Southwest or every other airline in the history of the world?

[Nueces River Rat 5,560]

7 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

 

United still sucks wiener...

[midtown 3,348]

United is going to climb the airline ranks quickly.

[millhouse 2,617]

Yeah, but they'll still break guitars

[Sam Lin 3,564]

5 hours ago, midtown said:

United is going to climb the airline ranks quickly.

I mean, it's not like they can descend the ranks much...

[gmr548 16,617]

United is going to climb the airline ranks quickly.

My understanding is that their strategy is to pivot into a more premium product relative to most other carriers.

[midtown 3,348]

3 minutes ago, gmr548 said:

My understanding is that their strategy is to pivot into a more premium product relative to most other carriers.

This is my understanding.   Several of the travel twits and bloggers etc are reporting back that the general attitude and customer service with United is excellent.   Personally I had a small issue in flying with my kids for spring break.  United was very accommodating even putting us in a prem economy seat for free as a gesture.

[MidTexHorn 822]

Rolled the dice yesterday and decided to take a one day out and back trip from Austin to Midland on Southwest. Both flights through Dallas. Amazingly, other than a 30 minute delay in Dallas on the trip out thanks to some weirdo who decided the plane was too full and skipped out causing the crew to have to call role to determine who it was and if he was a terrorist, everything went smoothly and I got back to Austin on time. That’s a first in the last couple years for me. 

[phdhorn 6,224]

Travel insurance:

1) Yes there are some cards out there (usually fairly exclusive ones) that offer trip insurance, and in most cases, especially short or domestic trips, are more than adequate.  But even the best don't cover some things that might come in handy for longer/more expensive/foreign trips.  I.e. one thing that usually isn't are "sports activities" which can mean you're hiking or biking or doing something athletic and you hurt yourself.  Most CC's won't cover that, or in low amounts.  Another is "Cancel for any reason", and still others are very sketchy for medical treatment overseas (either not a lot of $ coverage or only in certain facilities).  Often there are riders for such things as increased baggage coverage.  Also the majority of cc's are secondary insurance - that is you have to run through your own insurance first, and then they'll pay what your primary doesn't (or pay some part of).  The only other caveat is that you have to charge all expenses relating to insurance on that card, else they won't pay.

2) Most trip insurance is very, very easy to purchase and relatively cheap (about $50 per $1,000 trip value, on average, but they can vary).  And many insurance policies require extra $ for "Cancel for any reason".  But it's still a decent deal and most of them pay very well.  

Of course with any insurance you have to keep receipts and NOTE WHAT HAPPENED AS SOON AS IT HAPPENS, including materials lost/medical impairment, etc.  Keep receipts.  Did I say to keep receipts?  But other than that, it's pretty good stuff for the $.

The Chase elite cards (the Sapphires), AMEX and United Explorer cards are pretty salty for the coverage, so they might do.  However not everyone can qualify for them.  Most CC's do a good job on rental cars, but from there CC's with those exceptions never really approach the breadth and amounts of trip insurance coverage.

If you haven't looked at squaremouth.com for travel insurance, you're doing it wrong.  Excellent site for looking at and comparing trip insurance.  I swear by it.  When you compare you'll find that many of them are very similar with somewhat widely-ranging prices.  I'm doing a big trip with the family this late summer - 6 countries over 2 weeks - and I went with Tin Leg.  There are tons of good ones though - Seven Corners, Allianz, AXA, HTH, JHancock, Trawick, etc.  Most of these are well-established for decades - not scams.

Anyway, if you have one of those 3-4 credit cards, and you like the degree and amounts of coverage, they'll work great if you have them and want to spend the entire trip on those cards.  But most CC's don't come anywhere near travel insurance, especially for overseas trips, and the more exotic, the wider the difference.

[Brisketexan 105,465]

We do a family trip the west coast every year, have for 20 years.  Every year, I just hop on the SWA site, pick the good nonstop flights to LAX or SAN, and book it, easy as can be.  Last year, we flew American because 1) we had some credits to use, and 2) the schedule was better at similar prices.

