I was at the Kentucky Derby last weekend and needed to get home early on Sunday. From Louisville, there are typically no nonstop flights to Los Angeles (United had a special one-day-only Kentucky Derby nonstop flight to LA later in the day, but it was over $800 one-way) but Southwest does have a “direct” flight to LA that makes a ground stop in Phoenix but no aircraft change. The price of that flight fluctuated greatly but I eventually locked in at a reasonable $293.
I have not flown Southwest in years — I believe the last time I flew Southwest was from San Jose, CA to Burbank, CA in 2009 — and was looking forward to what I thought would be a no-nonsense flight. Unfortunately, the trip did not go as smoothly as planned.
1. Wi-Fi Inoperable
I am sure there is fine print somewhere stating wi-fi is not guaranteed, but I would not have chosen this flight had I known there would not be wi-fi onboard. Upon boarding I noticed immediately we were on a 737-300 (it has been awhile since I’ve been on an older 737) and soon thereafter a FA made an announcement that there would be no wi-fi today (“You’ll have to talk to your neighbors the old fashioned way” she said…).
Sure, last minute aircraft swaps are commonplace, but this was not an intra-California flight: it was a 4.5 hour flight. Very disappointing.
On the Phoenix to LA leg, wi-fi was working but $8.00 for a 50-minute flight. What kind of pricing is that? Seems Southwest has a flat rate no matter the flight length.
2. “Direct” flight was not really direct
We left Louisville on time and landed on time in Phoenix — bravo. Passengers continuing to LA were told to remain seated. So we did.
After the plane had emptied out, the FA made an announcement saying, “Passengers continuing on to LA please gather your belongings and exit the aircraft. Your flight to LA will depart from Gate B19. Just show your ID at the gate, there will be no need to present boarding passes.” So much for a direct flight…
It was not even a short walk over to B19 but I thought at least we would get to “pre-board” before others since we were on a “direct” flight. Nope. The flight had already fully boarded and I was forced to take a seat in the very last row.
3. Lack of onboard meals for purchase
I was in Lexington on Saturday night and left my hotel at 4am to reach Louisville by 5:15a to board on time at 5:55a. I arrived with time to spare, but the only eatery open at SDF was Starbucks and I counted more than 70 people in line. Even had I waited, there would not have been time to get coffee and breakfast.
Onboard, Southwest serves free snacks on longer flights. What did that entail? Nabisco cookies in addition to the usual peanuts. Don’t misunderstand — I appreciate the free snacks, but having the option to purchase something heartier would have been appreciated. I realize this is not really in Southwest’s business model — it just does not work for me.
4. The Southwest people
Going back to the days of Airline on A&E (a reality series that chronicled passenger travails on Southwest), Southwest flyers seem to fall into a certain demographic. One of Southwest’s signatures is open seating and the situation went down like this–
I was traveling with my friend John, who had naturally paid the $40 extra for “Upgraded Boarding” in order to board before me. The hope was that he could secure a prime seat and no one would sit in the middle seat next to him.
He was A13, I was B28. He boarded, secured seat 4A, then told me he was holding the middle seat. Apparently another woman had the same idea and sat down in 4C. John mentioned that I was coming to the woman and she said nothing.
Anyway, turns out she was saving the seat for her husband, who happened to have B27 on his boarding pass! So he was right in front of me. The plane was filling up at this point and when he began to take 4B once onboard, I stated “I am sitting there” as he went for the seat (unaware that he was 4C’s husband).
It is open seating, so he had every right to that seat, but his wife’s reaction was priceless.
Frantically she screeched, “No, that’s his seat. Hurry up Steve and sit down! Hurry! It’s open seating here! That’s my husband. You have no right to this seat. Hurry! Just sit down!”
I chuckled and told her that I would not “steal” her seat. I even apologized for not realizing that the man in front of me was her travel companion. She smirked at me. I was taken aback by her unprovoked nasty tone. Reminded me of Airline. I find open seating uncivilized.
So in the end Southwest got me from SDF to LAX on time at a good price and I am thankful for that. I won’t fly Southwest again anytime soon, though — the issues above were annoying and travel is annoying enough already without these additional stresses that I can usually avoid when flying on United or American.
Nothing is more comforting than knowing I have an assigned asile seat.
