Not just A list preferred, but there are people who pay for early bird checkin. The boarding position is not based on the cost of the fare unless it's business select, but the other two have no effect from my understanding. There's also just so many people checking in at once on top of the A listers and early birds, so sometimes our boarding positions end up in the early C group because of that. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast
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2 weeks ago
3 Loves
I'm sorry that you experienced this. I would agree with the above replies. I would also say that whenever you buy a ticket with any airline, you agree that the flight schedule could change though I've never heard of someone getting changed to a different day. Like others said, you can change your flight for free even to a more expensive flight because they changed it. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast
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2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
I keep forgetting that. Here's a link with directions for anyone that needs them, you have to scroll down a bit. https://www.southwest.com/wifi/ *edit: this link is in the first reply It's also in this entertainment guide (page 2): https://www.southwest.com/assets/pdfs/travel-extras/inflight_entertainment_guide.pdf -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger | Aviation Enthusiast
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2 weeks ago
There's a reason tickets say the time that boarding starts and usually say that the doors close 10 minutes before departure because the jetway needs to be pulled away and the aircraft pushed back after clearance from the tower. Plus, with Southwest, idk why you'd want to board later, so your arriving flight must have been really late with an already tight connection. Now usually airlines know if they have connecting passengers arriving on a delayed arrival, so depending on how late it is, they'll usually hold the plane for you. It also depends on how many people they're waiting for. If they're just waiting for one person, they usually give the seat to a standby because it's easier to rebook 1 person than it is to rebook 10 people. If you're concerned about missing a connection, tell the flight attendant and they'll let the pilots know who will contact the gate agents at the arriving airport. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger
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2 weeks ago
1 Love
Yea, way too long, didn't read it nor did I want to. This is a customer to customer forum so most people wouldn't be able to help you other than help explain what happened and why it happened, but even that isn't likely on here. Feel free to file a complaint to Southwest in the link provided in the first comment. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger
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2 weeks ago
Remove the confirmation number as said above, someone could in essence steal it. You don't need your confirmation number to see if your flight is on time, you just need the flight number and can look at the status here: https://www.southwest.com/air/flight-status/?clk=GSUBNAV-FLTSTATUS or search the flight number on Google or here https://flightaware.com Again, you only need the flight number to see if it's on time, no need for confirmation number, that's for checkin in only. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger
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2 weeks ago
Most airlines don't allow this due to "Hidden City Ticketing" where someone will buy a connecting flight with a stop in the city they actually want to go to because it's cheaper than a flight that ends in said city. Airline's don't like this and thus don't check bags just a partial way. This tends to not be a problem on Southwest because a connecting flight is generally more expensive due to paying a combined fair if I'm not mistaken. Sometimes a gate checked bag will be handed back to you at the stop over unless the next flight is on the same plane. But generally all bags are checked to the final destination to avoid passengers skipping out on their last flight. This is true except when arriving on an international flight into the US where you have to grab your checked bag and recheck or not if you're continuing on. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger
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2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
Southwest operates their entertainment as a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and does not provide headphones. They are a low cost carrier. There are generally instructions in one of the folders in the seat back pocket. Basically you connect to the inflight wifi (no charge) unless you want to pay for internet, but the entertainment is fully supported and no need to pay for internet. Just connect and watch. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Passenger
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2 weeks ago
1 Love
It's unfortunate that happened to you. Now I don't know where you bought your new bag but the phrase "you get what you pay for" could be applied to the piece of luggage you bought as well. File a complaint for a damaged bag. Did you go to the southwest baggage office at the airport after picking up your bag? These things happen all the time, sometimes it's not even the airline but the airport's baggage system.
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2 weeks ago
I know, I've had bags that had to come on a later flight but that was mainly because we got to the airport too late and our bags didn't make it through the baggage system and out to the aircraft in time or at least half of ours didn't. It was weird because our bags that didn't make it were the ones that were checked first and when into the baggage sorting system first. Must've been because they were on the bottom of the pile 😂 -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Flyer
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2 weeks ago
2 Loves
What do you mean there's not enough time left? Right now is the best time to book flights for end of June, and through July. We haven't even reached the best time to buy tickets for August yet, so of course there's time. The only thing I can think of is that based on whatever job you have, you're not allowed to take time off until next year or something. If that's not the case, just take several weekend trips. Fly out Friday afternoon/evening the return on Sunday night or early Monday morning. That may not be your style, but it's the only way to get the vouchers used. -Andrew DEN based | Southwest Flyer
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I've been learning about the airline industry for awhile for my own interest and to possibly pursue a career in the industry. The plane is not at the wrong gate. There are no wrong gates, sometimes airlines assign gates ahead of time so customers can expect where they need to go, but due to delays for arriving and departing flights, sometimes airlines have to change gates at the last minute. So, it's not really a wrong gate, but not the scheduled/planned gate. Also, the baggage handlers don't just put bags on a plane, they scan the bags to make sure they're putting it on the correct flight. The ground crew very likely know of the gate change before passengers do and there's also the ramp supervisor who's in charge of getting flights out on time who knows where the plane is going and is in communication with gate agents. There's an entire coordinated dance that goes on to get every flight out on time. Deplane, unload bags, clean aircraft, refuel, unload lavatory waste, restock food/snacks, load bags, load passengers, pushback.
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Re: Anyone else in Toronto/GTA area still waiting ...
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
Don't know what you're referring to. Weird to assume anyone on here is expecting an international package. Also, Southwest doesn't fly to Canada, so it wouldn't even have to do with the Southwest cargo operations. Wrong community forum maybe?