This year, I'm looking at schedules and prices, and American likely has them beat.  When you layer that on top of the fact that the stories of SWA changing your flight schedule to much shittier options on the regular.....I am much less likely to fly SWA.  For 25 years, probably 90% of my flights have been on SWA (granted, most of my flights are short hops within the US), but that looks like it will be changing.

[Aqua Buddha 14,625]

1 hour ago, gmr548 said:

My understanding is that their strategy is to pivot into a more premium product relative to most other carriers.

In theory, that's a great idea but it's generally failed in the past.  Sadly, air travel is a race to the bottom from a price standpoint.  That's why we get more and more shitty airlines.

As for Southwest's 4 leg flights or whatever, I fly AA out of a smallish airport in Arkansas and I'm 2 legs away from 95% of America.  Four leg itineraries are ridiculous but that's what you get with their point to point system.

[Telegraph_it 3,360]

15 hours ago, midtown said:

United is going to climb the airline ranks quickly.

United has been great for the past year or so. I’ve had 75 or so flight segments on United in that time and didn’t experience any major fuckery outside of a few weather related delays. Also the new product on the Max 8 is great and the Polaris seat is very good. They need to up their catering game though. Covid isn’t an excuse anymore. 
 

There was a medical emergency on my flight yesterday and they let the passengers decide if we would divert or not to save the persons life. It had to be unanimous and I yelled, “ VETO!” I appreciate that because I needed to be on time. That’s customer service. 

[Aqua Buddha 14,625]

Let's be honest.  If you live in a hub city, you're flying the dominant carrier if you fly even an average amount.

[conVINCEd 21,473]

Southwest has been prohibitively more expensive for every flight I’ve booked for the last 4 years or so.  Which sucks, because I’m in Dallas and would rather fly out of Love, but I’m not gonna pay several hundred dollars for a little added convenience. 

[gmr548 16,617]

47 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Let's be honest.  If you live in a hub city, you're flying the dominant carrier if you fly even an average amount.

This. I live in Houston, I fly United or Southwest essentially every time, regardless of the fact that basically every bad airline experience I'd ever had was with United before moving here. They've actually been solid for me over the past two-ish years that I've been here. The value of a nonstop far outstrips any difference between carriers and those two offer the most from here.

[po elvis 2,083]

Sitting in the Honolulu airport. Had an 8:00 am flight on Southwest to San Jose. Its now 8:42.

Booked flights in June from SAT to HNL for September. Decided to mix in the Big Island, so added flights to the Big Island and then changed our flights from there back to SAT. Governor of Hawaii asks visitors not to come if they don't have to because of Covid so we cancel those flights. No change fees on any of this.

December everything is looking good again so I book flights from SAT to HNL again for March thru April. Over half way thru our trip we are having a great time so I change our return tickets, extending an extra 10 days. Again, no change fees. So then since we are coming back thru California, I start looking at cruises. I find a cheap one leaving San Francisco tomorrow for 5 days. Again, I change our return tickets. I book for San Jose and then back to SAT after the cruise. Again, no change fees.

Well, we had borrowed this car to use yesterday. We had left my GF's two bags in the trunk. The trunk won't open. We try everything. We are running late, so we just decide to leave her bags and go to the airport. We will just buy her clothes in San Jose. We get to the gate 5 minutes before boarding. We get texted a picture of the open trunk with our bags. We go to the desk and the Southwest lady switches us no problem to a 1:50 flight, for same cost $119. We will have her bags by then.

Not saying I will not fly anybody but Southwest anymore, but will definitely make an effort to use them. The flexibility just has so much value.

[Eggo 3,997]

Wife and I just traded in our Sapphire Reserve cards for United Club Unlimited cards. Out of San Antonio, most places we fly direct (Newark, Dulles, Denver) are on United and any connection is usually in Houston where we camp out in the club away from the masses. We've had good experiences on United lately, especially considering the other major carrier out of here is American Airlines, who flat sucks donkey dick. Southwest annoys me that you have to use their website/app to book flights instead of just allowing them to be aggregated with the rest on Google Flights/Kayak. I've also rarely gotten a cheaper flight with SWA than United or Delta.

