Southwest Airlines Community

One trick I have found to always be successful is to say thank you often, audibly and sincerely.  In my early travels I would always try to get free mixed drinks by being especially nice.  My success rate was over 80%.  Today I have more coupons than I can use.  On a full flight of 143 passengers, I have observed that 80% are ambivalent regarding the floght crew, 10% are in a bad mood or just plain mean and 10% or less are appreciative and show it to the crew.  Calling them by name, saying thank you every chance you get and acknowledging they have a tough customer base will in my estimation yield more water than you could drink from Cancun to Houston.  Happy flying everyone. It works! ... View more

Good to know I am not the only one with auto-cancel issues. My concern is that I fly between the same destinations frequently, sometimes several times in the same week.  It would be nice if I inadvertently book two flights by mistake if the system would tell me about the issue and give me a chance to cancel the flight of my choice.  They do have my money after all.  Instead, two times since the system was implemented I have had my more preferable flight time become the cancelled flight...and each time the cancelation was after Business Select was sold out on the preferred flight.  I have found that since the changes in May two years ago, IT at SW is not transparent and customer service shows frustration with that non-transparency. ... View more

Same thing happened to me with my IPad left on a flight out of Burbank.  An honest someone or a SW employee found it.  I provided payment for an overnight delivery and LP and behold 48 hours later I had it.  Another time I followed my phone with Find My IPhone by pinging it.  Thank goodness I had logged in to SW WiFi.   There are good people out there.  I hope one of them finds your Surface. ... View more

Another possibility may be to call customer service.  If you have all the information related to the original ticket issued, they may be ablr to work around the issue. I have found that group to be very resourceful. ... View more

My observation has been that tagged young travelers board early if they are at the gate early (30 minutes before scheduled departure plus a bit).,  some operations agents have helped young travelers to board with pre-boarding passengers.  I have observed usually unaccompanied young travelers are seated in the second or third row and are well cared for by flight attendants all the way through disembarkation.  I hope this brings comfort. ... View more

Good to know, but this does not address the regular sized passenger that is in the squeeze.  On a Houston to Dallas flight I had an aisle seat (A1 boarding pass) on a full flight.  I had a not so gentlemen sit next to me and the width of his well-exercised shoulders, hips, legs and arms were such that I was unable to keep my aisle side shoulder inside the armrest, so I was bumped a number of times.  I asked if he could uncross his arms and put his legs closer together.  I was threatened that if I did not shut up I would be sitting in the aisle.  Knowing myself and the likelihood that confrontation would only end badly for me, I left the plane and caught the next Houston flight.  I did ask the operations agent at the gate to address this incident with the fellow. I am confident that this guy will be a two seat required passenger for life.  The next flight was much calmer. ... View more

And if they started this policy, it would be great if the coupon was in electronic format like boarding passes,.  Saves paper and improves the process.  Maybe barcode so that the electronic credit card  equipment could read the bar code.  Frequent flier RR gift drink tickets could also be electronically delivered and used.  Looks like better inventory control, cost savings and maybe even increases the revenue so SW  bags always fly free in the future. ... View more

If you have not voted, please hurry.  ... View more

One benefit that early boarders (through benefits either earned or purchased)  have is the ample availability of overhead bin space.  I have observed that on some full flights, the bins fill up and a half dozen or more people have to check their roller bag luggage.  The luggage does get checked to your final destination, but if I am headed to Love Field, that can add twenty plus minutes to getting out of the airport. ... View more

I am an A-lister also, usually pay for Business Select and also have seen an abuse of the seat saving rule.  As with almost anything with rules, the abusers (less tha 5% of the population in my experience) force the establishment of more and more rules.  I am comfortable personally for a couple sitting together in a saved seat.  On numerous occassions I have had requests on assigned seat airlines to trade to accomodate someone sitting with a spouse, a business companion or a a parent and child and these are usually OK by me.  I think we all have to get used to flights being full, families like to sit together and during summer and school breaks the problem peaks. ... View more

Great to hear about Southwest's effort to help our incredible veterans.  God bless all those that have served in the military. ... View more

What a great approach to making things better.  I recommend that we passengers reciprocate Gary Kelly's message and spread our own kindness.  It is known that travel through airports is stressful.  The RDU airport folks have studied this phenomenon and addressed it by limiting the volume of music and noise coming into the concourse from its vendors, recognizing that those noises increase the stress level that already exists.  Must be like having your blood pressure checked at the doctor's office, it is always higher than your results at home or at the pharmacy.   So my suggestion is that, even when stressed as a Southwest customer, we can all add to de-stressing the situation by displaying calm and kindness. Both of these are contagious in the broadest sense. Remember that the Southwest folks are servers and helpers.  They did not cause the equipment to fail, the weather to be bad or the flight arriving late, but their stress increases wihen these conditions occur.  In fact, they don't even write the policies that we are sometimes scorched by.  Show a little kindness, say a few heartfelt thank you's, smile, stay calm and return some of the love that on easy days we have all gotten from Southwest people.  Thanking them for their service when they face a frowning long line will go a long way to helping them get through the problems.  Everyone deserves a break if they can get one. ... View more

Does anyone else remember those old plastic boarding passes?  How many germs did those things spread?  I have found the mobile boarding pass to be one of the best changes in the last few years at Southwest.  Only problem is trying to figure out if the number on the pass in front of me is really a lower number or I am behgind a poacher..LOL.  I suppose the unintended, but good consequence of the mobile boarding pass is that we must talk to each other instead of looking ove someone's shoulder to see if they are ahead of you or behind you. ... View more

Good to know this.  I will be traveling in June from Israel to Detroit then flying from Detroit to Dallas on Southwest.  My check in time would have been thwarted but for your great advice. ... View more