I read an article ahwile back that pointed out the no assigned seats policy was due to the lack of technology in Southwest reservation system. Since then the reservation system has been upgraded but the CEO mentioned the no assigned seats is part of the culture now.
Just curious why you didn’t pay the $15 for Early Bird check in? Given the flight was $294, it doesn’t seem prohibitive.
@Eric: Early Bird was $40 and all I wanted to do was sit and work for the flight, which I can do even in a middle seat. In hindsight, I would have though. John did merely so he would not have to wait — not because he necessarily wanted a better seat.
@Matthew – minor clarification from a semi-frequent WN flyer. The $40 isn’t for “Early Bird” check-in. That’s for “priority boarding”, which is sold only on the day of travel and gives you an A1-15 boarding position, usually reserved for Business Select. Early Bird is sold at the time of purchase up to 36 hours before departure for $15 each way. It automatically checks you in, and usually but not always results in an A boarding pass. Also FYI, the $8 charge is per day, not per flight. I’d never pay that for a short hop from PHX to LAX, but assuming your plane leaving SDF had working WiFi, you would only have paid once and had access on both legs.
That’s also unfortunate what happened to your “direct” flight. That isn’t SOP, though it did happen to me once, ironically also at PHX. But through passengers were allowed to board first when it happened.
Do you really travel? Let’s be real, not having WiFi happens all the time, and of the US majors, your favorite airline, United has been the WORST and slowest at installing WiFi fleet wide! They are still miles behind their peers!
2 ONLY WN allows direct passengers to stay onboard on a direct flight and most direct flights now change crews and planes at the US majors, the only thing that is direct is the flight number.
3 – who eats airplane food for purchase. Sure WN selection sucks/is nonexistent, but bring your own
4- we’ve all have had shitty experiences on all airlines. It’s not the people, its the policies! Pay for what you want, if you want a first class seat or a better seat, pay for it
This is par for the course with WN. I’m not complaining, since they are clear what the rules are. However, I don’t usually fly them these days, because (1) their prices seem to be going up and they are usually no longer the cheapest flight, and (2) they are terrible at IRROPs. The other airlines, even UA, are usually much better at re-routing you when something goes wrong.
@Rocky: I know you love hating on UA, but they have caught up to others in terms of wi-fi. It is now nearly 100% fleetwide, even on the larger United Express regional jets. I travel over 100K per year on United and I am a very happy camper. I have had only one flight without wifi this year and not because it wasn’t installed but because it was broken.
I don’t really care that WN is the only carrier that allows passengers to stay onboard during “direct” flights — it is indeed a comparative advantage and they market “no plane change” heavily and it was one of the reasons I purchased that ticket. They failed and should not use deceptive sales practices if they are not going to deliver.
Kind of hard to buy food at 4am on a Sunday morning, either at the grocery store or an airport.
All nit-picking things in a way, but I just don’t like the Southwest model. It was an interesting experiment, nevertheless.
@MEANMEOSH: Thanks for the clarification.
Matthew
I’m with you on this. Am a IK on UAL. Even with all its problems, I enjoy the comfort of selecting my seat far in advance. Southwest ALWAYS has seemed like a cattle call for me. Perhaps I have just been sucked into United over the years with the 1K status. But it sure beats SW. Last week, on Southwest, I had an old 737-300 (they call it “the classic”) and, of course, no Wi-Fi. Plus the fact it was 2:45 hours late.. I will say, however, that I’ll take the SW inflight crew any day over United. Some of the UAL crew are as tired and worn as the old classic 737-300
And when there is a plane change – forget the A-list as they just move you over to another gate and you are on your own.
The rules that Southwest has is that you can’t save seats. The FA’s will enforce this usually. In your situation you just happen to board 1 too late.
I agree that I don’t really love, uh…sorry LUV Southwest. I usually can get an A boarding pass but it’s just such a hassle. I guess it would be OK if it actually saved any time on boarding. Instead you end up with games in the boarding process. There is no extra leg room seats unless you can get on early and secure an exit row and then the seats are rock hard. I’ve also had flights where I got a really good A boarding space only to find out that the plane was connecting from another airport so once I got on the the plane all the good seats had already been taken anyway. Your almost better off with the Rick Steve’s method of waiting to get on last and then head to the back and find a good seat with no one next to you.
“I was taken aback by her unprovoked nasty tone.”
