Southwest Airlines

[janetz]

My experience, and this is just mine, is that the cheaper flights are when SW first opens. That 114.00 flight that I purchased May 19th is now 236.00. Last year I noticed a drop on a flight we had purchased and SW gave us that difference as credit on a future flight. :)

Edited May 28, 2014 by janetz

[waterbug123]

 

But really, why should such a statement cause drama? Why do you care if others wait for Southwest fares?

 

If the "drama" bothers you, skip the thread. :)

[vjmatty]

If the "drama" bothers you, skip the thread. :)

 

"Bother" might be too strong a word....as a family court attorney I wouldn't be able to do my job if that were the case ;) I can understand drama erupting over paternity tests and custody battles. Airline preference, not so much

[furloughedagain]

Don't forget SW has free Dish Network TV on their wifi airplanes - just have to have a personal device, tablet or phone to watch it on.

 

Also some cities offer the ability to have your boarding number display on the SW app on your phone. No need to print out a boarding pass.

[mamaboss]

I just had a SW rep call to inform me they changed our flight back from Fl from a 6:30am depart to a 4:40 depart. I thought I read somewhere that SW doesn't change their flights around like say Delta? Not happy about the time but what ya gonna do? He said we could change it one time without penalty if we want. From what I see that's the only flight available that whole week. My question is if I see a flight closer to my original depart time 2 weeks or 2months from now would they still honor the one time change? Anyone have this experience with SW? I assume when he said without penalty he means if I choose a less expensive flight they will refund my card instead of a credit on my account since they changed it. Strange they are only offering the one flight all that week to my airport. When I booked it I had a choice of 3 different flights.

[Algebralovr]

Southwest is re-working a number of their schedules. The flight home that we have booked the last couple of years is now gone. They are no longer flying out of some airports as well.

 

My guess is that the cost of the airfare has gone up in price, but they will simply move you even though the cost is more, without charging you more. If you wish to change flights again later, you will pay any difference in fare.

[HRPro]

We've never flown Southwest, but I've been checking flights since we need a one way to FLL next April. So far, Southest is only allowing me to book flights through April 6. Any idea when they might have reservations open for late in April? We need to book April 24 or 25.

[Clarea]

We've never flown Southwest, but I've been checking flights since we need a one way to FLL next April. So far, Southest is only allowing me to book flights through April 6. Any idea when they might have reservations open for late in April? We need to book April 24 or 25.

Their website says they will open flights to June 5, 2015 on Oct 27, 2014.

[Globaliser]

So far, Southest is only allowing me to book flights through April 6. Any idea when they might have reservations open for late in April? We need to book April 24 or 25.

And if you subscribe to this thread (a sticky at the top of this forum), you'll probably get a prod when it happens: Allegiant/JetBlue/SouthWest/Spirit/Virg Amer/-New opening of rate schedules-post here.

[slidergirl]

I just hope that none of our CC friends were trying to get to a cruise yesterday on WN from Chicago! I saw that WN just outright cancelled flights for the day. Had a guest yesterday (not on WN) call multiple times to the hotel to say they wouldn't make it, would make it, wouldn't, and finally make it, albeit 12 hours later than they originally planned. WN will have a big backlog to clear out today.

[HRPro]

Their website says they will open flights to June 5, 2015 on Oct 27, 2014.

 

Thaks, Bob. I missed that entirely!

[vjmatty]

I just hope that none of our CC friends were trying to get to a cruise yesterday on WN from Chicago! I saw that WN just outright cancelled flights for the day. Had a guest yesterday (not on WN) call multiple times to the hotel to say they wouldn't make it, would make it, wouldn't, and finally make it, albeit 12 hours later than they originally planned. WN will have a big backlog to clear out today.

 

I just LOL'd when I realized I first read your post too quickly, trying to figure out what cruises could possibly be sailing out of Chicago... then I read it again. Too many senior moments these days :o

[furloughedagain]

You should be aware that EVERY airline operating in Chicago was impacted by the tragic events that occurred yesterday morning when a government contractor working at the air traffic control facility that governs Chicago allegedly set a fire at the radar facility and then tried to take his own life.

 

The facility was evacuated. Chicago Midway, Chicago O'Hare, and Milwaukee airports were all closed for most of yesterday resulting in several hundred cancelled flights for every airline. Aircraft and crews ended up out of position. When something like that occurs at a major city like Chicago it can take several days to clear the backlog - get aircraft and crews where they need to be and try to re accommodate customers who have been inconvenienced.

 

Wanted you to know that no individual airline was responsible, nor did they have any mechanism to help customers who were impacted.

 

Sincerely,

Your resident airline pilot. :)

[Clarea]

Thaks, Bob. I missed that entirely!

They have changed the website, and it was difficult to find.

[furloughedagain]

They're saying at least two weeks before the Chicago airports are running at full capacity. If you have plans to fly out of those airports suggest you get in touch with your airline early and make sure you have a plan.

[wieslaw]

They have changed the website, and it was difficult to find.

 

They sure did ......I looked there too and did not find it.

[Clarea]

They sure did ......I looked there too and did not find it.

I only found it by doing a search for Travel Tools.

[ducklite]

You should be aware that EVERY airline operating in Chicago was impacted by the tragic events that occurred yesterday morning when a government contractor working at the air traffic control facility that governs Chicago allegedly set a fire at the radar facility and then tried to take his own life.

