring snacks though. I learned that the hard way. The little box of snacks they give you doesn't really cut it for 6 hours of travel, haha. It does have Sudoku inside though, which I thought was awesome. I am easily amused.

 

[blackerbys17]

I fly Southwest almost exclusively. They are a no fuss, no muss airline. Check-in online 24 hours prior to your flight, be at the airport no less than 45 minutes ahead of your departure time, make sure your bags don't weigh more than 50 lbs. each and you have a max. of 3 per person, and VERY IMPORTANT, be at the gate NO LESS than 10 minutes before your flight (I suggest 20) and you are all but guaranteed to have a seat on your flight. My favorite thing about them is how quickly you can earn free flights. We just flew from FL in July and went to Disneyland for the 1st time ever for FREE thanks to Southwest! (Had a great time by the way...)

Anyways, try Southwest out, I have a feeling you'll be very happy!:wave:

 

[TikiBeckie]

I only fly southwest. Since they've changed the boarding procedures it is even better. I never understood why people dont like it, feels like any other plane but for a lot less!

 

[rwdavis2]

I hate Southwest! I've flown them before and never was impressed with anything, but until the last trip, I'd just kind of tolerated their mediocre service. However, on the LAST flight (that I'll ever take with them), they had way overbooked what appeared to be all their flights, leaving many ppl stranded at the airport for hours, including a disabled lady who said she flew into the airport at 8:30 that morning, was bumped from her 9:15 flight out, was still there at 6:45 that evening, and was told she wouldn't be able to fly out until "sometime tomorrow"; SW didn't even offer to help her find lodging for the night! Then they boarded a plane, ran it out on the tarmac, and proceeded to leave it sitting there for 3 hours. After 45 mins., they came on and announced they were waiting for a new flight crew to arrive. They never offered any drinks or refreshments and glared at a lady who took a little girl (about 3 yo) to the bathroom. Then they asked everyone to remain in their seats until the flight took off. A 5:00 final destination became a 10:30 arrival. They did not apologize or offer to compensate in any way (like another airline had when they experienced similar, but not as severe, difficulties). Maybe this is another example of you get what you pay for, but I now avoid SW at all costs.

Nothing unique to Southwest on this situation. Most any airline will do this yo you when they think it's in their interests.
Bob

 

[MinnieLee]

We fly almost always Southwest and have never been disappointed. In November they are starting a new kind of boarding procedure where you still have the cattle call of groups A,B,C but they are refining it a little. When you print your boarding pass you will get what group you are in but also a number i.e. A15, They will then board you according to group and number. It helps eliviate getting there way ahead of time to be on the beginning of the line. Only complaint I have about Southwest is that they don't participate in DME. What a come down when you have to lug your suitcases through the airport! You can also load DING onto your computer. When they run specials you can get a really great price. We have been able to get flights for $49-$59 each way from Long Island. Also, Rapid Rewards. You can transfer Amex reward points over to earn a free ticket (used that one a few times). Hardly ever late.

 

[PhilharMagician]

I fly alot and Southwest cannot be beat. If I look back on all of my flights I would say that I have flown Southwest the most and by far had the least maount of problems with them.

Getting boarding passes at your resort you have to go the the Conciere at the front desk and they can print them out. All you need to have is your reservation #. Very simple and have done if many times.


The new boarding systems are to be throughout all Southwest terminals by the 2nd week of November.

The rumor is Southwest should be up to speed with Disney's Resort airline check-in by early 2008.

 

[Nemo14]

We fly almost always Southwest and have never been disappointed. In November they are starting a new kind of boarding procedure where you still have the cattle call of groups A,B,C but they are refining it a little. When you print your boarding pass you will get what group you are in but also a number i.e. A15, They will then board you according to group and number. It helps eliviate getting there way ahead of time to be on the beginning of the line. Only complaint I have about Southwest is that they don't participate in DME. What a come down when you have to lug your suitcases through the airport! You can also load DING onto your computer. When they run specials you can get a really great price. We have been able to get flights for $49-$59 each way from Long Island. Also, Rapid Rewards. You can transfer Amex reward points over to earn a free ticket (used that one a few times). Hardly ever late.

Southwest DOES participate in DME - any airline flying into MCO does. They do not participate in the resort check-in service which only affects your return flight. That's the only time you need to worry about your luggage, and as has been stated before, you can have your boarding pass printed at the resort desk.

 

[SeabeeSparky]

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I decided to give Southwest a try and bought tickets today. For about the same price as any other airline I got our round trip tickets with non-stop flights both ways. I thought that alone would be worth giving Southwest a try. Now all I have to do is make my resort reservations. I guess I can start my countdown now. Here's to WDW in Feb. '08.

 

[DisneyBunny]

One thing to keep in mind about SW is that they no longer preboard people traveling with children. With the quasi-open seating, this is going to cause major backups with people traveling with wee ones.

I'm NOT thrilled about this and it's going to cause us quite a hassle when we go to FL in January. People are rude enough about you standing in the aisles trying to get your bag in the overhead compartment, let alone standing there trying to rig up a carseat with a crush of people standing behind you. Bad form. Apparently a lot of people complained that this gave people with small children "preference", and now they're going to have to deal with people standing in the aisles while getting their kids situated.

