Southwest Airlines Community

SW has stopped enforcing its rules a few years ago, and it is no longer pleasurable, nor economically useful to fly Southwest.  Where I generally fly out, with a little planning, Delta and American can be equal in price.  It is a huge turnoff upon boarding to see the one faker with an entourage preboard. ... View more

Contact Southwest and obtain a complete refund.  In addition, file a complaint with the US Department of Transportation.  Southwest needs to take people who save seats and have them removed from the plane.   Where is the flight attendant?   This is a Southwest problem.   ... View more

The number has greatly increased and will continue just as emotional support pets did. ... View more

I haven't checked luggage in over 25 years. After the second time my luggage did not arrive, once again with very specific clothing required, a suit for an international presentation & a banquet down the first time, that was the very last time I ever checked luggage.   I do love your thinking. It's a great idea if it works for you. However, never have the luxury to sit around and wait for 30 rows of people to deplane.  But if I had the time it sounds very entertaining.  ... View more

you very much sound like you’re against women’s bodies with the way you speak about them. we are not in middle school, women can dress anyway they like now a day. i don’t see why you had to mention families on board, you can walk out your house and see a man with his private parts hanging out so why are you so upset about a women wearing a bikini top on a plane. it’s not inappropriate, you are just sexualizing them.  ... View more

If the person really does have a problem that would cause them to vomit if they did not have a window seat (propensity to vomiting in the plane is not a disability) they should buy the upgraded seat.  I much prefer a window seat and I pay up every flight.  Paying all that extra money makes me want to vomit but I don't use it as an excuse to preboard.  Southwest's preboarding policy is (from their own website):   Preboarding is available for Customers who have a specific seating need to accommodate their disability and/or need assistance in boarding the aircraft or stowing an assistive device.   How this policy from their own website has turned into what they allow today is beyond me.  They need to stop allowing seat saving.   I have flown only Southwest since its inception but after my recent travel Southwest will no longer be my preferred airline due to preboarder scammers and the complicity of the Southwest staff that allow the scammers to operate without restrictions.  I 100% support legitimate disabled preboarders, but Southwest is letting this get out of control with nonsense claims people come up with and then allowing preboarders to save two separate full rows for the other people in their group that are in the C group.  On all three flights I took over this past two weeks they either allowed more than 1 person to board with a legitimate preboarders or they allowed each of the two preboarders to save rows of seats at the front of the plane.   How can they in good conscience charge one person $50 one way to upgrade and let someone without a legitimate DISABILITY preboard and save 4 seats.   In addtion to the preboarding fiasco, they have eliminated almost all of their non-stop flights and they do not allow enough time between connections.  They give no consideration to people who have to get off one flight in one terminal (carrying one personal item and a carryon because we don't trust that Southwest will get our checked luggage on their connecting flight) and only have 40 minutes to run clear across BWI to try to make it in line for the upgraded spot they paid for on the next flight. ... View more

I had a visit with my friend again, a Captain.  How does he determine if a passenger is drunk or not,...he is not trained to identify a drunk person?  Per my friend the Captain, he goes by watching the person or makes a quick determination,..or he is notified by security.  He just denied another "drunk" a couple of days ago.   After 26 years or so as a commercial pilot, he hasn't been "called on the carpet" yet by his bosses. A couple of other friends of mine who are SW pilots, (I use to fly with them in the Air Force),. they have done the same thing,...no repercussions.  I also know a couple of FAs and, according to them, FAs hate to deal with drunk passengers,...and there are plenty.  ... View more

@dfwskier wrote: @floridaguy wrote: If someone "saves" a seat, I ignore them.  I sit where I want.      Said the guy who later in the thread says that he pre boards anyway. Of course he sits where he wants. He pre boards. Plenty of open seats... What a phony... Stay out the exit row, and let's all move on.     ... View more

@jodjtm22 wrote: Hi community. I received a notice stating that a solution was selected for the topic that I wrote. Can someone help me understand how a solution was selected that I did not select?   Anyone reading a post can mark the post as a solution -- ANYONE.   I was hoping to receive objective information, backed by written policy and or procedure in response to my questions (below), however, I received subjective responses, relative ideological responses., etc. Can someone  provide an objective response to my question in this community?   How is the FA to know that you are an old pro that knows everything there is to know? The FA is given the duty of making sure that exit row occupiers know exactly what to do in the event a plane goes down and people have to get off the thing.   Failure to do so can result in deaths. You don;t need a policy to understand that -- just a bit of common sense ... View more

