<p>^^^^funny stuff!!</p>
<p>I love Southwest because they gave me cupcakes once… Enough said.</p>
<p>Take about herding! I much prefer lining up by number, being able to sit until my boarding row is called, and taking my turn like everyone else. Any time I have flown another airline, there’s just a whole hoard of people waiting either to board in Group 1 or A or whatever they call it, plus all the people trying to “sneak” on ahead of their boarding group. SW boarding agents will send people back who try to cut in the line or are simply unaware. I think you really have to be among the last 20 or so people to board to get stuck with a middle seat that you don’t want. 2/3 of the seats are either aisle or window. By the time you figure in couples and families traveling in groups of 2 or 3, there really aren’t that many middle seats left.</p>
<p>The last times it happened to me, I had to make a really tight connection because of a delay, but I was so happy to have made the flight that I didn’t care where I sat. </p>
<p>I sometimes fly to meetings with 1 or 2 extra pieces of baggage (beyond the two free ones). Often the people at curbside check in don’t charge me if one of them is overweight, if I have three that are not and am paying $50 each for the other two. In years and years of flying SW, I just recently had to pay for the first time for an overweight bag. They offered to let me remove things from it, but here was too much and repacking in another bag would have been $50 more anyway, so I just paid it. But considering the many times I hadn’t paid when they could have made me pay, I didn’t complain.</p>
<p>I think some of the customer service issues that I, too, have encountered recently are AirTran people who are still being absorbed. I’m cutting them a little slack for a while. It is a whole culture that new employees will have to acclimate to. Since previously most SW employees worked their way up through the system, they were already “trained,” so to speak. </p>
<p>I have to say that on every other airline I have ever flown, although there have been some uneventful flights, I have always had an experience where I swore, at the end of it, that I would never again set foot on that airline. Of course, when I have to go somewhere and don’t have a choice, I’ve had to eat my words.</p>
<p>One other advantage for H is that on many other airlines, his knees touch the seat in front of him. SW is one of the few where he has a little more leg room.</p>
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<p>If you fly often enough, this will eventually happen on every airline</p>
<p>Southwest has a history of having the worse maintained airplane fleet. The FAA would have those records. We won’t fly them because of the poor mechanical condition of so many of theirs. For those of you who are going to argue any airline has the same issue, that is not true. Southwest historically has more planes with aging mechanical problems. Every once in a while, another expose comes out and the FAA or whoever is the federal governing safety body levies a bunch of fines on them.</p>
<p>We just booked our first flights on Southwest!! Will read this thread when my eyes are open and brain is in gear its late). Is it worth it to pay for the earlybird check-in?? We have a very early flight out on a Fri morning, and an evening flight back on a Weds. Would like to sit with my spouse and not fight with other fliers over seats, but don’t have a sense if its really an issue or not. Thoughts?</p>
<p>jym, just pay the fee for one of you. That person boards and saves a seat for the other. easy.</p>
<p>OOOH, brilliant, gosmom. I KNEW I could count on cc’ers!!</p>
<p>Earlybird is essential from our airport (LAX) because so many A listers get a preferred place in line. Otherwise you end up in the latter part of the B group, which might mean getting a middle seat. Also we travel with carry-on only and earlybird ensures that you’ll find a space for your bags in the overhead.</p>
<p>What is the seating arrangement on their flights? Rows of 3 and 3? So will one of us get stuck in the middle anyway if the flight is full and we want to sit next to each other? We arent very big, so its not that big of a deal, but wondered what the seating is like on their planes.</p>
<p>I aslo waited too long thinking fares woudl drop and they went the other way, which is why we are now flying southwest. Even one leg of teh SW fare went up between yesterday and today. How carefully do I need to monitor their site to see if the fare drops and request a credit?</p>
<p>While I’m at it, I’ll ask a few more q’s. I have some “points” and some “credits” (converting from airtran). How will these merge together for travel purchase in the future?</p>
<p>3 and 3 are the only ones I remember on SW, but I could be wrong. I’d venture that if you want to sit next to each other, someone will be in middle. Most flights these days are filled to the brim…</p>
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Once you sign up for the mileage program, you’ll get alerts when there are sales. We usually just use SW for the kids’ travel, so we’re used to the fares and can tell when we’ve overpaid for a segment.</p>
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<p>That’s an easy one to answer. All of SWA’s seats are rows of 3 & 3, because all of their planes are Boeing 737’s.</p>
<p>That’s how they keep their operating costs down; they only have one type of airplane in their entire fleet to service.</p>
<p>There is an exit row with only two seats on one side. Note that the 137 seat capacity is not divisible by six.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Southwest_Airlines/Southwest_Airlines_Boeing_737-700.php[/url]”>http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Southwest_Airlines/Southwest_Airlines_Boeing_737-700.php</a></p>
<p>While all of Southwest’s planes are Boeing 737, there are different models. The AirTran fleet does include some Boeing 717. It is a derivative of the DC-9 / MD-80 / MD-90 series of planes, and was originally to be named MD-95, but was renamed after Boeing’s acquisition of McDonnell - Douglas.</p>
<p>[Southwest</a> Corporate Fact Sheet - Corporate Fact Sheet - Southwest Airlines Newsroom](<a href=“http://swamedia.com/channels/Corporate-Fact-Sheet/pages/corporate-fact-sheet#fleet]Southwest”>http://swamedia.com/channels/Corporate-Fact-Sheet/pages/corporate-fact-sheet#fleet)</p>