Southwest Airlines Community

@kansaa wrote: hi! im flying w southwest in few weeks for college, just one thing, i want to bring my dispo w thc oil, but i dont know if its safe to do so? i dont want to risk anything thru the tsa especially since this is my first time flying alone. (fyi, im under 21, so dont ask how i got it lol but very common with people under the age as you can see) so will sw or tsa care? Hello! Here's the official TSA rule which cites current federal law:   Marijuana and certain cannabis infused products, including some Cannabidiol (CBD) oil, remain illegal under federal law except for products that contain no more than 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis or that are approved by FDA. TSA officers are required to report any suspected violations of law to local, state or federal authorities.    TSA’s screening procedures are focused on security and are designed to detect potential threats to aviation and passengers. Accordingly, TSA security officers do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs, but if any illegal substance is discovered during security screening, TSA will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer.   https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/medical-marijuana   As the other posters have mentioned, TSA will not actively look for illegal drugs as focus is on looking for potential threats to flight and passenger safety such as illegal weapons. However, by rule if TSA finds illegal substance during screening, they will refer the matter to law enforcement which could include the federal level. That could very well happen if your carry-on gets pulled for either a random or flagged secondary screening.   I will never advise nor recommend to anybody to break the law even if enforcement appears lax or if "everybody's doing it". Thus if the oil exceeds 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis and is not FDA approved, I will not advise that you travel with it. ... View more

A huge percentage of Alaskans live in the Anchorage area, so the small amount of traffic coming from small towns can be left to Alaska.  Alaska's main hub is Seattle anyway.  Lots of cruises also end near Anchorage.   Anchorage to Denver, Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Baltimore would make great redeye candidates.   Several years ago I took a redeye from Anchorage to Minneapolis and it worked out great.  The downside to serving Anchorage is the extreme seasonality,  but Southwest still serves Fort Myers despite it's extreme seasonality. Run flights to Anchorage in the summer and more flights to RSW in the winter. ... View more

LGA to STL right now, we’re diverted to kansas city due to bad weather, they are letting off people with connected flights to customer service but i’m just sitting in the plane ... View more

After 4 flights in 2 days which each had over 25  pre-boarders- I'm over it. And breaking news states that SW has increased the maximum charge for earlybird check-in and upgraded boarding ( up to $149!).  That will surely increase the number of pre-boarders.   Also- SW policy regarding saving of seats ( they don't officially have one)  has also been put out there on social media and now abused. Between the 2 policies- the abuse has gotten out of control.   I used to like no assigned seating  - but now I wish that Southwest had pre-assigned seating.  ... View more

Very good point. All things will be abused but SWA should at least try to curb it. They don't.  ... View more

Sorry this was confusing, I have learned some tricks that are helpful to track your status.  1st the  terms are listed in this community board; see the new changes for 2024 they have lowered the number of flights to get A list and also decrease the number of CC points needed to earn the 1500 bonus toward A status; you can also check your progress toward A list as well as companion pass in your RR account under your account;  you can also look at your points activity and filter it by type such as companion fare or A list and see what was applied;  I have just noticed that some flight bonus points don’t count toward CP or A list either and they have added that information when I look at the points for a flight it will say how much also goes toward CP and A and it is quite a bit less  ... View more

One other thing to keep in mind is if you are ALP or AL with other passengers on your reservation they will be automatically checked in sequential order after the AL/ALP member so if your AL with 5 people 6 of the A spots are taken just from one person  ... View more

I've noticed that Airbus seats seem to be wider, for what it's worth.  But to me they are very hard and uncomfortable.  And the seat pitch in some seats is SO tight, they don't even put a full tray on the seat back.  You literally can't put a laptop on it. At 6'2", I find SWA seats to be plenty confirms comfy.   ... View more

It's not just a livery; it's a work of art that rivals some of the best, like Alexander Calder's masterpiece for Braniff. The level of detail and symbolism in the design is truly impressive, and it's fantastic that Southwest has been sharing the backstory on their social media. ... View more