But you trying to claim a seat that you didn’t pay for (by saying “I am sitting there”) is what….polite?
Yes, I was polite.
Huge huge huge plus for WN is their lack of fees for changing or canceling your flight…if fare goes down you get the difference back in full travel credit…love the flexibility..and if course no baggage fees.
Ah, but those awful, low-life blacks who work and fly southworst.
It’s Harlem in the air!
Never ever fly them–or just as bad, Spurt
You’re low class for writing such a lame post.
The Southwest model pits passenger against passenger. It starts with “Oh, whats your number mine is B-23, Oh you have C-22? you’re not in front of me, you’re in the C group”. Etc, etc, etc. I’ve had people run around of me on the boarding bridge. I once had a women tell me “sorry this seat is saved”, to which I replied “you mean it was saved” I then sat down. She started to cause a scene, but thankfully a flight attendant was there and explained there was no saving seats. Seating is simple, first come first seated with no saved seats allowed. My company occasionally books me on Southwest. Southwest is my second favorite airline. All the rest are tied for first. I’ve experienced all of the above comments. The Southwest model works fine for Southwest. I just doesn’t work for me.
Even with “early bird” check in, if your flight is delayed, you could end up with a rear-middle seat on the next flight.
Sorry, until they get assigned seats (and maybe a business class) I’ll have to avoid WN.
Also: Please get something other than the uber cramped 737.
Southwest is utter garbage, from tip to tail. It is a revolting and repugnant airline in so many ways, and I tend to consider it the McDonalds of the sky…crappy people serving a crappy product to crappy customers and still making a profit. It goes to show that profitability is not the same thing as quality.
Southwest remains basically unaffiliated with other airlines and alliances. Points and miles are not transferable and interlining is unheard of. It’s reward system offers nothing but a slightly higher chance of getting the COACH seat you want.
There is NO first class..no Biz class. This means no lounges, no priority bags, no better seats, and no chance to distance yourself from the obese, soft-brained, mouth breathing, waddlers in the back. No real incentives. No real reward. They play it off as a kind of proletariat “everyman” schtick that it’s all coach and all open seating. Really, it’s just bottom of the barrel.
They are not cheaper than legacies…although there are ignorant peons who still believe the myth and book them without shopping around.
There is no international save for the seasonal code share for Mexico. Why earn points when you cannot turn them into an international reward flight? Why spend years flying domestic when you cannot reap the rewards and get yourself to Paris or Rio?
The camp counselor chumminess is fucking annoying. Late middle aged grampa may find it funny..but then that guy likes to asks retail workers if they are “working hard or hardly working” and laughs at his own wit. There is no dignity to their cornball jokes, their painfully cringey CS hold messages (anyone remember Southwest Rap?). Have some self respect WN, employees.
The boarding system is terrible, and the rules are not enforced at the gate level. I want to reserve my seat ahead of time so I don’t have to jockey with some cheapskate on EBCI who wants to hold the exit row for his C pass companions.
“The camp counselor chumminess is fucking annoying. Late middle aged grampa may find it funny..but then that guy likes to asks retail workers if they are “working hard or hardly working” and laughs at his own wit. ”
I have quoted you so many times that I figured that it was time to give you credit. This has to be the best line that I’ve ever read in any comment section. Thanks, Jay
I would agree with the comments posted earlier about SWA being a ‘cattle car’. Open seating is a disaster – the few times I’ve flown SWA I’ve almost seen fights break out over someone trying to save a seat for another person in a later boarding zone. The few times I’ve flown them it’s always been a hassle. I’ve had to call the flight attendant over to explain to someone that is telling me I have no right to a particular seat, that, in fact, I do. But, despite the fact I do, the whole experience is annoying, and I would rather have an assigned seat any day.
Another reason I can’t stand SWA has nothing to do with the general public’s perception of the airline, but more to do with my interaction with them on a professional level. I was a U.S. air traffic controller for 25 years, in various airports and radar facilities across the U.S., and SWA has always been the #1 thorn in my side when I’ve been working. Their pilots were given bonuses by their company every time they arrived early at their destination, so naturally they would constantly bug ME as a controller for short cuts and altitude changes nonstop….even during busy/congested periods. It would get so bad at times that other pilots would occasionally chime in quickly and say “pipe down Southwest”, or something similar. When you’re busy in the air traffic environment, the last thing you want is a pilot asking you for frivolous requests like short cuts and the like, which impact how effectively you’re managing your traffic workload overall. SWA pilots are safe, and I can’t say they’re any better or worse, in terms of performance from my point of view, than any other professional pilots out there. It’s the dangling of the carrot by management that I can’t stand – it affected me and other aircraft every time they tied up the frequency requesting things that weren’t necessary.
