Need some Southwest help

[htfdwlfpack]

Ok i cant get an answer off anyone on their site so I come to the people who are quick and probably more knowledgeable then them lol.

Im flying southwest on the 4th of July. My flight is from LAX to Chicago and and then onto Florida.

here are my questions and would hope when someone replies they will number their response for me so i dont get confused

1. They do not offer meals do they? It will be a flight in the AM, but everything Ive seen they do not, but might offer a snack(cookie or something small).

2. If the above is NO, and i have a carry on bag does the Airports/security allow you to bring food in your carry-on bag? Im tempted to bring some snacks like peanut butter and crackers and possibly some soda. Is this going to be ok.

3.With the exception of captainkid(sorry) anyone have experience with the early bird check in? I have a connecting flight n in Chicago and its about 45-1 hour. How early do they allow boarding flights these days? And will it be useless in Chicago? It wont be useless in LAX as ill be there early but wondering about the connecting flight

4. They do not offer paper tickets like airlines used to huh? IM so used to getting something in the mail. I know it shows how long its been since ive flown lol(pre 9/11). Would i just print them myself? and if so how early can i print them?

Im sure i forgot something but ill pop back after each reply to see whats going on.

Thanks in advance

5.

 

[SyracuseOrange]

1 - No

2 - Food yes, liquids no.

3 - Don't know

4 - You can print your ticket online I believe 24 hours before your flight.

 

[nolatron]

3.With the exception of captainkid(sorry) anyone have experience with the early bird check in? I have a connecting flight n in Chicago and its about 45-1 hour. How early do they allow boarding flights these days? And will it be useless in Chicago? It wont be useless in LAX as ill be there early but wondering about the connecting flight

We used Early bird check-in in November 2010 for our return trip home (I checked ourselves in for the flight out). I decided to use it because our 24 hour check-in time for our flight home was going to occur while we at the parks. Our seats were in the teens if I recall in group A.

With early bird check-in, SW automatically checks you in 36 hours before the flight. Otherwise is 24 hours for everybody else.

Early-bird check-in is only for check-in for the flight to claim a seating number and you will still board the plane at the usual time (about 20mins before takeoff).

Read more about it here: http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?topic=earlybird_checkin

4. They do not offer paper tickets like airlines used to huh? IM so used to getting something in the mail. I know it shows how long its been since ive flown lol(pre 9/11). Would i just print them myself? and if so how early can i print them?

Everyone still uses paper tickets. Most let you either print your tickets online at home when you check-in or print them at self-check-in kiosks at the airport. Southwest has kiosks at many airports. If you check luggage, you'll get paper tickets printed at the airport when you check it in usually too.

 

[lilclerk]

You can't bring drinks through security, but you can purchase them inside the airport and bring them on the plane. Southwest will also give you free soda/coffee/water on the flight.

Also, if you have a connecting flight, when you check in for your departing flight it will automatically check you in for your connecting flight as well. So you'll get two boarding passes for each person, one for your home airport, then one for the connection. Early bird check in is nice, but if you can be at the computer/cell phone hitting check in as soon as your 24 hour mark hits, I wouldn't bother. You can purchase it for one leg of the trip and not the other, too. That way you can get the early bird for your return flight and not worry about interrupting your vacation just to check into your flight.

 

[becanya]

My only comment to add to everyone elses is that we never do early bird check in. We just check in exactly 24 hours before and usually still get in the A boarding class.

 

[Rob562]

I don't really have much to add to what's already been said, apart from one clarification on terminology.

There are very few (if any) domestic airlines that still use paper tickets of any kind. All airlines have switched to E-Tickets (Electronic Tickets), meaning that there is no physical ticket that must be turned in to get on the flight. You simply show your ID, and they look your reservation up in the computer system.

What you print out at home, or they give you when you check in at the airport, are *boarding passes*. These are what you show to get through security and you turn in to get on the plane.

With paper tickets, if you lost the ticket it was almost like losing cash. You were screwed, and you either had to buy another ticket, or pay a hefty re-ticketing fee. But with boarding passes, you can re-print them without any fuss or fees.

International flights still sometimes use paper tickets, though.

-Rob