50 minutes late, no need to use the word “debacle” here. Come on, let’s get a grip. Since it wasn’t weather-related, you should indeed be due a small voucher. Just call and politely (key word), say, hey, this was an imposition on me and my family based on SWA operations decision, is there the possibility of some recompense here? and I bet you’ll be offered something reasonable for your…50 minutes. ... View more

@PettyIntrigues wrote: Ack! Sorry to hear that but I feel a little less crazy/unperceptive. FWIW both of my legs yesterday stayed A16, so maybe this is just a random gremlin. Hopefully it gets fixed soon though, people pay for those higher boarding numbers one way or the other. If those spots remain empty then no problem, or if the "real" assignments are as issued on the boarding passes and there is some issue with the display then that's also fine.   Backfilling them if they were meant to go to the first person would be bad though.         ... View more

So, to (hopefully) close out this little mystery, there was no one in line between A16-A20 when we boarded. Weird. I didn’t even bother asking around, and still hardly a matter: there were only 75 people on this flight. I’m back to A16 for both legs tomorrow so fingers crossed they will stay that way! ... View more

Priority check in at the ticket counter. There are approximately 6-8 ticket counters, multiple self check in kiosks, but still gets backed up. ... View more

Thank you sir for the info, I didn't know that. ... View more

The next time my companion and I are A and C boarding, I'll save the seat and say "she's in the bathroom." Hopefully it'll work! (My companion never checks in in a timely manner.) ... View more

You are 100% correct.  SRQ is a small airport and someone should know.  This is why I'm trying to find out if anyone actually knows the true procedures for an item left on board.  If I know the procedure, then I can pinpoint exactly who I should seek out to verify.     Thank you.  I will continue to be the squeaky wheel.   ... View more

FWIW, outside of this weird and kinda funny technical issue, I think SWA has done a tremendous job on its IFE library the last several years. There’s almost as much selection now as on my transatlantic flights. ... View more

@floridaguy wrote: If the seat is open and I want the seat, I sit in the seat.  That's my right.   Or just act like an adult and move on.    --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

That is not the worst idea, but my plan was to just wait and see where I stand around Thanksgiving, and if it is a matter of just grabbing a segment or two (which, if it comes to that, I think will be the case, though I also don’t think it will actually come to that), booking the cheapest one-day round-trip I can in those slow early December weeks with the one or two vouchers I seem to collect every year as just a fact of volume.   Again though, that’s just whackadoodle to me. I’ve done basically 17 1/2 round trips so far this year. There’s only been 18 weeks so far this year! If a weekly flyer has to sweat out getting their top-tier, then Southwest needs to fix its frequent FLYER program. ... View more

I just don't see Provo UT as a Southwest airport.  With a population of 115k in the city, that's likely not enough to justify the investment.   You could call Southwest and the Provo UT airport to see if either knows about a Southwest appearance in the foreseeable future. ... View more

This has also started at CABO San Joes airport.  Not sure why this has started to pop up, but just another thing to contend with and why I always get to the airport very early when going to Mexico. ... View more

Funny—my kinda thread. In my experience/perception, the 800s do bump about more, relatively speaking. I presumed (on top of the presumption that is at all true) it’s because they are built of lighter materials.   The trade-off comfort-wise is they are much quieter, headrests, more exit rows/space etc etc  ... View more

@floridaguy wrote:   If it was included, I want a credit for the implied value.     Congrats @floridaguy, this is one of your more ridiculous statements.  Despite not actually succeeding, I appreciate the effort you made to try and make your statement slightly relevant to the conversation   --TheMiddleSeat ... View more

