Top ten reasons I love Southwest
2007-05-31 15:12 - travel
I find myself arguing with friends from time to time about what makes for a great low cost carrier. Personally, I’m not a fan of $1 gimmick fares and being nickled and dimed on some of the more extreme LCC’s. Here’s why my favorite’s Southwest:
10. A fun environment – unlike other airlines, Southwest is always a pleasure to fly instead of being rigid and stogy. An example: I flew from Burbank to San Jose early one morning with a bit of a cold. One of the flight attendants noticed I was blowing my nose pretty often; she brought me a box of kleenex from the lavatory, and kept offering me more orange juice. My day went significantly better as a result.
9. Simple, transparent fare buckets – I know exactly how much fares will be depending upon how far in advance I book; there’s no guesswork involved.
8. Frequent flights, perfect yield management, and firm schedule – if I miss my flight, I can standby on one in the next hour, often in the next 30 minutes. Southwest has mastered the art of filling its planes exactly to capacity – I’ve never seen a call for bumps, and every flight I’ve been on leaves between 80% and 100% full. If Southwest offers a flight for booking, unless there are weather/maintenance problems, the flight will fly.
7. Rapid Rewards Awards are usable without any advance booking – I keep one of my awards available in the event of an emergency; if I need to, I can book myself or a friend onto the next flight anywhere in the country for free, space permitting.
6. No change/cancellation fees – if I change my mind about flying, no big deal. If I realize I want to fly out of a different airport or on a different day, I’ll pay just the difference in fare – no more, no less. If I change up to two weeks in advance of my flight, I usually don’t pay a penny more. If fares drop, I can rebook my flight online with a few clicks and get an immediate credit of the difference for future travel.
5. The cheapest possible fares for the routes I fly – $30-$40 oneway LAX-Bay Area fares make it much easier for me to stay in the loop with my job and with my friends. And I don’t end up spending a dime more for “extras”.
4. Open seating – I can get exit row every single flight by checking in early enough to get an A boarding pass. The extra legroom makes flights so much more pleasant.
3. Exceptional on-time record – I can depend upon Southwest to get me exactly where I want to go, and know exactly when I can plan on being at my final destination.
2. No roundtrip requirement – I can book only the segments I need; college students need the option of returning earlier or later than originally planned, and booking one way at a time makes it so much easier.
1. Double Rapid Rewards credit for college students – no other airline rewards college students traveling on tight budgets like Southwest does. Four roundtrips for a free trip is unbeatable.
8 – Sometimes you have to upgrade to full fare.
7 – Rapid Rewards are now capacity controlled, no longer is your ticket valid on any flight with empty seats.
10, 9, 4, 3, 2 – Spot On!
6 – canceling or changing is not a refund, but a credit for future travel.
5 – Sometimes SWA does have higher prices. Not often mind you, but it does ahppen on occasion.
1 – I’ve got to go back to school :)
— Just Visiting Jun 24, 08:50 AM #