Usually, I research the h-e double hockey sticks out of everything. I check and double check every little detail.
I had heard good things about Southwest and knew that their prices are typically the lowest so I waited until the schedule for November opened up today and I booked my flights to Florida.
After I booked, I went searching through the site to find out about booking seats, only to find out that they have an "open seating" plan.
I had never heard of this before! Has anyone flown with them and was it totally chaotic, or was it okay?
I'm sure we'll survive, the price was good and I just wanted to get the final details done for our cruise. I'm just not used to not knowing something! I mean, my cruise is in November and I already have our shore excursions researched and double checked and booked and paid for. I have reviewed all the daily activities for sea days and shore days and have our activities mapped out in detail.
My brother flies them all the time to come here. He flies from Baltimore to Manchester, NH (about a half hour away). He just makes it a point to get on the computer exactly 24 before he flies to get his seating taken care of. He's a REALLY picky person, so the fact that he so frequently flies SW is a testament to them, I think.
My dad also flew to Philly from Manchester and had a very easy time of it. He doesn't fly very frequently and the fact that he felt so at ease with it was also a mark in their favor.
I have not used them, but based on my family's experiences, I wouldn't hesitate to fly them. Hope that eases your mind!
My hubby used to fly a lot for his job, and ALWAYS used Southwest. Like KarenK said, the trick is to log on to your computer EXACTLY 24 hours prior to your flight and check-in. You then print your boarding pass on your home computer, and your ready to go. ALSO, NO BAGGAGE FEES. The boarding pass gives you a "boarding number", say A25.
The gate area has a line set up with numberson it in groups of 5 (1-5, 6-10, 11-15 etc.). 1-30 on one side and 31-60 on the other side. When its time to board, they board elderly, handicapped, children first, and tell the A group to get in line by their number. They then board the plane 30 passengers at a time. As long as you get in the "A" group, you can pretty much sit wherever you want to on the plane. There is no stampeding to get in line, cause your place in line in already set.
We flew SW to Phoenix last month for my grandmother's funeral (she was 95), and had a great flying experience.
I'm not so concerned about where in the plane I sit, I just want to make sure that the kids and I sit together. They'll be 12 and 13 by then, so if something happens and we have to sit a bit apart, I'm sure it won't be the end of the world, it's just easier if we're together.
Going there, not such a big deal to print out the boarding passes. I'm off all that day and will be sitting... waiting... for that magic time! I'm just not sure how to manage the return flight. We'll be at my condo in Florida and even though I will have my netbook, I won't have a printer, so I'll have to figure that whole part out, or locate an internet cafe. Fortunately, I'm a planner so I'm sure I can figure this out in the next four months!
I love the "no baggage fee" policy! And I've heard good things about the airline so we'll see how it goes!
I will confirm this with my hubby, but I'm pretty sure that once you log in and do your virtual check-in thing and are assigned a boarding number, you won't lose your place in line. Also, all three of you should be under the same itinerary, so you only have to do check in one time for all three.
You should be able to log out, then log back in later and print out the boarding pass.
And the "no baggage fee" thing, each person is allowed to check two bags UNDER 50 POUNDS each!! Don't let them go overweight, cause there is a fee for that!! Don't want those baggage handlers to throw out their backs!
Did you all notice that this is an ALL KAREN thread?!
Yes, KarenGA because the baggage handler will throw his back out at 51 lbs but not at 50... !
I had a big fight with Airtran last year about baggage. I won't fly with them again, it was such a blatant money grab the way they manipulated my bag so that it would be "oversized". It was a soft sided bag, but when the held it upside down, all the contents would of course fall to the top and stretch the exterior of the case in which ever direction they were measuring so that it would exceed the size max. There really weren't any defined sides on the top, so they measured any way they wanted.
