Can I tell you that I LOVE Southwest?!?!?

karenj2 · Post by **karenj2** » Jul Tue 11, 2006 11:27 am

Hubby and I just made plans for a trip to WDW in September, and we scheduled our departure for September 9th. Then, he found out that Notre Dame was playing Penn State on the 9th (he's a Notre Dame alumni, and we're from PA, so it's a big game for us.) We were able to switch our departure day to the 10th, with no changing fees. (That made me love SW!)

THEN, we got an email for an internet fare which was cheaper than the fare we had to begin with, and they let me cancel the first plan & re-book at the lower rate! (Got the same flight and everything!)

I LUV them!

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jul Tue 11, 2006 11:41 am

They are known for great customer service! They don't fly out of my market but we have AirTran which I actually prefer because you can check in online and receive seating 24 hours in advance, not just priority boarding.

Adaugaga · Post by **Adaugaga** » Jul Tue 11, 2006 12:55 pm

My WDW trip is right before Christmas, so I'm anxiously awaiting their December schedule. I've never flown with Southwest, but their prices seem great in comparison to my other options at the moment. I also noticed on their website that they offer group discounts to parties of 10 or more. My party consists of 10 adults and 5 children, so I might have to check into this discount thing a little more.

Michelle

P.S. Small world...I'm in PA, too! Even smaller world...I can see Beaver Stadium from my office window! Go Penn State!

knedeau · Post by **knedeau** » Jul Tue 11, 2006 8:18 pm

I've never flown SW either! I have been checking their flight prices though. They fly RIGHT OUT OF MANCHESTER to ORLANDO,.......NON STOP!!!!!!! I love it! I will be using them for my december trip! WOOHOO!

karenj2 · Post by **karenj2** » Jul Tue 11, 2006 10:18 pm

P.S. Small world...I'm in PA, too! Even smaller world...I can see Beaver Stadium from my office window! Go Penn State!

I grew up in PA, but I'll probably be rooting for ND due to hubby. I was accepted into PSU, but decided not to go there because half of my school was there, and I hated High School.

karenj2 · Post by **karenj2** » Jul Tue 11, 2006 10:23 pm

knedeau, did you sign up for thier DING program? It's very easy to watch for fares in your area...

I don't think we've used them before, at least not this way. I signed up for DING to see what the fares were like, and it worked perfectly! I'm not sure how far in advance you can get DING fares for, though. The fare I used let you fly through almost the end of October, so you could probably start looking for fares in late September, early October...

knedeau · Post by **knedeau** » Jul Wed 12, 2006 7:36 am

I'll DL it today! Thanks so much! (I'm also so jealous of your sept trip!)

QuickGold · Post by **QuickGold** » Jul Wed 12, 2006 8:53 am

I love Southwest, I just wish they'd give up the "seat yourself" policy

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Jul Wed 12, 2006 12:57 pm

I will be using them at the end of July, October and December. If you are a frequent flyer you can get free flights fast. I will get a lot of points by the end of the year and I will already have several from my Southwest credit card. If I get the free flight before december I will use them for that trip if after I may think about going back out to DL in the beginning of January so I can see DL's christmas stuff. I need to do my vacations this fiscal year because the next couple will be no vaction years.

As for the DING I got tickets for Orlando from Philly for $49 each way. I hope I can do that again for my October trip, or even the December trip.

By the way I don't have an amazing job that I can afford to do this every year, this one is just special because it will be my last vacations for 4 years.

karenj2 · Post by **karenj2** » Jul Wed 12, 2006 6:18 pm

Hey Dr. Ravenscroft - I just saw a DING for $61 from Philly to MCO... But if you're able to get to Baltimore semi easily, the fare was $59 each way (AND BWI has a much nicer/cheaper long-term parking area!)

Post by **Dr. Ravenscroft** » Jul Wed 12, 2006 7:15 pm

If I go to BWI I park my car at my uncle's and have him drive me. It is cheap and I score a visit at the sametime. Thanks for the heads up, but I still have to get the dates settled for October. If I can get them settled tonight I can book it tonight and get 2 points on this months creditcard statement, WOO HOO!! Then I only need a few more and I can go to Florida for free!!!

Mr.ToadWildRider · Post by **Mr.ToadWildRider** » Jul Tue 18, 2006 4:02 pm

I used to use Song. ( RIP

) They were great at stuff like that and they had/have amazing in-flight entertainment and all of that. I flew them this past trip for roughly $200 roundtrip, non-stop to&from Boston/Orlando at great times (like depart Boston at 8am depart Orlando at 9pm) but they recently dissolved and got swallowed back up into Delta their parent company. Unfortunately this change happened BEFORE our trip so our flight scheduled got thrown off by a few hours each way but not bad. We did lose our seating arrangement on the way home though...and on the way down we had to switch seating to accomodate a family who apparently didn't make reservations well. That got me mad, why did all 6 of them have to be together? Keep 1 adult and a few kids in one place and the other adult with kids in another but don't essentially pressure people out of seats to "Keep these children with their parents" - grr. Sorry, it's just when you're the first ones booked on a flight (which we were as we had our pick of seats when we booked) TO sit together only to have some whiney mom and a burdened flight attendent ask you to move it's a little frustrating. But then again it was a Delta flight no longer Song :-p. Oh well, at least they still had in flight personal entertainment choice including my fave, competitive in flight trivia!

SW sounds pretty good though. They sound even cheaper than Song but maintain direct flights (unlike AirTram which my g/f uses and constantly has layovers in random out of the way places for hours at a time). I LOVE SW's commercials too! They're sooooo funny!

broncoflyer8912 · Post by **broncoflyer8912** » Jul Tue 18, 2006 5:54 pm

Yeah SWA is a great company, they always have great deals. Since they dont serve food, a tiny bag of peanuts and a drink, they encourage you to bring a packed lunch if you have a long flight. They only negative is the first come first serve seating, which is good if you are in the "A" seating group because you'll get any seat you want on the airplane, but bad if you get the "C" boarding group because then you might not get to sit together with your SO, or family. The boarding groups are determined by when you check in, so check in as early as you can to guarantee that you get the "A" boarding group and when you get to the gate get in line by the ticket counter so you can be one of the first to board the airplane.

AKLRULZ · Post by **AKLRULZ** » Jul Wed 19, 2006 7:26 am

Okay, so we ended up on SWA for our impromptu trip down here - not bad! I'm not a fan of the cattle car line up, but as long as you have an "A" boarding pass (check in online!!) you'll do great!