Southwest Airlines Questions

[jancpa]

I have never flown on Southwest Airlines before. How is the service and reliability flying from the west coast to Orlando, Florida? What is the "cattle call" I see sometimes mentioned?

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Tim

 

[Luanne]

I really like Southwest, but I've never flown them from coast to coast, only for short hops, with no stops. For that type of flight I think they do very well. For the longer hauls I'm sure they are just as reliable. The downside would be that they don't serve any type of meal, not even one you can purchase. If you're prepared for that and bring your own food on, you should be fine.

What the "cattle call" means is that there are no assigned seats. Passengers are boarded by groups - A, B or C. You can check in online and receive your boarding pass ahead of time. That is the best way to assure you're in the A group. If I'm flying alone I don't really care which group I'm in, unless I have a lot of carry on luggage that needs to be stowed.

 

[pedro47]

We have flown from Norfolk, VA to San Diego,CA using Southwest. There were no delays in either directions. Service is very reliable.

 

[gmarine]

On long flights SW serves a snack box. Last week it contained dried fruit mix, bag of peanuts and a bag of baked Oreo crackers. They also serve drinks at least twice on long flights, more if you ask.

The boarding system stinks but that will probably be changing to assigned seating by 2008. They were testing assigned seating in some airports, one of them is San Diego but that may have ended.

 

[talkamotta]

I love Southwest.

1. You can get Orange County to Orange County with 2 stops. One would be a change of planes and one could be a stop where you stay on the plane. That may be the only draw back.

2. I especially like SWA because I get an A boarding pass. All the kids under 6 get to board first. So I know where not to sit. Usually in the back 3rd of the plane.

3. They used to be the #1 on time airline. I dont know if they still are but they are good. Ive never had a rude flight attendant. Cant say that about some of the airlines that are in bankruptcy and afraid for thier jobs. My son worked for SWA and he said they treated thier employees great... That makes me feel good about the company.

4. The best thing I like about SWA is that they never have cancelled a flight or changed the times. Im sure that happens depending on the weather but not because they dont have enough people booked.

Every airline has its drawbacks but SWA does a good job.

 

[pvangordon]

I've flown Jacksonville FL to San Jose CA on SW but won't ever do it again. Be careful to check whether it truly is a direct nonstop flight. In my case, we had stops in places like Oklahoma and Phoenix, although there was no change of planes and I never had to disembark. Total travel time ended up much longer than a normal coast-to-coast flight. On top of that, I was living about 3 hrs from Jax at the time, so had to drive in the night before and stay at a hotel in order to take a "cheaper" flight.

SW is great, however, for short jumps. I normally take it to Las Vegas or LAX. Make sure to check in as soon as OLCI becomes available so you can get into Group A and board first.

 

[Bucky]

We've flown Southwest all over the US with no complaints whatsoever about the airline. The problems come when the "cattle" decide they have to stand up and get in their respective line, A,B or C at least 30 minutes before the flight. This creates the "cattle call". Now everyone gets up and gets in line WAY AHEAD of when they need to so that nobody else will get their seat. I've never understood this mentality. People are just amazing. Just call me Elsie!!!

 

[geoffb]

We've flown from New Hampshire to Oakland via Las Vegas. No problems with connections etc.

The snack boxes on the longer flights are nice, but are a snack... so we tend to bring a sandwich on board.

 

[bogey21]

Don't get me wrong. I love Southwest. I have earned about 50 free trips on SW over the years flying out of Dallas. They are great on short hauls. They are ok with one connection but only when there is a substantial price savings (taking into account the value of the legs toward a free ticket). But the only way I would do two connections is with a free ticket.

GEORGE

 

[bogey21]

The problems come when the "cattle" decide they have to stand up and get in their respective line, A,B or C at least 30 minutes before the flight. This creates the "cattle call". Now everyone gets up and gets in line WAY AHEAD of when they need to so that nobody else will get their seat.

What I do to combat this is to get my "A" Boarding Pass on the internet. I then just stay seated until almost all the "A" passengers have loaded, get up and walk right on.

GEORGE

 

[Janis]

I am a frequent SWA flyer. I much prefer to use them though on shorter flights. Primarily because they do not have power ports - so once your laptop battery ipod battery or DVD battery runs out - there's no recharging. Plus, they do not offer inflight entertainment. This can make for a VERY LONG flight - especially when travelling between the coasts.

That being said - for all short hauls of 3 hours or under - SWA is always my first choice. They have a great ontime history and the staff is courteous and seem happy to be there.

 

[hibbeln]

Southwest is fine for short hauls. A few years back when we took them from Detroit to Florida, on the way home I leaned over to my husband and said "next time.....another airline". They are fine and the flight attendants are very funny. BUT....from Detroit to Florida we had 2 stops both coming and going....just short land and let some off and some on, but still....I can't even remember where we stopped, they were little cities. When I thought that I could have spent about $120 more for my whole family of four and gotten home 2 hours earlier (AND gotten FF miles on our usual airling).....in retrospect I would have spent the extra money at that point.
So the question is whether you have more money than time, or more time than money!

 

[geoffb]

This is an interesting article (by Southwest) on why they feel their schedule works better than the traditional hub and spoke model.

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/2006/07/25/the-point-of-our-route-network/

 

[topcop400]

What I do to combat this is to get my "A" Boarding Pass on the internet. I then just stay seated until almost all the "A" passengers have loaded, get up and walk right on.

GEORGE

Can someone tell me how the boarding would be done on SWA for someone who is wheelchair-bound?

 

[bogey21]

Can someone tell me how the boarding would be done on SWA for someone who is wheelchair-bound?

They take wheelchairs and families with young kids first before starting the A, B, C procedure

GEORGE

 

[nana7]

SW is a great airline. They have Sr. pilots, great flight attendance, and wonderful ground crew. They are one of the ONLY airlines that has continued to make money. And one of the only airlines that has not had a major crash. The only death was in Chicago when their plane ran off the runway and hit a car. (Weather related). They have almost 37 years of a great record. They treat their employees very well.

I fly them all the time and dont mind NOT having food. If you want some just bring it along. Don't even mind the 'cattle call' Planes is not going until everyone is on anyway. So not to worry.

If you want extra then pay for it.