 

The facility was evacuated. Chicago Midway, Chicago O'Hare, and Milwaukee airports were all closed for most of yesterday resulting in several hundred cancelled flights for every airline. Aircraft and crews ended up out of position. When something like that occurs at a major city like Chicago it can take several days to clear the backlog - get aircraft and crews where they need to be and try to re accommodate customers who have been inconvenienced.

 

Wanted you to know that no individual airline was responsible, nor did they have any mechanism to help customers who were impacted.

 

Sincerely,

Your resident airline pilot. :)

 

Well put.

 

The ATC issues in the upper Midwest caused a system-wide uproar in air traffic throughout the entire country.

 

Over 1300 flights were cancelled, over 2000 were significantly delayed yesterday. Every US airline other than some very small regional carriers were impacted. Today there were almost 900 cancellations and over 2500 delays, so the backlog is far from cleared.

[slidergirl]

My thing with WN was that they immediately cancelled their flights. Other airlines were trying to get some out. I've had guests yesterday and today call to say that their original flights (on AA) were cancelled but they were re-accommodated on later flights. WN didn't do that; they just cancelled all the flights.

[lovemylab]

My thing with WN was that they immediately cancelled their flights. Other airlines were trying to get some out. I've had guests yesterday and today call to say that their original flights (on AA) were cancelled but they were re-accommodated on later flights. WN didn't do that; they just cancelled all the flights.

 

 

That is not correct. I was scheduled to fly out of Midway Friday at 6am on Southwest. The plane was backing up when it was forced to pull back to the gate.

 

When my flight was cancelled I was immediately put on a later flight for the same day. When that later flight was also cancelled I was rescheduled for Sat afternoon.

 

ALL airlines were cancelling flights and Southwest (like other airlines) were doing their best to accommodate passengers on later flights.

[ducklite]

My thing with WN was that they immediately cancelled their flights. Other airlines were trying to get some out. I've had guests yesterday and today call to say that their original flights (on AA) were cancelled but they were re-accommodated on later flights. WN didn't do that; they just cancelled all the flights.

 

Not true. There was a ground stop. That means NOTHING moves in that air space. NOTHING.

 

Because WN doesn't work on a hub and spoke system, doesn't codeshare except with AirTran, doesn't endorse or allow their tickets to be endorsed to other carriers, and only mainlines, it's much more difficult to try to reroute passengers via a different itinerary.

 

I was watching Flight Stats and Flight Aware all day that day and system-wide AA and United both cancelled far more flights than WN did. The ground stop in CHI and surrounds had serious trickle down effect on the entire US (and to an extent Canadian) airline system with 20-25% of domestic flights in/out of JFK, DAL, MIA, SEA, DCA, IAD, and LAX cancelled or delayed.

[pms4104]

We live a bit NW of O'Hare (not used by WN at all) ... heard only 2 or 3 planes Sat ... the only 2 we heard this AM were before 5AM, low and loud and surely cargoliners. Normally, tho not in every flight path, we hear and see far more planes overhead.

 

Local news is saying it'll be WEEKS before normal returns here.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I577 using Forums mobile app

[furloughedagain]

It's a big mess, no question. Extremely challenging for airline schedules as delayed and cancelled flights at the Chicago airports have unintended consequences later in the day. (Domino effect)

 

Hopefully they'll have it back to normal traffic in a week or so. Right now, last update I read was that Midway was around 10-12 departures per hour. (Ordinarily 25-28)

 

If you are heading on a cruise and leaving Chicago area anytime in the next few days, might be worth asking about switching your flights to Indy or Detroit and driving to pick it up from there.

[travelplus]

Yes, because it's after your cruise not before. ;)

 

You pick your seats based on your boarding letter and number. This is given out when you print your boarding pass 24 hours before. You will be give a boarding letter and a number. A is best B is still OK so it will look something like B22 (you are the 22nd person in line in group B ). Even if you can't print you must find a way to check in on-line then print at the airport. On our return trip if we have a sea day my husband's business partner does it for us.

 

Southwest doesn't do a lot of overbooking like some airlines. If you have a ticket you get on. You might get the dreaded middle seat and 2 people might not get to be together but that's not the end of the world.

 

We love Southwest. They have happy employees!

 

You could also pay for EarlyBird Boarding $10 per segment which automatically checks you in and gets you into the A Boarding Group. Its totally worth it if you won't be near a computer and do not want to rely on someone else to do this for you.

 

I have used EarlyBird Checkin when I was away from any internet connection and it worked like a charm. I just went to the EarlyBird Checkin line at the airport printed my boarding pass and checked my bag.

[slidergirl]

Not true. There was a ground stop. That means NOTHING moves in that air space. NOTHING.

 

Because WN doesn't work on a hub and spoke system, doesn't codeshare except with AirTran, doesn't endorse or allow their tickets to be endorsed to other carriers, and only mainlines, it's much more difficult to try to reroute passengers via a different itinerary.

 

I was watching Flight Stats and Flight Aware all day that day and system-wide AA and United both cancelled far more flights than WN did. The ground stop in CHI and surrounds had serious trickle down effect on the entire US (and to an extent Canadian) airline system with 20-25% of domestic flights in/out of JFK, DAL, MIA, SEA, DCA, IAD, and LAX cancelled or delayed.

 

The ground stop didn't last all day. I had several guests make it here from Chicago the past 3 days, including the day the building was damaged. Other airlines cancelled many flights, but WN cancelled all flights at once. Some of my guests had rather round-about re-routings (all the way to either coast and back to the middle), but they got out. Just saying' flights did move. Yes, I know WN doesn't work on a hub system…