Air Question...

[Lollipop's Mom]

Ok I feel really stupid for not knowing this....

 

I always fly the same airline (Alaska) because they run flights from a small airport that is 20 mins from my house to Seattle, then from Seattle to whereever....It costs me about $100 to do this and its worth it for the convienece,etc...

 

Anyhoo....I am pricing flights and found Southwest has a special on flights for my dates and its half the price Alaska is at right now.

 

I can still fly alaska (the only airline operating out of this airport) to Seattle, then catch the southwest flight from seattle - but I am thinking its gonna be a HUGE pain -I have to get my luggage in seattle, go back through customs/security,etc.... to get on southwest.

 

My question is - will one airline tag my bags with another airline for a connecting flight so I don't have to go out, collect them, go through the security mess again, etc.... - can this be done?

Thanks and hope my long winded question made sense!

[Splinter]

You didn't mention where you are flying to, but I assume it is to the LA (San Pedro) or Long Beach area. Did you price flying into Long Beach airport on Alaska? We have done this Seattle to Long Beach route several times and nearly always beat the price of either Alaska or SW through LAX and Seattle.

[katiebug the travel girl]

The answer is yes. They will check your bags through from one airline to another. However, like Splinter suggests, you might want to consider flying into Long Beach on Alaska. Fares into LGB are often less. It's a nice little airport and not far. I am always hesitant to fly southwest. But, that is just me...really more my husband. I like the fares, he likes that he has a seat assignment and it's not a cattle call. I will add, that the only time my bags showed up three days late was on Southwest, but it happens on all the lines. I have also been bumped on connecting flights because Southwest oversold my flight, but that also happens on all the airlines.

[Lollipop's Mom]

Thanks. We flew into LGB last year and liked it. I am just keeping options open - not even necessarily southwest, but any airline I guess....I am price watching. I like to stick with Alaska, as I usually can get a free flight after 3-4 flights with the miles program.

Alaskas rates are pretty high right now, but its still a few months off - just watching for a price drop!

But good to know about the baggage thing - for this trip or for the future!