Take a friend along for FREE! Yes FREE and pay MORE with Southwest!
Written: May 03 '02 (Updated May 04 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Non-stop from Seattle to Nashville where you'll eat only pretzels but not have to stop!
Cons: HIGH Prices, Misleading Advertising, and a Horrible Boarding System!
The Bottom Line: Southwest likes to promote itself for their low, no frills flights. Trouble is, MANY of them are higher, or equally, priced than their competitors who offer MUCH more service.
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| 2buzy's Full Review: Southwest Airlines |
Okay, I have said it more than once, I am not loyal to any one airline. I fly a lot and am a member of different frequent flyer programs. I often choose my flight based on the price (as well as the number of stops) and I admit, I usually AVOID flying Southwest! The ONLY time I fly them is when they beat all other prices by A LOT or when the ticket is given as a gift, as was the case last week.
I KNOW there are a lot of people who swear by Southwest and really love flying them, I just am not one of them! They DO have some good deals and while they ran their $98 coast to coast sale a couple of years ago, we did use it to fly to Nashville and also over to Florida. They have a direct flight to Nashville from Seattle which is nice but actually, that is about the only positive thing I have to say about them.
MY LATEST TRIP
My dear friend is battling breast cancer. We went to college together and six of us have remained great friends throughout the (many) years. She had went through this before, about two years ago. That is why this bout is so hard to accept, we had all thought she had it behind her.
She had a birthday last Tuesday and one of our friends threw together a surprise birthday party for her since she was feeling especially low. This was all thrown together in a couple of days and all the airline tickets were bought by her husband as part of his gift for her. And, as you probably guessed, he booked us all on Southwest!
He got a price of $565.00 for ONE round trip ticket from Seattle to New Orleans!! The AWFUL thing is he could have gotten a ticket for $277 on American or Continental or $279 on Delta or American West! These were all with only one stop each way too whereas on the Southwest out going I had 2!
I was the only one flying out of Seattle but even if there were two of us and he used their Friends fly free promotion he would have PAID MORE with one FREE than by buying two REGULAR priced tickets from other airlines!!
GETTING ON THE PLANES
My flight was to depart from Seattle at 6:35 AM and arrive in Los Angeles at 10:15 AM. From there, I was to change planes at 11:25 AM and arrive in New Orleans at 5:05 PM.
I got to SEATAC about 35 minutes before the flight. I knew I would be at the end of the cattle line but since I was flying alone, it didn't really matter to me where I sat.
I was able to zip right through the main security without a problem. I only brought my carry-on which I tossed up on the belt and walked on through.
I then walked VERY fast to the Southwest gate and using my passport as my ID checked in and got my little plastic colored number. ID was checked again before boarding.
The plane was to take off in less than 15 minutes when they started boarding. I knew this was going to be a problem as most of the people in groups and families were NOT in the first set called. Sure enough, when I finally got on, there was a BIG holdup as all these people were attempting to sit together! They were all trying to get people to move over a row or switch with someone else in another seat!
I HATE the boarding of Southwest and understand that it is NOT all the airlines fault. Why the people who are flying in a group don't get there early enough to assure a spot in the first boarding group is always an amazement to me! But, here as in ALL the flights I've been on with Southwest was a holdup as people muddle around with the boarding!
I spot an aisle seat and so I won't lose it, shove my bag under the seat instead of taking the time to put it in the overhead. While I am doing this a stewardess TRIES to help people rearrange the seating. We take off 12 minutes behind schedule and people are still complaining when we land!
When they have a stop on Southwest(where you don't change planes) you have to STAY on board to keep your seat! This of course is a pain to those on board that want to get off and another pain to those boarding who THINK they are first on, only to find 1/2 the seats already taken! So much for being first in line! So, I move to another seat when we land and wait as they board more people so I can FINALLY get to LA which NORMALLY is only a 2 hour flight from Seattle!!!!
I get off my first flight, and make my way over to the gate where my next plane is to leave. Here I meet a LONG line as the family in the front is holding everyone up as they tell their story of why they need to board first. Finally, another person starts helping and I get my little number about 3 minutes before they start loading!
Now here is where this boarding idea really stinks! On my first leg, I had a CHOICE of arriving early and therefore receiving a lower number and more of a selection of seats. But, on a connecting flight that CHOICE is taken away! And Southwest INSISTS on booking connecting flights close together (some as close as 30 minutes) which SOUNDS good by can OFTEN cause problems.