We were flying to JFK for our wedding in July and American's bag check lanes were wrapped around the terminal and we missed our flight. United had no line, so we went over and talked to their reps at the kiosk and they told us if we could get to Houston in 4 hours, we could get a direct to LGA. We hauled ass and had another good experience with United at IAH with zero delays. It'll take a lot for me to hate on United after that. 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Eggo

[midtown 3,348]

23 minutes ago, Eggo said:

Wife and I just traded in our Sapphire Reserve cards for United Club Unlimited cards. Out of San Antonio, most places we fly direct (Newark, Dulles, Denver) are on United and any connection is usually in Houston where we camp out in the club away from the masses.

Same camp for me being in SA.  This is more pts related so I am going to post my CC plan on the pts thread.

[Gil Bang 26,059]

 

 

[Firemans4Horn 18,132]

American Airlines website is such fucking trash. 

[Sam Lin 3,564]

But they don't have change fees for international, while United does, so I still browsed American yesterday.

[Pancho 45,118]

Southwest check-in at Hobby at 5am on a Tuesday was insane. Line was out the door for bag drop off. It’s fucking Tuesday morning.

[C-Man 27,286]

Southwest check-in at Hobby at 5am on a Tuesday was insane. Line was out the door for bag drop off. It’s fucking Tuesday morning.

This is what happens when they move all flights to 6/7 AM.

[4th&Five 41,607]

i have a 5:25am out of austin on friday...should i even go to sleep? not checking bags and have pre-check so is 4 early enough?

[CooterBrown 18,034]

3 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

i have a 5:25am out of austin on friday...should i even go to sleep? not checking bags and have pre-check so is 4 early enough?

You're fine. Security lines open at 3:30 but you'd want to avoid that initial rush of everybody that's scared they'll miss their flight. By 4 it should be decently quick through the pre-check line.

 

 

 

[Pancho 45,118]

Went thru security at OAK. Bough a water and a protein shake for $528 total. No big deal.

Flew from OAK to SAN to switch planes. Well, Soufwest has too many flights at SAN meaning you have to switch terminals, but the terminals at SAN don’t connect so you have to go thru security again. Not one sip of those drinks I took. TSA had the nerve to say I could go chug them right quick then get back in line since the pre check line was so short.

I’m about done with Soufwest 

[4th&Five 41,607]

that's an expensive protein shake.

[closetohumping 17,484]

1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

that's an expensive protein shake.

California has gone to shit.  OF course that protein shake will likely give him the shitz.

[Js1 85,636]

2 hours ago, Pancho said:

Went thru security at OAK. Bough a water and a protein shake for $528 total. No big deal.

Flew from OAK to SAN to switch planes. Well, Soufwest has too many flights at SAN meaning you have to switch terminals, but the terminals at SAN don’t connect so you have to go thru security again. Not one sip of those drinks I took. TSA had the nerve to say I could go chug them right quick then get back in line since the pre check line was so short.

I’m about done with Soufwest 

That sounds like a SAN problem. What a poor design 

[Murfdogg21 4,432]

+1 to many of these stories. We flew SWA 90% of the time the past decade in Austin. This past year in Houston, United or AA (and often JetBlue) are always cheaper than SWA by $100+. I hate AA so much, they are putting my ass in a middle seat on Friday because after I paid extra to pick my seat, all aisle and window seats are considered premium for an extra $94. Fuck you AA, Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, and anyone else associated with your brand. 

[Brisketexan 105,465]

We take an annual family trip out to SOCAL -- Laguna Beach.  Typically fly via LAX, sometimes SAN.  Until last year, it was always SWA (which I flew a lot for work, and thus had points).  Last year, AA had better schedule, and better price.  This year, all the prices were up, and none of the schedules were great.  I bounced around among all the options, and ended up booking on SWA (with points, so that's nice) to and from.....Long Beach.  Never flown in or out of there, so this will be a new experience for us.  Was able to at least get a non-stop out there, so that's nice enough.  Will see how the trip goes.

