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Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

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Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#81

Post by frakt0x90 »

adam_arthur wrote: post #77

I've flown Southwest a few times out of necessity and it's always been a worse experience for me. I don't like the "hunger games" aspect of seating... I'd rather have the seat pre-selected and relax during boarding. I've also found it to be more expensive generally for the routes I fly. Everyone has their own preferences, but I wonder is there a tangible advantage to flying Southwest to those that prefer it?

It depends on the route obviously but I find Southwest prices to be comparable to other non low cost airlines like Delta, American, etc. The few occasions I got bit by the $200 change fee on the others has made me consider Southwest much more. I refuse to fly the super cheap airlines.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#82

Post by lemoncucumber »

adam_arthur wrote: post #77

I've flown Southwest a few times out of necessity and it's always been a worse experience for me. I don't like the "hunger games" aspect of seating... I'd rather have the seat pre-selected and relax during boarding. I've also found it to be more expensive generally for the routes I fly. Everyone has their own preferences, but I wonder is there a tangible advantage to flying Southwest to those that prefer it?

There are some minor advantages: checked bags are free, and canceling a flight for future credit has long been free on all tickets - once this became common among other airlines, they changed their policy to make the credit never expire to stay ahead of the competition (and allow transferring it to another person for some types of tickets).

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#83

Post by adam_arthur »

flying_kangaroo wrote: post #80
adam_arthur wrote: post #77

I've flown Southwest a few times out of necessity and it's always been a worse experience for me. I don't like the "hunger games" aspect of seating... I'd rather have the seat pre-selected and relax during boarding. I've also found it to be more expensive generally for the routes I fly. Everyone has their own preferences, but I wonder is there a tangible advantage to flying Southwest to those that prefer it?

I used to give preference to Southwest for cross-country (US) flights, partly because of availability on particular routes, but over other direct flights because of the boarding experience. For $15-20 (not sure what it is now) I could pay for the automated check-in and be near-guaranteed a seat in the A group that was better, for cheaper, than trying to get an equivalent seat at an airline where they were picked ahea…

That makes sense if you prefer to be close to the front/exit for quick deplaning.

I tend to just relax during both boarding/de-boarding since it's only a few minutes difference anyway and the effort/stress of trying to move quickly outweighs the few minutes savings. If the seat is pre-selected, I can simply wait for the line to go away and board last without standing for 10m. It seems to me that most people rush to board first even with pre-selected seating (perhaps optimizing for space in the overhead bins)

If you have a connecting flight with a short layover, is the exception where I want to be right near the exit. So I guess it's more of a preference thing

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#84

Post by hnburnsy »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #72
hnburnsy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best perk on SW is the companion pass. Some well timed credit card sign ups and a few flights and you can have a companion fly free with you for almost 2 years. Especially nice as SW flies to Hawaii.

> Best perk on SW is the companion pass I think it’s a CC perk on Delta.

Nope, on SW you get unlimited companion flights for the term of the pass. Delta is a one use certificate.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#85

Post by dylan604 »

adam_arthur wrote: post #77

I've flown Southwest a few times out of necessity and it's always been a worse experience for me. I don't like the "hunger games" aspect of seating... I'd rather have the seat pre-selected and relax during boarding. I've also found it to be more expensive generally for the routes I fly. Everyone has their own preferences, but I wonder is there a tangible advantage to flying Southwest to those that prefer it?

> is there a tangible advantage to flying Southwest

for those in Dallas, the trip to Lovefield instead of DFW is super convenient. playing "hunger games" as you put it to find a seat vs traveling to the larger airport can be worth it especially if traveling alone.

there's also free checked bags compared to the other lower price carriers.

the biggest negative is you might be flying on a MAX

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#86

Post by frakt0x90 »

avelis wrote: post #68

Southwest Airlines (SW) has still not made an investment in their scheduling and operations software and infrastructure. They will have more operational failures in the future if say a huge store system forces to many flights to be rescheduled. For something so critical to business continuity I find it astounding how little SW has done in that regard. SW also has lobbied alot to derail high speed rail in Texas. Altho…

How do you know what Southwest is investing in internally? Sounds like a large problem to solve that will take time. I haven't seen any info about this.

Also, yeah all companies lobby against competition.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#87

Post by JumpCrisscross »

hnburnsy wrote: post #84
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Best perk on SW is the companion pass I think it’s a CC perk on Delta.

Nope, on SW you get unlimited companion flights for the term of the pass. Delta is a one use certificate.

> on SW you get unlimited companion flights for the term of the pass

Oh wow, that is a great perk [1].

[1] https://www.southwest.com/rapid-rewards/tiers/companion-pass...

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#88

Post by JumpCrisscross »

the_snooze wrote: post #52
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but only because of the way competition handled fees Southwest treats all its customers the way the big three treat their most frequent fliers. I am loyal to Delta and also never pay baggage fees or change fees or have miles expire. The lounges are free, which means free food and drink from one airport to the other. I can get a human on the phone within 60s, have had a car help with gate-to-gate transfers when a de…

Southwest has its faults, but they're far and away the most human-friendly and least-BS domestic airline in the US. The price is the price and you get reasonable accommodations even at the base fare. If your Southwest credits/vouchers expire, you can talk to an actual person who'll extend it by six months after expiration even if you don't have status. It doesn't feel bad giving Southwest your business. Maybe other c…

> Maybe other companies shouldn't completely optimize away the humanity in their services

Plenty of fliers just want the cheapest flight. (Some, like me, see longer flights as mini in-day vacations.) Having a competitive market means we get to have both: a cheap, inhuman option; a mid-priced human option; and a high-priced, human and luxurious one.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#89

Post by pradn »

lxgr wrote: post #9
catapart wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how you would have come to that conclusion, after reading the article? It says pretty plainly that the new government regulations, which force airlines to show all "additional" charges alongside the ticket price, means that Southwest's bundled price will now SHOW as cheaper, rather than showing as a larger base price (but less without the added additional 'baggage check' fees, or whatever) than other air…

> they took a principled stand to not show their prices in place where it would LOOK worse (without being worse) I bet they weren't too unhappy about not paying an agent/referral fee to these "price comparison sites" (that are really often travel agents themselves, or are at least getting a commission from those or the airline directly). For related reasons, Easyjet or Ryanair (I forgot which one) was not available f…

Every commodity service like flights needs to be available through a standard API. We need to maximize the impact of market forces, via price discovery and then competition, for the benefit of passengers.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#90

Post by massysett »

someguydave wrote: post #60
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but only because of the way competition handled fees Southwest treats all its customers the way the big three treat their most frequent fliers. I am loyal to Delta and also never pay baggage fees or change fees or have miles expire. The lounges are free, which means free food and drink from one airport to the other. I can get a human on the phone within 60s, have had a car help with gate-to-gate transfers when a de…

Just buy her a A-group upgrade on southwest, she will be sitting near the front and will get on and off quickly

Any “boarding upgrade” on Southwest is contingent on you being present early in the boarding process and scrambling for a good seat. If you get to the gate just before departure, your “upgrade” is worthless.

On other airlines you have an assigned seat, so you can just sit in the airport and board last if you want and you still have your seat. This matters if you are running late one day. It also means you have to allow extra time when flying Southwest, as you can’t use the boarding time as buffer time, at least not if you care what seat you’re in.

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