Southwest not the cheapest!

OHMomof2
Tue, 07 Jun 2016 18:06:26 +0000

I’ve never flown SW. I rarely want to check a bag when when it’s free, I very much like having an assigned seat and I prefer to board late - much rather be out in the airport - even just hanging out at the gate - than in the seat for those 20 minutes. I often board well past my “group”. If the carryon doesn’t fit in the overhead they gate check it and that’s fine - the wait is short and the chance of loss is small.

I did book my son on a SW flight once, last minute it was cheapest. They canceled the first leg which would cause him to miss the second and have to stay overnight in the airport (because there’s like one SW flight a day to that city) and didn’t let him know it had been canceled. I found out myself and had to take the initiative to rebook him myself, then he missed a day of our vacation. He didn’t have to sleep in the airport, at least. Not a great first impression.

Contrast that to a United flight I took recently with 2 stops (a very small airport out west was my final destination and I don’t live in a hub). Because of an air traffic thing in San Francisco, United realized I’d miss my flights and automatically, while I was in the air on the first leg, rebooked me through a different airport, getting me home at the same time.

If SW went anywhere I wanted to go from my city for a great price I’d probably try it despite all that but so far it doesn’t.