All time lows on Southwest

[kupool]

We too try to avoid SW. I'm tall and had the unfortunate experience of being in a very cramped seat on a long flight and ended up with a DVT. It's not SW fault but their 31" legroom isn't enough for my legs. So we go with Delta (first choice) or Alaska (second) and fly Delta Comfort for the 34" leg room or 1st Class for the 40" leg room or Lay Flat in Delta One. About 95% of the time we do 1st class (the 5% is Delta Comfort Plus), priority boarding, free bags, meals, beverages, and if there is any issues with flight reschedule or cancel, we are treated very very well.
When we compare the cost of Delta vs SW Business Select (I must choose my seat so I can put my leg into the isle and flex, rotate ankles, etc) it is about the same cost or cheaper to fly Delta 1st Class. By shopping around I find that First Class is not horribly expensive and usually the same or slightly less than SW Business Select. (My company prefers people to use SW so I do the compare chart quite often).

I would encourage any tuggers who are tall like me and travel by air to check out the cost parity with Delta.

 

[hurnik]

We too try to avoid SW. I'm tall and had the unfortunate experience of being in a very cramped seat on a long flight and ended up with a DVT. It's not SW fault but their 31" legroom isn't enough for my legs. So we go with Delta (first choice) or Alaska (second) and fly Delta Comfort for the 34" leg room or 1st Class for the 40" leg room or Lay Flat in Delta One. About 95% of the time we do 1st class (the 5% is Delta Comfort Plus), priority boarding, free bags, meals, beverages, and if there is any issues with flight reschedule or cancel, we are treated very very well.
When we compare the cost of Delta vs SW Business Select (I must choose my seat so I can put my leg into the isle and flex, rotate ankles, etc) it is about the same cost or cheaper to fly Delta 1st Class. By shopping around I find that First Class is not horribly expensive and usually the same or slightly less than SW Business Select. (My company prefers people to use SW so I do the compare chart quite often).

I would encourage any tuggers who are tall like me and travel by air to check out the cost parity with Delta.

With the exception of Delta One, DL and AA have the smallest amount of seat pitch (distance between seats) at 37". It USED to be 40" but no longer (DL changed about 5 years ago?) AA changed when they implemented the Oasis and then Kodiak projects. Bulkhead seats are not included in the 37" pitch, however.

I personally don't like to fly WN (southwest) not due to the pitch (I'm not super tall) but I find their seats to be extremely uncomfortable. Within 30 minutes my back and neck are killing me. Even on FlyerTalk they call it the "devolve" seats (WN changed most of their seats to the "Evolve" series).

I will almost always spring for First class on any of the airlines as it's much more tolerable/comfortable to me. Flight prices are all over the place. DL is usually 2-3x more, but not always. (One trip I was looking at, AA and UA were about $1600 for First Class and DL wanted $4500). But given that my home airport is ALB, we are not a "hub" for any airline, although it could be argued NW is our largest (one of the few airports in the nation that have the double entry ramps for use with NW only). So all our flight prices are sky high (unless it's to MCO).

But everyone's priorities and needs are different. If I lived in Denver, CO like my sister, you can get direct flights on UA/WN to almost anywhere for decent pricing (not us--haha). But they are more centrally located too.

(correct NW -> WN for IATA definition)

 

[dioxide45]

I personally don't like to fly NW (southwest) not due to the pitch (I'm not super tall) but I find their seats to be extremely uncomfortable. Within 30 minutes my back and neck are killing me. Even on FlyerTalk they call it the "devolve" seats (NW changed most of their seats to the "Evolve" series).

Do you mean WN, not NW? WN is the IATA for Southwest.

 

[hurnik]

Do you mean WN, not NW? WN is the IATA for Southwest.

Yes, that's what I meant. Need more sleep and coffee.