One challenge when I make a reservation has been to keep up with their flight if I am involved like picking them up at the airport .  The point provder is provided an email from SW, but I add the emai(s) of the passenger(s) ion the boxes below the passenger input section.   Once I receive my email from SW (which is the only documentation to me from SW until the reminders for rooms and rent cars arrive by email, often weeks later), I immediately post it on my outlook calendar with the reservation number so that I can pull up the info later if plans change. I also forward the email I receive to everyone that needs to know the flight plans.    Another subtle practice I often choose to do, is to book each passenger one-way and under separate reservations so that later any partial changes that arise can be made quickly.  If the itenanry is not completed because they drove back,  flew another airline or decided to pay for their own fare, I just cancel the impacted flight thirty minutes or more before scheduled departure for a full refund of the points to my account. ... View more

The system can be tweeked a little by the user by making your reservations One-Way (there is a button when you start the reservation process on-line).  That allows you to have two separate   two tickets issued for each direction for roundtrip travel. That way, once the first flight is completed and you have reached the appropriate segments or earned the points needed to qualify your status will be updated (though I do not know how long it takes the system to update your status, the points are applied fairly quickly now) without completing the return trip.   I have found  that reserving one-way is easy to do, the price stays the same and I can book one way with RR points and the other way in dollars.  Also, I often book my return much earlier than my outbound flight, because those afternoon flights on Thursday and Friday sometimes book up and sell out before my outbound early morning flights.  That allows me to delay my scheduling for meetings on arrival and book and pay for the outbound at a later time.  Another benefit improves the process of my habit of changing my flights at the last minute for both outbound and inbound flights when IO do need to change only one flight.   This a a perfect way for me to simplify that part of my travel.  Hope this helps. ... View more

In my ten years of near-exclusive weekly flights with SW, I have experienced every level of frustration that one can  imagine.  I am absolutely positive that the people I encounter at Southwest are only human and like me have good days, normal days and really bad days, but they try!  It is often obvious that the system is having problems and it affects passengers and their stress.  But think about the people that have to deal with the problems, are expected to be expert and magicians.  Thes SW employees (as with all airport personel, including TSA) are for the most aprt trying to do a good job in a bad situation.  The MAX 8 is just one of the issues they face...computer shutdowns, weather in other airports, equipment problem cancellations and many more challenges we never see.  Then there is the rude, loud, mean spirited passenger to deal with.  A shout out to these folks for jus coming to work on days like this.  I have found that when things are tough, lines are long and the flyinf world is in disarray, that a nice thank you is a great lift for the stress they face.  Even better, for you A+ Prefferred, hand them a kick tail voucher.  You will be doing all those people in line behind you a favor by lifting the spirits of the one about to serve them. ... View more

Lindsey, it dawned on me that if SW is moving its MAX 8 fleet to the desert for better preservation thensome of the old 737 - 500 aircraft may also be in the desert in storage somewhere. If that is the case, can any be re-leased on a short term basis and placed into service.  I did not like (and most flight attendants I have talked to do not like) the old equipment, but it could be better to cancel fewer flights than to avoid flying in the old style.  Of course if the planes have been stripped and the avionics re-implemented this would likely not be a cost or time effective strategy. ... View more

I tend to agree with the other replies, except that if your 1st segment is late and the second flight is on time, it can get tight.  Note than even with an early boarding position, if the plane is loading (thirty minutes before departure is typical) and you arrive late, then you will be behind your assigned position many times.    It is also good to note that if all is on time, a benefit that early boarders have is the ample availability of overhead bin space.  I have observed that on some full flights, the bins are full and a half dozen or more people have to check their roller bag luggage.  The luggage does get checked to your final destination, but if I am headed to Love Field, that can add twenty plus minutes to leaving the airport. ... View more

Just saw that 1st flight just landed in Honolulu.  Congratulations to the entire Southwest family for a job well done. And the icing on the cake is the pending contract with the mechanics. ... View more

My experience is that spouses are included under the rental agreement in most states.  Same for employees of same company for rentals related to business purposes.  Additional driver charges are also tricky.  Remember at $10 per day per additional driver, a one week rental would add $70 plus tax.  Always inquire before you arrive to avoid surprises. ... View more

I don't want to discourage anyone to vote for all your favorites, but if you really want Southwest to prevail, vote only for Southwest, so your number 1 is not diluted.  Use your own best judgment, but I only voted for one airline in those categories. ... View more

I don't want to discourage anyone to vote for all your favorites, but if you really want Southwest to prevail, vote only for Southwest, so your number 1 is not diluted.  Use your own best judgment, but I only voted for one airline in those categories. ... View more

A couple of comments: For full fare flights I get a credit to my credit card. If I cancel a flight and do not get a refund  I send myself an email of the cancellation then move it to a personal folder labeled refunds.   I travel a lot so  I get many emails from Southwest Airlines, but few from me and it is easier to find flight funds that way. ... View more

Be sure and use the wallet to store your boarding passes.   One great thing when your phone is put away, the IWatch can open the bar code from your wallet if you added the boarding pass to your wallet.  Note that the wallet does not store drink coupons for Business Select fares, but I have not found that to be a problem with any flight attendant. ... View more

Aa a leader in Urban Land Institute (ULI), an international real estate organization, I would luv to see a Southwest presentation at one of our meetings. ... View more

I am an online freak, that makes reservations by phone when trying to reserve for an under 2 year old.  I find the assistance in reservations to be over the top excellent. ... View more

Though I am an online freak, I always make my reservations by phone when trying to reserve for an under two year old child.  I have always found the assistance in reservations to be over the top excellent. ... View more