Other than that, we've always loved SW, and they consistently offer really good rates. not to mention their safety record is fantastic. Plus I love how flexible they are about changing your flights again and again if need be.

 

[Nemo14]

One thing to keep in mind about SW is that they no longer preboard people traveling with children. With the quasi-open seating, this is going to cause major backups with people traveling with wee ones.

I'm NOT thrilled about this and it's going to cause us quite a hassle when we go to FL in January. People are rude enough about you standing in the aisles trying to get your bag in the overhead compartment, let alone standing there trying to rig up a carseat with a crush of people standing behind you. Bad form. Apparently a lot of people complained that this gave people with small children "preference", and now they're going to have to deal with people standing in the aisles while getting their kids situated.

Other than that, we've always loved SW, and they consistently offer really good rates. not to mention their safety record is fantastic. Plus I love how flexible they are about changing your flights again and again if need be.

Actually they board families with children now between the "A" and "B" boarding. I'm not sure why, but i'm assuming it's to appease the people who camp out in the "A" corals.

 

[Rob562]

I'm sure it was mostly the business travelers (who are usually the ones itching to get right off the plane) complaining that the families always got the front seats on the plane.

As for me, I have mixed feelings about the move. I'm single and childless, and I've always used the fact that the families tend to sit in the very front to my advantage. I just walk to the back of the plane and sit there, and that way I know I probably won't be sitting next to any potential screaming babies the entire flight. I'm also not so uptight about my time that the extra couple of minutes having to sit and wait to get off kill me... I just sit there and wait.

-Rob

 

[mousermerf]

Couple of notes..

I've flown around on Southwest and it really wasn't much different then flying Continental on the same route. Continental just gives you lots of food and has more perks and things to do for entertainment. If you're like me and jsut want to sleep, it's a perfect tradeoff for the price.

About getting out on the tarmac and waiting 3 hours - that's the airport not the airline. Some airports suck. Airports assign the aircrafts numbers in line (it's a big metal deli counter!) and they just gotta wait and wait.

One time I was on a plane that had a delay due to a hydrolic problem they wanted to check, so that was like an hour sitting at the gate. Then we pulled out and were like #27 in line (at least we had a nice pilot who kept us informed, others say nothing), which meant like a 2 hour wait. After about 45mins, it turned out we had wasted enough fuel both at the gate and on the tarmac that we had less then the cpatain would have liked (like, less then 150% of the total needed for the trip or something) and so we pulled over to a pitstop on the tarmac.

Who knew they had those?

A little fuel truck zoomed over, we waited, and took like another 20-30mins and then we went back into line. For some reason, the tower took pity on us (not to mention we were already like 3 hours late from our scheduled departure time) and had held our spot in the line. We cut across all the traffic waiting on the tarmac (I waved to the other planes) and we were off in a few minutes.

Oh, and on southwest flights i've gotten little crackers shaped like planes. Made me happy.

 

[mousermerf]

I'm sure it was mostly the business travelers (who are usually the ones itching to get right off the plane) complaining that the families always got the front seats on the plane.

As for me, I have mixed feelings about the move. I'm single and childless, and I've always used the fact that the families tend to sit in the very front to my advantage. I just walk to the back of the plane and sit there, and that way I know I probably won't be sitting next to any potential screaming babies the entire flight. I'm also not so uptight about my time that the extra couple of minutes having to sit and wait to get off kill me... I just sit there and wait.

-Rob

My experience has been that pretty much everyone takes their sweet time boarding (bag over or under, sit down, fasten belt - why is that difficult?) so having families board first only really makes the families feel less rushed, but doesn't expedite anything.

And what is up with the people on the ailse who get all comfortable and locked into place and put on their headphones and start reading the paper? You have two empty seats next you, you probably have to get up stupid.

 

[Rob562]

My experience has been that pretty much everyone takes their sweet time boarding (bag over or under, sit down, fasten belt - why is that difficult?) so having families board first only really makes the families feel less rushed, but doesn't expedite anything.

That's why I check my suitcase and travel with a lightweight carry-on. It's just my backpack with a few essentials in it (book, MP3 player, camera, travel paperwork, maybe a change of clothes). I select my row, sit down in the window seat and put the bag under the seat in front of me. I'm there and done.
If it's winter I'll sometimes have a jacket that needs dealing with, but I follow the request of most flight attendants and hold onto the coat until everyone's put their stuff in the overhead bin and *then* put it up there.

And what is up with the people on the ailse who get all comfortable and locked into place and put on their headphones and start reading the paper? You have two empty seats next you, you probably have to get up stupid.

Probably the same people that always seem to sit around me in the back who are the first to jump up when the seatbelt light goes off at the gate, and then hem and haw and huff about having to stand there not moving until the people from the front of the plane get off. If it pains you that much to stand there, SIT BACK DOWN AGAIN! I just take it easy until the flow of people is a couple rows away, and then I stand up, grab my backpack and walk out. I've been sitting for 3 hours, the extra 3-4 minutes isn't going to kill me... (And the people I *really* don't get are the ones who are in the window seats who stand up with no headroom, but because they can't move into the aisle, just stand there bent over at a 90-degree angle until it's their turn to exit...)

-Rob