I’ve been flying Southwest 2-3x a week for several years now—I’ve been meaning to finally join this messageboard I’ve lurked for so long, so thanks, as it’s a good question. When I first took a field job, I primarily chose Southwest because of the frequency of service to my two prime stops, Albuquerque and New Orleans (but I handle Portland OR to San Juan PR, and can/do use SWA to get to all those locales). In the intervening years, the reasons have changed: 1. The Companion Pass, one of the better if not best reward of all the domestic airlines—my wife flies for free with me and we use the heck out of it with no restrictions. 2. The customer service. On the phone and at the gate and on the plane and on social media, I’ve always had good, usually very good, responsive experiences with staff. 3. Open seating. As I most often book less than a week before flying, I love that I’m not stuck picking the best of a bunch of middle seats. Now, those are my main reasons, they might not work for others, just as others’ reasons reasons might not be best for me (like, I very very rarely check a bag, but I like knowing I can for free if I choose). And I’m not saying they are perfect, not hardly. They had a pretty rough early summer, as poor COVID business decisions SWA made and outside tech issues and the severe weather created a perfect storm of problems that pax had to suffer through (and I did). I’ve done my share of complaining to Southwest staff for sure. But for the vast majority of the time, before and since, they get me there on time (or early) and most importantly, safely (their top track record on that is important to me, too). I’m a happy customer, which is more than I can say for, say, my rental car companies. Now, if you don’t like them, fine, whatever, but no one here can do anything about it (or even care, to be frank)—it’s a messageboard for pax to share info and opinions amongst themselves. Good luck/Godspeed.
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