My wife has had to fly to Santa Fe recently for work (writing workshops), and AA offers a pretty nice flight to Santa Fe (as opposed to SWA only going to Albuquerque, which necessitates renting a car).  Price is often lower than a roundtrip to ABQ as well, so that's what she flew last month, and what she'll be flying in a couple of weeks.  We have long been a mostly SWA family, but that has definitely changed.

[closetohumping 17,484]

45 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

We take an annual family trip out to SOCAL -- Laguna Beach.  Typically fly via LAX, sometimes SAN.  Until last year, it was always SWA (which I flew a lot for work, and thus had points).  Last year, AA had better schedule, and better price.  This year, all the prices were up, and none of the schedules were great.  I bounced around among all the options, and ended up booking on SWA (with points, so that's nice) to and from.....Long Beach.  Never flown in or out of there, so this will be a new experience for us.  Was able to at least get a non-stop out there, so that's nice enough.  Will see how the trip goes.

My wife has had to fly to Santa Fe recently for work (writing workshops), and AA offers a pretty nice flight to Santa Fe (as opposed to SWA only going to Albuquerque, which necessitates renting a car).  Price is often lower than a roundtrip to ABQ as well, so that's what she flew last month, and what she'll be flying in a couple of weeks.  We have long been a mostly SWA family, but that has definitely changed.

Long Beach is ok.  Small airport and it's right between LA and Laguna.  I would not fly into LAX if I were going to Laguna or Newport unless the savings were substantial. 

[Brisketexan 105,465]

1 minute ago, closetohumping said:

Long Beach is ok.  Small airport and it's right between LA and Laguna.  I would not fly into LAX if I were going to Laguna or Newport unless the savings were substantial. 

SNA is closer (obviously), but the schedule has historically sucked (no nonstops, or one that leaves Austin at 5:05 am or some shit).  And we have a whole routine down - land at LAX, grab our rent car, stop for lunch at a little greek place we love in Redondo Beach, pull into the hotel in Laguna mid-afternoon.  Maybe grab some Randy's donuts on the way as a treat for our full crew gathering in Laguna.  If you time it around traffic, the drive is just over an hour, so nothing bad.  But yeah, looking forward to being 15-20 minutes closer this time around, we'll see how it goes.

[Aqua Buddha 14,625]

I haven't flown Southwest for years due to where I live so just out of curiosity, I went to their website and tested out some itineraries.  I was surprised at the number of 2 stop itineraries.  That's ridiculous.  Why would someone ever do that even if it's slightly cheaper?  It made some of the stories on this thread make sense.  

[High Plains Drifter 11,054]

On 5/5/2022 at 12:56 PM, Gil Bang said:

 

 

 

Quote

Physics don’t allow the emergency door to be opened in the air.

 

This JohnnyJet moron seems kind of fucking stupid.

 

 

[closetohumping 17,484]

1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

I haven't flown Southwest for years due to where I live so just out of curiosity, I went to their website and tested out some itineraries.  I was surprised at the number of 2 stop itineraries.  That's ridiculous.  Why would someone ever do that even if it's slightly cheaper?  It made some of the stories on this thread make sense.  

Are they still doing that 2 city dropoff system?  Flight from Austin to Tampa, with a pitstop to Nashville where we drop off half the plane.

[elfenix 34,344]

6 hours ago, Pancho said:

Went thru security at OAK. Bough a water and a protein shake for $528 total. No big deal.

Flew from OAK to SAN to switch planes. Well, Soufwest has too many flights at SAN meaning you have to switch terminals, but the terminals at SAN don’t connect so you have to go thru security again. Not one sip of those drinks I took. TSA had the nerve to say I could go chug them right quick then get back in line since the pre check line was so short.

I’m about done with Soufwest 

select long beach next time.  airside is just two small prefab buildings with an open air courtyard between them.  i was hung over so being able to sit outside, mask off, was pretty great. 

 

edit: i see long beach is covered already.  as an O/D airport it's probably great in that curb to gate is like 50'.  no, there's no clubs, but there is a bar and a taco place if you need food.

