Southwest Airlines Community

I've slowly but surely been adding to Flight Memory. If you care to look, my flights are at http://my.flightmemory.com/damiross As of today (4/27/08) I've entered my flights from 1971 (my earliest recorded flight) to 1987. ... View more

Bil, At FlightAware, as I mentioned earlier, I've been holding a discussion with others that insist Southwest is not a point-to-point airline but rather a hub-and-spoke one. Even though I mentioned this blog entry and the fact that you are the lead schedule planner and should know what type of airline you plan schedules for, they still refuse to believe me. (latest topic is at http://discussions.flightaware.com/viewtopic.php?t=5293). Some went as far as to call reservations to see what they said. The reservations person said it was a hub airline. Someone also said that he talked to a "manager in operations" who said that same thing. I told them, in not so many words, that basically the people they talked to were speaking to people who were not familiar with the airline industry and thus used simple terms. Obviously, these people do not know anything about Southwest, even after reading your explanation. Is there someway I could get a written confirmation (email would be fine) stating that Southwest is one of the few major airlines, if not the only airline, in the world that is not a hub-and-spoke? I have been an airline enthusiast for nearly 40 years and can recognize when an airline is a hub-and-spoke or a point-to-point airline with lots of connecting opportunities throughout its system. Southwest is the latter, not the former. Thanks for any assistance you can provide. David (damiross@gmail.com or damiross3@comcast.net) ... View more

First of all, NO honey roasted peanuts! I love the plain ol' roasted peanuts best. Second: These people with peanut allergies: Sure, the allergy is real but the response to it is absurd! What evidence is there that someone sitting in a row several ahead of or behind be is going to be affected by peanuts? Why not take ALL snacks off the plane when someone says he has an allergy to peanuts? If you look at the packaging of many snack items, like pretzels, it will say the item was processed in a plant that also processed peanuts. Another point: Shouldn't the aircraft be fully cleaned before the person with the peanut allergy gets on board? After all, the aircraft could have flow many segments with hundreds of people, many of whom had peanuts, before the allergic person got on. ... View more

"Nonstop means nonstop. Direct means the flight makes a stop without a connection" That's not quite correct. In most parts of the world, "direct" means nonstop and "through" is what we in the USA call a direct flight. Don't forget that a direct (USA meaning) flight doesn't mean you won't change planes. If you have a flight from A to C via B with a change of aircraft but NOT a change of flight number in B, you are still on a direct flight. Ditto doing the opposite: you can change change flight numbers but not aircraft and still be on a direct flight, although this doesn't happen to much now a days. ... View more

Got all without looking at the answers. Also realized how sad it was that the politicians decided to change the name of MSY to Louis Armstrong. I've always thought that if you are going to name an airport something other than whatever-city airport then name it after somebody or something in aviation like Moisant. ... View more

Is there a schedule available for when each airport is to be done? Any chance that OAK will be done in time for my OAK-HOU flight on 2 Nov and HOU on 4 Nov for my return? Now, if only Southwest can do something about the walkway to the new gates at OAK. Some idiot thought it was cute to cover up the windows with designs and thus blocked the view of the ramp. ... View more

Rollie, Just because a person is 5"6 or shorter doesn't mean he or she shouldn't get the emergency exit. The last time I sat in the emergency exit was with my girlfriend. She is a couple of inches shorter than me but she is the one that sat next to the window. I can hear you saying that's not right. Well, it was right. She has a bad knee. By sitting in the emergency row with the extra leg room, she was able to stretch out her leg and be much more comfortable. What I'm getting at is that you can't fault someone for sitting in the emergency row who is "short" without knowing her or his story. Everybody complaining about people with young children not preboarding. GIVE IT A CHANCE before complaining. Southwest didn't get to where it is today without some thinking before doing. I predict that this will be a great improvement for everyone. Besides, just because you have a kid why should you get special privileges? ... View more

GREAT! I've thought for a long time that people should be boarded in the order they check in. I've noticed each boarding pass as a number on it already so now the number actually means something. For the people with small kids who are complaining that they don't get to board first: No longer will you be able to get the bulk head seats! It gives the rest of us a chance now. (Speaking of kids: On my last flight on Southwest there were two old "bidies" who complained about everything. They even decided to pre-board, although they didn't follow th procedures. They knew I wanted the bulkhead seats for my girlfriend (she has a bad knee) but they went ahead and took them. However, no bad thing goes unpunished. Right behind a family with a toddler boarded. This 2 year old had the greatest set of lungs around! I noticed the biddies were covering their ears for most of the flight from SEA to OAK!) Anyway, back to the subject of the new boarding procedure. Again, I say this is great. For those who complain about having to sit at the computers to get an A boarding pass, don't forget that you can check in via cell phone and just print your boarding pass out at the airport. For the long-legged people: Granted, I'm only 5'6" but for most people taller than that, there is still plenty of legroom. Southwest's seat pitch is 32 inches in most seats, more in the bulkhead and emergency exit rows. That's 1 to 2 inches more than most other airlines have in coach. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, SOUTHWEST! ... View more

I need to agree with Loren on 2 points (I don't fly enough to get a companion ticket). I like that I can make a reservations and, if something causes me to have to change the reservations then I'm not out even one thin dime. And open seating! I can't say enough about that! I love it today, loved it ever since I took my first flight on SWA decades ago, and will always love it in the future. ... View more

We must not rest on our laurels! While it's great that DAL can now be reached from more of WN's cities, it's time for the Wright Amendment to be FULLY done away with. NONSTOPS to/from DAL from ANY city in the USA NOW, not years down the road. ... View more

Great blog but could use a little fine tuning. Names of posters should be at the top. A line between posts. The ability to edit a post. ... View more

While a step in the "wright" direction, the Shelby Amendment sucks. I've said it before and I'll say it, and I'll say in the future. There should be NO non-operational restrictions on DAL. Anybody should be able to fly on a commercial airliner seating more than 56 pax to any destination in the USA from DAL. This 8 year phase in is pure BS. As a stockholder and a long-time SWA customer, I would have expected to SWA to hold out for nothing less than the ability to fly from DAL to ANY airport on it serves. ... View more

To Jack regarding the bicycle ad: The ad is to sell Southwest, not bicycles. Do you think when I see an ad for milk that I actually think cows can talk? No, of course not. Same thing here - the ad is promoting Southwest. Though I haven't seen the ad, I can probably bet that it is done in a funny way and NOT advocating unsafe use of bike helmets. ... View more

Enter W 92nd St & S Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA into maps.google.com for the location ... View more

Speaking of In-n-Out burgers - the one just north of LAX if FANTASTIC! As you eat your hamburger and fries you can watch aircraft landing on runways 24L and 24R. You are so close to the runways that you feel like you should duck at times. These are the runways that Southwest usually lands on. ... View more

I don't know why everyone is saying congratulations. It's a lousy deal. With the exception of a handful of states, you still will not be able to fly nonstop to DAL. They are condeming PRIVATE property to reduce the number of gates available by 40%f (32 gates to 20). As I mentioned earlier, and Drew agreed, this is a BS deal. I should not have to wait until 2014 in order to fly nonstop from OAK to DAL. I should be able to do tomorrow. Hell, I should have been able to do it years ago! ... View more

From what I've read of it, the repeal is pure BS. What is needed is a real repeal, not something phased in over 8-10 years and not the destruction of 12 gates. In other words, ANY AIRLINE CAN FLY TO ANY STATE FROM DAL, beginning right this minute! I am disappointed that WN didn't hold out for a true repeal. ... View more

My guess is Chicago (top right), Los Angeles (top left), and Dunno (bottom). ... View more