I put orange juice in my coffee this morning and the coffeemate in my OJ cup. Eesh

 

[Timeshare Von]

What long lines? It's clear you have never flown them because you don't understand their boarding process. With the boarding number, you can wait until just before your boarding group (A1-30, A31-60, etc.) is called before you get up and take your place in line. That is equivalent or even better than legacy airlines where the general boarding group is a mass of people. And of course there is always the option of getting a pre-boarding pass due to your bad knees.

The big advantage of SW to me is that they have more leg room (32" seat pitch) in economy seating than any of the majors, which are all 30-31". For a tall person, that extra room can make a huge difference -- I would imagine it would also help someone w/ bad knees.

Kurt

Correct . . . I haven't flown on SWA. I have observed the long lines (most notably KC as I recall) where they were out of the building. I have also observed long "up the concourse" lines here in Milwaukee.

 

[Timeshare Von]

But don't you find you still have to stand in line even when you have an assigned seat? I find it more annoying when people start crowding into the Group 1 of Group 2 lines. I like having an assigned number to board.

I suppose with "preferred status" on Delta, I haven't had to. On American (and more recently) I've been able to get special consideration to pre-board because of my knees. I am admittedly not familiar enough with SWA's policies to chance having to wait and stand around for a long time.

I get that my perceptions may be dated/obsolete, but I'm still unwilling to risk it with them.

 

[Luanne]

I suppose with "preferred status" on Delta, I haven't had to. On American (and more recently) I've been able to get special consideration to pre-board because of my knees. I am admittedly not familiar enough with SWA's policies to chance having to wait and stand around for a long time.

I get that my perceptions may be dated/obsolete, but I'm still unwilling to risk it with them.

I have always found that even with "preferred" status or boarding with someone who needs extra help you still have to wait around, sometimes in a line, sometimes just in a special area. I've even found that I have stood longer in line waiting for my "preferred" group to board than I have in the SW lines. But, that's just my experience. I don't fly Delta. They have never really served the areas I fly and the one experience my daughter had flying with them she didn't care for them at all.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I know you are right. I am just sore with my B 07 assignment right now. I will get over it and fly SW again when I need to make the trip to visit my son again at the end of the year.

I paid for early bird for my stepdad to fly to/from Maui. On the flight back to Den, he got B17. Turned out to be a total waste of money because he was confused enough that I took him to the gate and he pre-boarded. He was having a bad day that particular day, and I worried about his ability to get to the right place.

 

[rapmarks]

I paid for early bird for my stepdad to fly to/from Maui. On the flight back to Den, he got B17. Turned out to be a total waste of money because he was confused enough that I took him to the gate and he pre-boarded. He was having a bad day that particular day, and I worried about his ability to get to the right place.

I always had to pre board with my husband. So confused that I could barely get him in his seat before the regular boarding was trying to get past me

 

[jackio]

We almost always fly SW because the only airlines out of our local airport are SW, Frontier and now Breeze. We get early bird, and often end up with B's, sometimes up to B40. I guess a lot of people buy it in my area. However, I always ask the gate agent how many empty seats are on the plane. If they tell me up to 30, DH and I sit in the back in one row - aisle and window. Almost always we do not have anyone in the middle. If there are only a few or no unsold seats, we each take an aisle (even with B you can usually get an aisle in the back) opposite each other. He has a bad left hip and I have a bad right knee so it works out and we are still sort of next to each other. Even when we fly another airline and choose our seats, we often choose aisles opposite each other if it is a long flight.

 

[Cornell]

Speaking of kids on planes...

I flew from John Wayne Airport to Chicago 2 weeks ago on United.
Family of 5 sitting behind me : mom, dad, 3 kids. Estimating ages --guessing 2.5 (who was strapped into a high backed car seat), 5, 8.

The 3 kids were sitting directly behind me and mom/dad sat behind the kids. Mind blown.

The youngest in the car seat was constantly dropping things, needing help, etc. so lots of screaming and crying and each time there was an issue mom would get out of her seat and tend to the little one, calm her down, then return to her seat. The cycle would repeat 20 mins later. The 5 YO was behind me kicking my seat through the entire flight.