Anyone know if the "travel day only" coupons will be given the same end of year expiration when and if SWA opens back up beer/wine service?  Asking as a responsible and respectful traveler. ... View more

First, I am retired Air Force, flying air refueling aircraft and transport aircraft. I have dealt with in flight emergencies and opening hatches.  First, "Saving seats" should not be allowed in emergency rows. Those who board with the best group numbers (ex: Business Select) should be allowed if they want one of  those seats and it is open.  On one flight, a male (aggressive and confrontational) passenger saved the other two seats in the emerg row for his family. The FA was there and said nothing when another tall passenger and Business Select wanted to sit there.   When the other two family members came (C group), they were two elderly smaller women well into their late 70s or early 80s.   That should not be allowed which is another issue for emergency egress.    But:  How does SW set some common sense boundaries and enforce it without fear of a lawsuit or a physical confrontation?    In an emergency, things become chaotic,.. confusion and panic can set in.    I have seen it on SW once when encountering severe turbulence on descent and approach (into Burbank CA). Some passengers were screaming, puking, crying and the FAs were doing their best to keep everyone calm.  ... View more

We are so tired of southwest changing our flights. It feels like this should be illegal. We're done. We make reservations with other family members for travel and can't risk these changes. No more Southwest for us. ... View more

I agree with "spacecoastbill". I use to fly as an LEO and trained as well as the dynamics of a firearm discharged inside an aircraft. I'm also retired Air Force and flew. A discharged firearm, typically a 9 or 40, may put a hole in the window. No one is sucked out. The cabin pressure is compensated for.  At 37,000 feet one time, my right cockpit window came close to being blown out and that could perhaps have sucked someone out,..but we always had our cockpit seatbelts on. Yes, people reference movies as factual. I hear it all the time.  ... View more

Afternoon. Found this thread when researching which airlines will protect my health by following the basic science of viral transmission that we've had locked down for something near a hundred years now.   I was getting a kick from the plandemic people in the thread with their hilarious accusations that masks don't work or that the virus isn't real. Let me guess folks, the earth is flat and the moon landing was faked? 😂 They're spying on us with the five gee?? 🤣   Never fails to make me laugh when people are *proud* of their ignorance.   Anyway, masks do work:   https://www.nature.com/articles   https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449/d41586-020-02801-8   If you simply *must* continue to be ignorant on purpose about it, well shoot you know you're right, right? So you should have no problem saying so with your full name and face attached, right? Come on, I bet your employer would love to hear how much smarter you are than every virologist in the world 🙂 what are you, chicken? 🐔🐔     ... View more

What I'm wondering though, is when the guidance says that firearm parts "may be transported in checked baggage", can those parts be mixed in with clothing and NOT in a locked case - I understand that firearms have to be in a locked case - in my situation, the receiver (the serialized part) will be in a locked case.  Is there any requirement for the PARTS to also be in a locked case?  ... View more

@ffflyer wrote: SWA may not come out and say it but their actions obviously say that you can save as many seats as you want. The FAs will not intervene.    Our choices are to go along with this or fly another airline.    For me, SWA is almost always the lowest cost, most convenient, and most on time choice. But my frustration grows with each flight.    Seeing people in line ahead of me who didn't pay for EB, along with the ever growing line of pre-boarders and seat savers is making me take a hard look at other airlines. No airline is perfect.   With SW you've got early boarders and seat savers.   With everybody else you get charges for 1) specific seats 2) checked baggage 3)   up to $200 to use travel funds that happen as a result of changing/cancelling flights 4)   carry ons - for some 5)   beverages / snacks for some 6) forgetting to print your boarding pass before getting to the airport fo some   You pick your poison.   For me it's a no brainer -- SW all the way -- maybe because in my over 600 flights over the last 20 years, I have never seen a "seat saving" altercation, and seldom have a problem finding an appropriate seat.  ... View more

My pont was that I thought that you should send the airline an e-mail about changing the policy. You could write to the CEO of the airline. ... View more