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2 weeks ago
Best time to book domestic flights is three weeks before departure as airlines want to fill the plane so prices will tend to be cheaper. This sometimes depends on the origin/destination, so maybe anywhere from 3-6 weeks before departure. This also lowers the risk of flight schedules changing.
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2 weeks ago
2 Loves
You can always search the TSA site for what's allowed for both carry-on and checked luggage! https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all
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2 weeks ago
Did you tell the airline you had explosive in the checked bag. Normally with these kinds of dangerous things even if their allowed in checked bags, the airline has to know so they can put the information into the barcode on the bag tag, so the when it goes through screening, the explosives would be expected rather than a surprise. But like others said, if this happened back in September, you're not going to have much luck.
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One piece of information about the airline industry is that there are specific dates when airlines submit schedules to airports and this can be different from when they make flights available to purchase. This is why it can be troublesome if you book a ticket too far in advance because the schedule on the airline's website is what they expect their schedule to be, but airlines are always evaluating routes and cities based on supply and demand of passengers and even when passengers want to fly, so sometimes they change the schedule. Airlines will even trade their slots with other airlines if it's past the schedule submission deadline. Airlines are given certain slots based on their historical flight operations, but sometimes the airline decides to change flight time or even drop the airport all together or add destinations all of which affect flight schedules across their network. Here is a link with more information, it's pretty long, but worth a skim or "command/control F" to learn at least a little bit. http://www.wwacg.org/up/files/DocsWSG/WORLWIDE_SCHEDULING_GUIDELINES/WSG2-Jul00.pdf
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2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
Basically every thing you described is a typical day in the airline industry except for maybe the pee soaked lavatory. Think about it. This is an industry where we're trying to get a big hunk of metal safely into the sky that's loaded with civilians tens of thousands of times every single day just in our country. There's bound to be delays like this, it's just the nature of the business. Airports are in the process of renovations to handle the larger number of passengers than they were built for. So, the nature of the business combined with the renovations and airports with exceeded capacity, these things are bound to happen. So, if anything, what you experienced for the most part is an effect of the airport infrastructure and not the airline. As for the lavatory, if you were the first one to use it, then sure that's on Southwest's cleaners. However, it's likely someone used it before you and they trashed the place. Flight attendants don't normally clean those kinds of messes because they need to keep their hands sanitary to serve food and beverages to the passengers.
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2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
Yea, that or limit it to one drink per person, but then you might run the risk of people bar hopping at the larger airports. Who even wants to get drunk before a flight anyway, that always baffles me.
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2 weeks ago
1 Love
There's instructions in the information packet in the seat back pocket. The same one that has all the snacks and beverages. You technically connect to the inflight WiFi, but there's no need to pay for internet.
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Airline have been adding frequencies and even new destinations across the board with the anticipation of busy summer leisure travel. Southwest has added many new destinations: Miami, Sarasota, Destin-Fort Walton, Steamboat, Montrose/Telluride, Chicago-Ohare, Houston George Bush, Bozeman, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Myrtle Beach with Eugene, OR starting later this year and Jackson, MS resuming in a few days. Other airlines as well have added frequencies. There are many aviation specific news places out there. The Points Guy, Airways Magazine, etc and you can read all about that stuff or you can periodically look at airline's newsroom page. For Southwest, it's swamedia.com
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3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
I'm curious to know all the cities/airports that Southwest customers want to see added. There is no answer to this as it's all out of pure curiosity. I like to do some analysis in the airline industry, so I may use responses for my own analysis. Feel free to comment your suggestions!
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3 weeks ago
Southwest allows you to search flight status by flight number and it shows all the flights under that flight number from my understanding/experience.
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3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
Given that Southwest has been adding a lot of Saturday only leisure service recently, this is definitely a possibility, I'm just not sure if they would do it with Hawaii due to the distance and absolute need to fill planes. So, if anything, they'd be both seasonal and Saturday only, except for maybe FAT, but RNO, BOI, and GEG maybe even ABQ would be season IMO. I'm just not sure this will happen unless Southwest provides connections through these smaller airports to/from Hawaii. With the MAX, other less than daily options could include SAT, AUS, COS possibly DEN, DAL but those could be daily
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3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
I second what TheMiddleSeat said and would say it's possible! Personally I think there are many other airports more likely to see Southwest service than Flagstaff.
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3 weeks ago
The way Southwest has been expanding recently, it's definitely a possibility, however, I believe there are many other airports that are more likely to see Southwest service.
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3 weeks ago
1 Love
I know this is well after your project, but I think Southwest should try to enter Canada though right now they are trying to serve Canada with Buffalo NY (Toronto) and their intent to serve Bellingham WA (Vancouver). Canada has a lot of higher fees for landing, overflight, and for general use fees (passengers needing to use services such as customs). I would say: Top Focuses - more leisure oriented Calgary for Banff -served from Denver, Chicago, Oakland, Vegas, seasonally to Phoenix Vancouver for Canadian Rockies/Vancouver itself -served from Denver, Oakland, Vegas, seasonally to Phoenix Secondary focuses Toronto -served from Baltimore, Chicago, Vegas* seasonally to Dallas, Orlando, Phoenix, Tampa Montreal -served from Baltimore, Chicago, Vegas* seasonally to Dallas, Orlando, Phoenix, Tampa I believe these to be slightly more business oriented still with significant tourism though. *Saturday only service
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3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
Basically, Southwest wants to be able to keep their plane available to fly the rest of their flights minus Colorado. The big 3 take the risk, Southwest didn't want to. It is frustrating but it's a business decision to not risk the rest of their flight schedule being affected.
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3 weeks ago
3 weeks ago
Due to how Southwest operates as more of point to point carrier, I think Columbus has a lot of Saturday/Sunday only flights for leisure travel and daily to their main airports of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, St. Louis
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