Edited May 11, 2022 by elfenix

[Pancho 45,118]

2 hours ago, elfenix said:

select long beach next time.  airside is just two small prefab buildings with an open air courtyard between them.  i was hung over so being able to sit outside, mask off, was pretty great. 

 

edit: i see long beach is covered already.  as an O/D airport it's probably great in that curb to gate is like 50'.  no, there's no clubs, but there is a bar and a taco place if you need food.

Going from Oakland to Houston required a connecting flight in San Diego.  Trust me, I would have gone through LGB if I could.  I flew to LA via LGB for the first time back in March, and sure, I saw a man collapse in the line, hit his head, bleeding everywhere, and the Soufwest attendants were doing CPR on him while I just stared.  Despite that, I will definitely be flying thru LGB again.  Fa sho.

[CooterBrown 18,034]

I haven't flown Southwest for years due to where I live so just out of curiosity, I went to their website and tested out some itineraries.  I was surprised at the number of 2 stop itineraries.  That's ridiculous.  Why would someone ever do that even if it's slightly cheaper?  It made some of the stories on this thread make sense.  

A few years ago when I was flying back to Austin from Tulsa, some fucking Okie put his 6 YO daughter on a 5PM flight to San Diego… WITH 3 STOPS. TUL>DAL>AUS>PHX>SAN. No food, no activities, just a backpack of clothes to go visit grandma. When we landed in DAL, the flight attendants let a lady deplane and go buy her food and some coloring/puzzle books.

[Gil Bang 26,059]

4 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

 

This JohnnyJet moron seems kind of fucking stupid.

 

 

You seem kind of fucking stupid.  The aircraft was on taxi. 

[Aqua Buddha 14,625]

1 hour ago, CooterBrown said:

A few years ago when I was flying back to Austin from Tulsa, some fucking Okie put his 6 YO daughter on a 5PM flight to San Diego… WITH 3 STOPS. TUL>DAL>AUS>PHX>SAN. No food, no activities, just a backpack of clothes to go visit grandma. When we landed in DAL, the flight attendants let a lady deplane and go buy her food and some coloring/puzzle books.

Just dicking around on their website and they're openly selling two stop itineraries from Dallas Love to Chicago Midway.  One is DAL>HOU>SAT>MDW.  Why?  A worse one is DAL>BWI>GRR(Grand Rapids)>MDW.  Another one goes DAL>HOU>MSY>MDW.  Sure, they have a few non stops and one stops but the multi stops are ridiculous.  All of these are around $500, too.

Meanwhile, AA is running about the same price due to the dark arts of airline pricing but they have 10 non stops a day between DFW and ORD.

I fly out of a smallish airport in Arkansas and I'm two legs from 95% of America but Southwest is openly selling three leg itineraries from Dallas to Chicago.

 

[DaysOff 7,978]

You seem kind of fucking stupid.  The aircraft was on taxi. 

Pretty sure he's referencing the "physics" behind airborne door operations.

[High Plains Drifter 11,054]

3 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

You seem kind of fucking stupid.  The aircraft was on taxi. 

 

yeah, no shit. Where in my very post did I say that it was airborne?

 

2 hours ago, DaysOff said:

Pretty sure he's referencing the "physics" behind airborne door operations.

 

No, the grammar. "Physics" is singular. I would expect a writer to know that.

Other than the lack of subject-verb agreement, the statement is basically correct, unless I am missing something regarding the physics of airplane emergency doors?

 

[Nueces River Rat 5,560]

12 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Just dicking around on their website and they're openly selling two stop itineraries from Dallas Love to Chicago Midway.  One is DAL>HOU>SAT>MDW.  Why?  A worse one is DAL>BWI>GRR(Grand Rapids)>MDW.  Another one goes DAL>HOU>MSY>MDW.  Sure, they have a few non stops and one stops but the multi stops are ridiculous.  All of these are around $500, too.

Meanwhile, AA is running about the same price due to the dark arts of airline pricing but they have 10 non stops a day between DFW and ORD.