I used to have pretty good service (not the best but okay) with Southwest, but I would say maybe in the last five years or so it’s been really really bad. I just added my lap baby to an existing flight (that already cost too much in my opinion) and they re-booked the flight and all three of us just to add her and booked the more expensive fare WITHOUT telling me. Now, I just realized this on my credit card charges and I have no option but to call customer relations (Mon-Fri) and deal with it on my work day. I already can’t stand the cattle call type of boarding and they really aren’t more economical with the extra charges (early bird) etc.
Southwest is to air travel as McDonald’s is to food: A substandard product which appeals to the indolent, the poverty stricken, the cheap and those without a shred of self respect and as such, turns a proft.
I flew from Fort Myers ro BWI recently. And I agree that people on SW flights are just a-holes. I was removed from my aisle seat by a flight attendant who said he had “promised an aisle seat” to the miserable old guy I sat next to. He made it clear I was. Problem. Soooo…Headed to the backmof the plane to be nearer my wife to find the only seat available was the middle seat. The two guys sitting in the row were huge a-holes in lying “I’m waiting for a buddy”. Stupid as all were boarded. So sat in the middle seat, for 2.5 hours with a bad back, not enough room even for a drink, couldn’t sit back, suffering pain to make it easier for my a-hole seat mates. Made it. And the guys I sat with? Appreciative that I suffered while they slept and watched TV? Nope. Total A-holes that I took that middle seat. So, moral of the story? Screw the peeps around you in the middle seat situation. Make yourself comfortable!! Ft Myers to BWI, Flt 1410, 12/8//018.
I have mixed feelings about Southwest. I enjoy their reliability of being on time and their free bags but that’s where my love for them ends. I cannot stand their cattle call boarding and their inability to assign seats. It has created a monster. I paid extra once so I would get priority boarding only for it not to be enforced by the employee at the gate who allowed everyone who claimed to be handicapped, needing assistance or in the military/ex military to be allowed to board before me which was roughly about 60-70 people (granted the employee at the gate had no way of checking any of this and was overwhelmed so it did seem to me that there were just random people boarding that were taking advantage of the situation). Needless to say it was a waste of money. I do understand the business model wanting people to rush to board because because when they board faster they take off faster which is pretty smart of their part but still annoying. It results in customers being very pushy, rude and generally acting like nutcases. Speaking of their customers Southwest definitely have more than their fair share of oddballs that fly with them compared to when I fly Delta or American. Southwest’s clientele always seems a little bit strange to me. I also have noticed that even though they do not charge for bags some of their fares are more expensive than flying with other airlines so before you book I would check if you are really saving money. If the other airlines charge 25 dollars per bag but their fare is over 25 dollars cheaper than Southwest’s fare you aren’t really saving money by flying Southwest. However people are under the impression they are saving money by flying Southwest when sometimes they are not. Please keep in mind Southwest’s fares are not as cheap as they used to be 15-20 years ago. Also if you sign up for a credit card with delta, American, united, etc. your bags are free anyways. I do not like that Southwest has no inflight entertainment to speak of and their wifi rarely works. This is annoying on long flights. When you fly delta or American every seat on their longer flights offers a variety of free movies, tv shows, news channels, and music. There are also no food options to speak of on Southwest which does not bother me but it is an issue when you are sitting next to an inconsiderate Southwest customer who decided to bring a very stinky salami sandwich or garlicky piece of pizza on board. That is how I would describe most of Southwest’s clientele: Inconsiderate. Another word that comes to mind : Cheap. Don’t even get me started on the employees. They encourage their employees to act like Disneyworld employees. I’ve noticed most of them have toned it down nowadays but so many of them were just obnoxious back in the day. I’ve also noticed whenever I’ve flown southwest their gate and security areas are always very busy. Their lines are usually the longest lines in the airport and their gate areas are an extremely overcrowded claustrophobic disaster. Even thought Southwest is reliable I prefer another option if I have one.