I’ve been promising this post for a while now, and since I just flew Southwest to Florida, I figure it’s finally time.
I love Southwest Airlines. I’m a relatively new convert, having only flown my first trip on Southwest in 2008. But since that first flight, I’ve been hooked. Here’s why.
1. Bags fly free. Almost nothing is free in air travel these days. No more free meals on domestic flights. If you want to watch a movie, you may need to pay. Sometimes you have to purchase special headphones if you want to enjoy the in-flight entertainment. And we are all well aware that there are airlines who charge you to check your bags. There are some airlines who are even charging you for carry-ons! Oh, and get this…some airlines are even considering to charge you to use the bathroom!
But despite all this, some things in life still are free, and checking bags on Southwest is one of them. And this helps keep down the already-low cost of flying on Southwest.
2. They have low fares. It’s not uncommon to find flights for under $59 each way. Sometimes even as low as $39! I always comparison shop, but 9 times out of 10 Southwest has one of the lowest fares to where I’m looking to fly.
3. They fly almost anywhere in the U.S. I want to go. With over 50 destinations throughout the U.S, I’ve Southwest has been an option for every domestic trip I’ve taken recently. Sometimes they’ll only fly to an alternate airport for a particular city(such as Midway, but not O’Hare), but they’ll get you pretty much anywhere you want to go.
Where Southwest Flies
4. They fly out of Midway. This one was actually a deterrent for me for a while. Being a northsider, O’Hare was always my airport of choice. But now that I’m in the city, it’s pretty easy to get to either airport, and I have to admit, it’s kind of nice to avoid the craziness and delays of O’Hare. Midway is a quick hop on the Orange Line from downtown, and is usually much quicker to get through security.
While I still love the excitement and hustle-and-bustle of O’Hare (and the international trips I’ve taken out of there), I’ve learned to love the ease of flying Southwest out of Midway.
5. They’re almost always on time. In all the times I’ve flown Southwest, I can only recall one delayed flight – on my way home from Denver in a hail storm. ALL flights out of Denver were grounded, and any delays were out of the airlines’ control. Other than that, I’ve always arrived on time on Southwest. In fact, on three of my recent Southwest flights, we’ve actually landed ahead of schedule!
Southwest’s web site also touts that “from September 1987 through November 2009, Southwest Airlines has maintained the best cumulative on-time performance among all Major U.S. airlines according to the Air Travel Consumer Report.” (If you’re a nerd like me, consider checking out the Air Travel Consumer Report. It’s pretty interesting stuff!)
6. You can choose your own seat. This particular aspect of Southwest is part of what makes them unique. The process has also been revamped in recent years, and it’s important to know how the system works in order to make the most of your experience.
With Southwest’s check-in system, you may check in up to 24 hours before your flight. (If you’re like me, you log on 24 hours and 5 minutes ahead of time, and keep hitting refresh until it lets you in.) Once you check in, you are given a boarding pass on a first-come, first-served basis. The boarding passes are lettered and numbered, beginning with A 1 through 60, the B 1 through 60, and so on, depending on the size of your plane.
If you purchase a Business Select ticket, you are guaranteed an A assignment, which gets to board first. All the As will line up in numerical order and board the plane in that order, selecting their seats as they board. After the A group comes families with young children, followed by the B group, and the C group, if there is one.
Here is also where I’d like to give props to the Southwest staff for not allowing people to cut in line. I have seen on more than one occasion people who think they can sneak on the plane in an earlier group and the flight attendant has sent them back to wait their turn.
I understand this process can be frustrating if you don’t know what you’re in for. But the Southwest web site also provides all this information ahead of time in their “Boarding School” section of the site. (“Boarding school.” Get it? Southwest has a sense of humor, too!)
7. Their flight attendants have a sense of humor. The flight attendants on Southwest are among the most down-to-earth I’ve ever experienced. They are friendly, helpful, and sometimes really funny, too! Take the flight attendant on my flight down to Florida, for example.
No one really likes listening to the safety demonstrations they are required to give before take-off. But on Southwest it is not uncommon for the flight attendants to spruce things up a bit. During the part about the oxygen masks, our attendant said, and I quote, “Anyone traveling with children, or with a spouse who acts like one, please put on your mask before assisting them with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one child, take a moment now to choose your favorite, or the one with the most potential.”
There’s certainly something refreshing about traveling with a crew that seems laid back and approachable, rather than the stuffy flight attendant stereotype we sometimes see.
Southwest Treats
8. Snacks are still free. As mentioned above, not many things are free these days. But on Southwest flights you get an assortment of Nabisco snacks, and real, honest-to-goodness peanuts! (Sorry to those with peanut allergies, but I have to give a little respect to the good, old-fashioned airplane peanuts!)
The treats sometimes change. I’ve been on a flight were there were a couple different “100-Calorie Pack” options, and the flight attendant allowed us to select the ones we wanted. (She even let me take one of each because I was hungry!)
And most recently it seems Southwest and Nabisco have paired up to create a ridiculously cute Southwest exclusive treat: Plane Crackers.
9. They have a great frequent flyer program. The Rapid Rewards program earns you a free flight for every 16 credits (8 round trips) you earn in a 2 year period. The program is really straightforward, and much easier to follow than any other airline rewards programs out there. It doesn’t matter how far you fly. One flight in one direction earns you one credit. (Plus you sometimes have a chance to earn points elsewhere, like by booking a rental car with your Rapid Rewards number.)
My only complaint about this program is that you have to make sure you earn all your credits within 24 consecutive months. After 24 months, you lose that credit and have to earn one more.
But overall, I think it’s a really great program. And if you’re really interested in earning free flights, I know the Southwest credit card earns people so many flights they often have to give them away for other people to use. (Which Southwest actually lets you do!)
10. The perks keep coming. In a time where airlines keep making cutbacks, Southwest keeps getting better. A few years ago they received feedback in a customer survey which led them to introduce their new line of coffee, which is actually really delicious. They offer free alcoholic drinks on holidays and other special days. (For example, all the dads got free drinks on Father’s Day this year.) They have an awesome in-flight magazine with some really great content that I’d actually consider reading even if I weren’t stuck sitting on a plane for 3 hours.
It’s no surprise to me that in an era where so many airlines are losing money each year, Southwest is one of the few that continues to grow and profit. It seems to me that they just really “get” it. They know what keeps people coming back. They understand that it’s about the customer and their experience. And they run a business model that should be, well, just that. A model for other airlines out there.
Thanks, Southwest!
love.play.travel. 