This flight DID take off on time due to the Mother of the large group "announcing" she had 4 very frightened flyers in her group of 9 and would appreciate others letting them sit together. This actually worked and so the boarding went faster than the previous flight. I was asked to move on this flight (two times) but as long as I am not in a middle seat, I am fine with moving when I am flying alone.
MY return was basically more of the same! I met a LONG line in New Orleans but that wasn't so bad because I stood there eating hot fresh pastries I got seated next to the sweetest 85 year old on her first flight!
I hit LONGER lines in Nashville and THREE very annoying groups who NEVER stopped complaining the ENTIRE trip. Of course when I found out I was flying from New Orleans to Nashville and then to Seattle, I was not too happy myself! And then to top it off I got stuck next to a man that REALLY needed a cup of shut up juice! There was at least ten people that thought they were getting served food on this trip (it IS a long flight) and when they found out the little bags of mix were it, they NEVER let that go! All in all, I'll add it to my list of flights where I wish I had packed a parachute!
THE CREW/SERVICE
Most people know that SouthWest doesn't serve food ~~ never has. You get a little bag of pretzels and drinks but no food. You are allowed to bring your own on board and on a really long flight could probably make some decent money "selling" sandwiches to passengers who did NOT plan ahead. And trust me, there are always A LOT of them on flights over four hours for some odd reason.
All in all the crew does a decent job. They give the little safety speech and they pass around the drinks and munches. They also spend an endless amount of time defending the airline's boarding and food (or lack of) choices. They step forward and TRY to help settle seating problems and apologize EVERY time they ask you to move.
On the shorter flights they came around about 1/2 hour into the flight and gave out the drink and pretzels. I heard one guy ask for two and was told "if we have some left!"
On the longer flights, they came around two times with the pretzels and on one of the flights, a third time just with drinks. You DO have to ask for the can, if you want more than just a poured 1/2 can drink of pop.
On all the flights they waited until AFTER the seatbelt sign went on and picked up the throw aways. This is the only airline I have ridden that waits that long before even starting the pick up.
ANOTHER COMPLAINT
Well, let's see, I hit the boarding, the seating, the cost, the lack of food and the crew, what did I leave out? Oh yes, their flight plans!
This one baffles me and I have hit it more than once. Take for example my flight last week and my up coming flight. In a few days, my family is taking a cruise out of LA and we need to fly there from Seattle. A Simple, couple hour flight. Not on Southwest!
For our upcoming flight, I checked Orbit, Travelocity, Expidea and individual airlines INCLUDING Southwest Well, to make a long story short, Southwest would take us anywhere from ONE to THREE hours LONGER than the other airlines! They have NO direct flights from Seattle to LA! So, in order to make a two hour flight, we would have to make a stop AND in more than 1/2 the cases change planes!
Not only would the flight be a long drawn out pain but think of trying to get all seven of us together, first in Seattle and then again in Reno or San Jose!
Then lets bring up their LOW PRICES Even using their bring along a friend for free we get hosed. We can only order 4 tickets that way ~~ as the first ticket has to be bought by someone OVER 18 years old and so the other three tickets must be bought at regular price.
So, here is their price ~~ FOUR tickets at the promotion rate plus THREE tickets at their lowest rate = $1,704.50 I am being generous here as they did not (even in advance) have any of the later flights home on the promotion and we would need to leave AFTER our ships gets in! Therefore, we would not have been able to get in on the promotion at all and their lowest price would have been $1956.50!
I booked us through Alaska at $188.00 each round trip making our total cost $1316.00. This is a savings of $388.50 over the promotion rate and $640.50 less than their LOWEST rate! A substantial savings AND we get breakfast on the way down, assigned seats TOGETHER, a shorter (and non stop) flight and airlines miles they let us put on our Continental account! A MUCH better deal all the way around!
Before anyone writes me with the outstanding deal they got, I want to state, that I know this is not true with ALL their flights. I do know however, that those of us on the West coast are more likely to find better deals on other airlines. I would recommend that EVERYONE check multiple airlines on EVERY trip and not just jump on one because of the friend fly free (or any other) promotion. They are not always the best deal! :O)
THIS AND THAT
** You can check prices and reserve at the Southwest website ~ www.southwest.com
** Children 5-11 years of age are allowed to travel alone ONLY on non-stop flights.
** Friends fly free promotion must be purchased by May 23rd
** I am aware that there are other airlines that do not fly non-stop from Seattle to LA.
** They fly Boeing 737 jets. 27 of them are 737-200, 194 are 737-300, 25 are 737-500 and 118 are 737-700.
Recommended:
No
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2buzy
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Location: In front of the computer!
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"I'm for a stronger death penalty." - President George Bush
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