Southwest Airlines

I fly a bit. Not a lot, but I have made my rounds throuth the short jumpers and long haulers. My short trip airline of choice is Southwest. I am bit biased due to the the fact that I live in the home of Southwest, but nonetheless I never flew with them until 2007.

Now first I have to discuss the website. Very simple, straight forward, clean. I am a Rapid Rewards member because I fly enough to get a free flight every so often. That is what I do like: flight credit rather than miles. Miles are nice when you have a ton of them. You have the opportunity to upgrade or purchase tix. With credits you get a credit for a flight, and two if you fly round trip. You can get half points for hotel stays and car rentals. Much simpler and to me much quicker to yield a free trip. Now I do realize that with miles you can fly anywhere the airline flies, which gives most big carriers the leg up on a cool free trip however, sometimes it is nice to know next time you are going to NYC or wherever that it will be FREE!

I find the overall staff at Southwest to be much more cordial that other airlines. I have seen and met many. I know a few personally. Southwest promotes a great work environment and in turn it shows in their staff. They are nice at the ticket counter, patient in times of stress, and more often than not have a smile on their face. That is not consistent in the business. Recently I had a flight cancelled, which has never happened to me with Southwest, and when I walked to the ticket counter I asked "Can you help?" The response was cordial, a new ticket was issue quickly, and I was on my way. That has not happened in the past with other airline carriers. When I have flight cancellations or misses, I do not get a cordial response and am typically treated as a cow running through a chute. For anyone that deals with customers: A customer may be your 1000th for that day, but you are their first. No matter what any customer has said or did to you in the past, the next customer didn't.

Recently Southwest changed from the bum rush of group A/B/C to a more organized system of A 1-60, B 1-60, and so on. I won't go into detail except make every attempt to check in online within 24 hours or as close to 24 hours as possible. The sooner you check in, the better number you get. The lower number you get, the sooner you get on the plane and get a seat. The free for all is great! You delay, you get to pick center seats or seats in the back. It is up to you. Recently I was A55 and had three front row seats to pick from! Not too shabby and it is always nice to get off of the plane quickly.

The planes are typically clean and their pilots seems to do a good job getting you back and forth from home fairly uneventfully. The attendants are typically very positive, cordial, and sometimes sing to you. Yes, you read that correctly. Sing.

Well, enough of that. Try em out sometime. They have very competitive rates and fly out of many locations. They still cannot fly direct all over the place but that is changing slowly. I Luv SW.