Live Flight Tracking

im about to fly them

They are pretty good, I flew them twice up and back to Boise,Idaho. Service is great. If you fly on a 737-700(WL) it's a little bumpier then the 737-300 without winglets which was really smooth flight. Southwest does not take cash for drinks food etc but i was able to get a free drink by luck. Have a good flight!

For the most part the flight attendants are great. The pilots always give an announcement. On longer trips (over about 2 hours nonstop), you get a pretty decent sized snack (cookies, crackers, and, of course, pretzels or peanuts). On shorter flights, you get only pretzels and/or peanuts. These are free, by the way. I've never been turned down for seconds, either.

The seating is more than most coach sections of domestic airlines - 32 inches. If you can board early enough, grab an emergency row or row 1 - lots of leg room.

One drawback: If you are on a flight with one or more stop you aren't allowed off the aircraft at the enroute stop. However, you are allowed to change seats once the passengers disembark at the enroute stop.

Regarding letting you off the plane at "enroute stop". I flew a 1-stop Oakland to Norfolk that arrived at its enroute stop 35 minutes prior to scheduled arrival. They did allow deplaning at Midway. Before deplaning that took down all of the names so that Ids could be checked on the way back to the plane prior to boarding the local Norfolk-bound passengers. So it does happen, but the plane HAS to be SIGNIFICANTLY early.

35 minutes early! Must have been some tailwind.

That's another nice thing about SWA. Even though they have policies in place, they aren't rigid about them. Rather than keep their customers on the plane for 60-70 minutes or so (35 minute early plus 25-35 minutes turn-around), they let them off.

The worst part is the open seating, requiring you to check in early to get a good seat unless your flight is empty.

Also, I find their "quirky" flight attendants to just be annoying.

I love the open seating. It's a perk of flying Southwest.

Open seating is awesome, let's you pick who your seat mate is going to be, and lets you avoid screaming babies and other annoying things.

Plus there's not additional charge for the emergency exit and other extra legspace seats.

well, to get an exit row seat you pretty much have to either pay the Business Select fare or pay for earlybird check-in, so you are in a sense paying for it.

Also, the exit rows on Southwest have no more leg room than all the other seats. The bulkhead seats do have slightly more leg room but have no tray tables or underseat storage, so it's a trade-off.

Row 11, Seat F does not have a corresponding seat in the row in front of it so there is about 60" of legroom in this seat.

You don't need to get Business Select or pay the Early Bird check-in fee. Quite often, after they started doing this, I would get a number around 20 or 25 yet be one of the first on the aircraft. Why? Because the first 20 or so numbers are automatically reserved for the Business Select or Early Bird whether there are tickets sold with those features.

so there's 2 seats on the whole aircraft with any significant amount of extra legroom. So you need to be in the first two to check-in assuming there are zero early birds or business select pax to get one of those seats (assuming those pax actually take those seats).

No, you don't have to be the first 2 to get on to get these seats.

- Those that pre-board due to a handicap are not allowed in those seats
- Many people grab the first seat they come to

Row 11 overall has more room than the other rows.

Never had a problem with SWA. In fact, my experiences have been better than most. Biggest ones for me that stuck out:

I had earned 16 credits, which enabled me for a free roundtrip flight. So I used it on a short run (LAS-LAX). There was serious flow/metering at LAX because of congestion and weather, which delayed our flight. So we were sitting in a holding spot on the ground at LAS for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Because of that delay, the company decided to give everyone on board a free flight to compensate. So I got a free flight on a free flight. Can't complain there.

Second one, which was probably the most memorable: Had to fly SMF-STL. problem was that a snow storm had closed airports in a line from MSP to DSM to STL and south. My only options were to divert to MDW and sleep overnight in the airport, or the same at LIT. I tried to get to OKC (where my father lives), but missed the last connecting flight out. I then opted for OMA (where my mother lives and I was born/raised), and was able to make it if I didn't have any delays getting to PHX. I made it to PHX, and found out they were holding the flight for me. Made it in to OMA, stayed with my mother, then left the following afternoon where I made it into STL.

So where when you get an airport that closes down, you are able to divert to your hometown, stay with your mother, get in the following day, AND get the extra point towards a free flight because the OMA-STL leg was treated as a separate flight?

SWA treats people well, because of how laid back and understanding their crew is. Yes, I've heard and seen horror stories (read: Airline), but for the most, they do treat their customers well.

BL.

In "Airline," it's the customers who are bad. The Southwest personnel try their hardest to be good to them.

I like SWA a lot. People have always been friendly and except for a small delay here and there it has been great. No complaints about the delays. They happen to everyone. If there is one thing I do not like is the open seating. I mean there are people litterally sitting there 34 hours in advance to check in the second that they can in order to get a A pass. I have don't that and still didn't get one. I would rather be able to pick where I sit .

"Litterally (sic) sitting there 34 hours in advance"? Are you talking about waiting in front of the computer to print out an "A" boarding pass? Then those folks are nuts - all they have to do is get to the computer a couple of minutes ahead of the 24 hours prior to the flight departure time.

I love the open seating.

Sorry. Typo on my part. You are right . You can check in 24 hours in advance for your boarding pass. And people are sitting there with there finger on the mouse just waiting to click to check in so they can get an A boarding pass. Like I said I tried it once and still didn't get one. So I am not really a big fan of that process. SWA likes it and doesn't appear inclined to change the policy . Having said all of that when you fly SWA you know what you are getting. So it was really only a minor complaint.

If getting a better boarding position is that important to you, spend the $10 on early bird.

I see Charter Member just wants to make a smart ass comment instead of actually reading what I wrote. Do you practice being a schmuck or is it just normal for you .

Do I hear charter member envy?

FWIW Governor , I didn't perceive anything from his reply other than accurate information.

I'm only envious of JHEM...

I'm not a schmuck, I'm a curmudgeon. GET IT RIGHT!!!

Yeahhhhh, that's just David being himself. He's a very knowledgeable guy, but his "people skills" are a bit suspect.