@bteach wrote: I don't expect any resolution from this, but a lesson was learned...I had $1200 stolen fromi accidentally placing cash in a checked bag, which was handled by TSA, customer service at check-in, and baggage crew.  It is very frustrating to know that someone is going through your baggage and stealing property, with little recourse to you, the traveler.  From now on, cash is carried on my person.  Be careful out there! We obviously don't know what happened here but one observation is that only one group of these people have the means to see inside of a suitcase without actually opening every bag and looking for little sacks of money.   Many parts of a bag's journey through the airport are out in the open and so it would be much less likely for someone to randomly look for something valuable in there while also getting their job done.   Check-in - that bag is tagged and on the conveyor in seconds, I think we can rule them out unless you specifically mentioned having a bunch of money in the luggage.   But your point is well-taken - don't check valuables which could be lost or stolen.           ... View more

I’m A16 99% of the time and this doesn’t bother me at all because preboards can’t sit in the exit row, my preference. Of course, those exit row seats are also occasionally gone by the time I get on-board by the Biz Select folks, but oh well, I still always get an aisle or window (whatever I feel like that day) up front, which would’ve been pretty unlikely with a last-minute-ish booking on other airlines.    I mean, it is what it is. There is always zero guarantee you will get your absolute singular preferred seat or row anywhere, even when booking with airlines with assigned seating. I’m at peace with it as a Wanna Get Away frequent flier.   THAT ALL SAID, you’ve definitely a right to get cheesed as a Biz Select payer. It is indeed a total farce sometimes. ... View more

Hi everyone. I thought this was happening to me too but just figured out what I was missing. Maybe this will help some of you.  Example: Base Fare $196.53 Business Select multiplier of 12pts/$ = 2,358 points into my A-List qualifying bank = 2,358 points into my Companion Pass bank AND because I’m currently A-List preferred I get the 100% bonus, so I get 2,358 x 2 = 4,716 deposited into my Rapid Rewards bank   So, I thought they were splitting my points too but I just was not accustomed to getting the 100% extra in RR due to current preferred status.  ... View more

I’ve always strangely found the WiFi spottier on the 800s than the 700s—whether that’s just anecdotal or has something behind it, no idea.   i feel pretty respected/understood as a frequent business traveler by SWA (although I am not a BIG IMPORTANT GUY—I only fly about four to ten hours a week and make significantly less than $300 an hour); it’s why the status exists and why the family boarding got pushed back years ago.   I’d like to know who has the really good, consistent, strong WiFi. In my experience, they most all aren’t impressive, domestic nor international.   i’ve  occasionally been annoyed by the WiFi but I’ve been able to get emails out no issue, usually tap into my organization’s system, and occasionally attend a Zoom (sorry, I know that’s a no-no). When I am working up there, at worst I do it offline and connect-send/save at the end. I most usually take the time to rest though—maybe like the WiFi, you could (should) work less? ... View more

Interesting article by Forbes - looks like Southwest is going to take a bath financially.   https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2023/01/06/southwest-meltdown-could-cost-825-million/?sh=57740326709f ... View more

@LubahnD wrote: They need to find someone to fix it.  A new CEO trained in house in Southwest family thinking.  This is a long term problem. Nationwide! So as you said this is a LONG TERM problem a new CEO tomorrow or next week won’t change a thing. Problems like this don’t just fix themselves overnight. You could go and buy a technology update sure but you have to make sure it works before rollout or you could have a bigger issue. Also things actually have to be voted on it’s not a one man show and you don’t just buy the first thing you see in the technology world. Go look up other airline technology failures or other company technology update failures there have been several (bad files, bad updates, weather knocking a system offline)    here’s what I do know in other airline meltdowns none of them covered all reasonable expenses or gave out 25K miles to all affected automatically (they might have given out compensation only if someone contacted the airline and you may get different than the person next to you who had the same experience)  ... View more

If it makes you feel any better, I have submitted six lost and found reports in my years of flying SWA. Only two items were ever found, and both times it was my Kindle (i’m not looking to shoot for lucky number three!).     ... View more