Great tip about booking only one way fares.
But you have to fly 100 “legs” or rack up 135000 miles every year to get the pass. Not many people can do that.
I don’t know if SW will be one of the airlines that gives immediate refunds if SW cancels for their fault (mechanical, scheduling) but also not sure if that option will be such a great deal for passengers. If you are stuck in Baltimore and your flight is cancelled on delta or Alaska or your favorite airline, you can cancel and get an immediate refund, but then you’d have to buy a full price ticket to get home.
One thing I look for when booking flights is how many daily flights are there on that airline to my destination. We have a lot of Alaska Air to Seattle, but not so many to the east coast. I flew SW before a cruise last year, and I knew if something went wrong with my flight there were probably a dozen per day to other LA airports.
One great thing about Southwest is - if they have an issue and you email them, you get well taken care of.
But - they are party to a settlement with the government and there will automatic credits - like $75 for three hours - which is worse than you’d get by writing.
Anyway, perhaps someone can set up a thread on favorite airlines.
But when I started this thread 10 months ago, it was really to let people know - hey, you can get SW gift cards on the cheap.
Nothing more or less. Some like to buy them - so for them, if they weren’t aware, I hope I saved them a few bucks.
Transportation is yet another college expense so any savings, for some, is a good thing.
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Thanks! You definitely helped. Especially when transportation is crazy expensive. I’ve never could imagine paying over 1.5k per year for transportation to Memphis. I thought that woud be to CA, Hawaii or overseas…
This is a bit OT, but I approach it from the miles angle, and a SW credit card sign up bonus gets you a good part of the way there. Add in some SW portal purchases, register for the occasional promos, eat at a few restaurants, it all adds up. My H opened a card earlier this year and by March had a companion pass good through the end of 2025.
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Thx @beebee3 $429.99. As good as it gets.
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Good, but it was on sale for 419.99 a couple months ago.
Just letting those know it’s out there for their college planning. I have some at $419. But who knows if it’s going to ever be there again.
Sw is bringing in tons of revenue. And a ton of financial promises they won’t collect on in the future (other than fees for early boarding etc).
$429 on sale at Costco. $500 worth.
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I got this card a few months ago when it was on sale. Was looking at a round trip flight on southwest, so figured I’d save some. Turned out to be a great deal.
First - Costco reduced the price about two weeks after I bought the card - so they just sent me a 10$ costco card to use.
Second - the flight I booked using this card dropped by close to 100$ a month later, so I was able to cancel and rebook.
Third - used the additional funds to book another trip 
I travel a fair amount but not much on southwest. Was very impressed by their boarding and turnaround time. Instead of a huge crowd at the gate, no matter what their zone is on other airlines, here, people lined up correctly - even arranged themselves into the boarding line order. Got great seats despite not having the best boarding position - even an exit row seat on one flight.
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Southwest is changing to assigned seats sometime in the near future…a big change from their boarding procedure and no seat selection.
Just FYI.
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Southwest is the best
Ps never cancel your flight. You can ‘change’ it and get a credit. This way you don’t risk losing your seat.
Yep it’s a great deal.
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I had to cancel this one, since I changed the routing (found a better flight from a different airport). But since Southwest doesn’t do assigned seating, I am a bit confused by your “don’t risk losing your seat” comment. Do you mean if the plane is full ?
@thumper1 - yes, I did see that Southwest is changing their open seat policy next year.
Flew Southwest again this weekend and it was a good experience. Changed flights at the last minute due to weather issues, got onto a flight that left later and arrived at the destination earlier. Win-Win! Makes up for all the bad experiences we had with them a while ago when the kids were in school.
They haven’t announced a plan and the airport staff thinks it was activist pressure. We’ll see - they still have A List members to favor.
People say on Southwest you’re not guaranteed a spot on the plane and that’s nonsense. You are not assured a certain seat - so if you are an infrequent traveler, unless you pay for early boarding, you might get a middle. PS - when I fly AA or Delta, it’s no different - if I’m assigned a seat at check in.
There’s a reason Southwest is by far the highest volume domestic airline (US to US passenger counts) - so for all the haters, they’re missing out on a great experience.
On sale again 429.99. Few days for Black Friday. Great deal.
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