When I travel, I almost always have a bag to check as I typically take a garment bag and don’t feel like being one of those people trying to stuff a bag into the overhead compartments. Checking a bag is not a big deal to me and I actually kind of prefer it.

So I would still need to check the bags, which I did at the skycap in the first airport. But as I mentioned, the line was still quite long at the skycap and even worse inside.

I don’t travel often and rarely fly for personal travel but it will have to be an outstanding price difference at this point for me to try Southwest again.

But as is the case with most things, there will always be people that don’t like something that others do like. For your experience, it is good to hear that Southwest works well for you.

1) You can check-in online and print your boarding pass 24 hours in advance. When I do this, I almost always get in the A group

2) I hardly ever need to check a bag and if I forget to print the pass, I just go through the automated check-in lines…short or no wait. Of course, I’m much more likely to end up in the B or C group. When this happens, I don’t sweat it, I may just go ahead and be the last darn person on the plane…waiting in a nice chair while everyone else stands in line.

3) Low Prices. More often than not, Southwest has the best fare for where I’m going…hands down. Full seats means the airline is doing well and helps those prices staying low.

4) Easy to rack up free flights if you are more often on shorter trips. My flights are typically short (2 hours or less) and when travelling frequently, it doesn’t take long to get a free pass which has tons of flexibility. It has very few blackouts and I can give it to someone else with no hassle if I choose to.

5) Yes, I agree the charge to change flights is quite annoying. I don’t quite understand why they aren’t a bit more flexible about that. Fortunately, my problem is usually missing my scheduled flight and then being forced to take a later one…they don’t charge me for that. Also, if I recall, they don’t charge you if you paid full fare (I could be wrong about this).

6) Don’t discount the experience attributed to the airport. There are some airports I absolutely love (usually the smaller ones), and others are a bit difficult. I can’t really comment about the two you mentioned, but Southwest has skycaps also that I’ve used on occassion (when travelling with family).

If price is not a factor, then go with whomever you think will give you the most love. If price matters and you learn how to “play the game”, I bet Southwest comes out on top more often than not. Anyway, just my two cents.

I’ve never flown out of the country so I can only imagine the hassle you face with some of those restrictions and performance from the airlines.

One good thing on the Southwest flight was that they had spicy V8 juice, which I downed a couple of times.

I hate the cattle call seating. Even when you check in online and get in group A it still sucks to have to get there early to get a decent seat. I hate not knowing where I’m going to sit before I board.

There are, however, a couple of advantages with Southwest.

1 - their FAs tend to have a better sense of humor
2 - if you change your flight in advance you may not have to pay

I experienced #2 recently when I had to change a flight twice due to moving delays. The first time it didn’t cost anything because the new flight was the same price as the old flight. The second time it cost $35 because the new flight was $35 more expensive than the old flight.

But really that isn’t enough to make me want to fly them. I hate that they’re the primary carrier out of this city but I guess I need to get used to it…