I fly out of a smallish airport in Arkansas and I'm two legs from 95% of America but Southwest is openly selling three leg itineraries from Dallas to Chicago.

 

It's like SWA is going back to the day when it primarily flew Texas and bordering state routes.  Hou>SAT>MAF>ABQ was one I was familiar with. But it was OK  for the most part because you stayed on the same plane and knew this was what you were buying regardless of the routes SWA flew.   Unless you were flying between Hobby and Love, you were going to have a stop or two.   Even getting to DAL from Austin or San Antonio required a stop at Hobby at times. 

But hey, saw this morning SWA was improving the quality of their interior,, installing charging ports on all seats,  and speed of their WiFi..   So take that American and United.  LOL!

 

[closetohumping 17,484]

14 hours ago, Pancho said:

Going from Oakland to Houston required a connecting flight in San Diego.  Trust me, I would have gone through LGB if I could.  I flew to LA via LGB for the first time back in March, and sure, I saw a man collapse in the line, hit his head, bleeding everywhere, and the Soufwest attendants were doing CPR on him while I just stared.  Despite that, I will definitely be flying thru LGB again.  Fa sho.

Long beach is kind of a rough area.

[C-Man 27,286]

21 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

We take an annual family trip out to SOCAL -- Laguna Beach.  Typically fly via LAX, sometimes SAN.  Until last year, it was always SWA (which I flew a lot for work, and thus had points).  Last year, AA had better schedule, and better price.  This year, all the prices were up, and none of the schedules were great.  I bounced around among all the options, and ended up booking on SWA (with points, so that's nice) to and from.....Long Beach.  Never flown in or out of there, so this will be a new experience for us.  Was able to at least get a non-stop out there, so that's nice enough.  Will see how the trip goes.

My wife has had to fly to Santa Fe recently for work (writing workshops), and AA offers a pretty nice flight to Santa Fe (as opposed to SWA only going to Albuquerque, which necessitates renting a car).  Price is often lower than a roundtrip to ABQ as well, so that's what she flew last month, and what she'll be flying in a couple of weeks.  We have long been a mostly SWA family, but that has definitely changed.

Might want to reconsider that trip. Isn't Laguna Beach on fire right now?

 

18 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Are they still doing that 2 city dropoff system?  Flight from Austin to Tampa, with a pitstop to Nashville where we drop off half the plane.

Yup. As mentioned above, it's what happened to my wife and I coming back from Charleston a few weeks ago. We *knew* they bumped up our flight from 10:30 AM to 6:30 -- and added a stop in Nashville (OG trip was non-stop). Didn't realize until we got to the gate that there was a second stop in Ft Walton Beach. Oy vey.

[Brisketexan 105,465]

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

Might want to reconsider that trip. Isn't Laguna Beach on fire right now?

 

Well, the trip is in July, so we're good.  But yeah, there's always a fire risk out there.  Dry land, lots of canyons.  We stay on the water, though, pretty safe due to onshore breeze.

There's gonna be fire risk EVERYWHERE this summer, I suspect.  All of us should pay attention to shit before we head out on vacation.  

[JGrayDBU 345]

Which airline do you guys prefer to go...DFW or DAL to San Diego?  one-way. 

 

Thx

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,986]

Spirit is great

[Landomatic 3,813]

Team “used to fly almost exclusively Southwest but now they seem to suck” here. Unfortunately, we have a TON of credits/points. So I’m conflicted. Hate coming out of pocket for AA but damn Southwest has gone to shit lately and I cringe at the thought of flying them these days

[Nueces River Rat 5,560]

7 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

Team “used to fly almost exclusively Southwest but now they seem to suck” here. Unfortunately, we have a TON of credits/points. So I’m conflicted. Hate coming out of pocket for AA but damn Southwest has gone to shit lately and I cringe at the thought of flying them these days

I’d use them for flights to the Caribbean or Mexico.  You can be pretty sure those are going to be direct non stop especially if you are flying out of Hobby.    I think even SAT and ABIA have a handful of SWA direct flights to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo.