Southwest Airlines Community

I am a loyal customer of Southwest. I have been traveling with SW for many years.  I travel approximately once a month. I normally travel to and from the same airports but have recently traveled with them to other locations outside of my norm. I dont understand why the overhead baggage is allowed to be overused, abused and not controlled more by ground crews or whatever crew needs to 'control' this. I have consistantly seen bags larger then allowed to be crammed in and still not fitting until a flight attendant takes the bag out and readjusts and reorganizes. Clearly, the bags are too big. With SW policy of 2 free bags, WHY oh WHY is SW allowing this type of on boarding and off boarding conditions.  On my recent flight a woman walked up to the boarding attendant with 2 bags and asked if one could be checked?  WHat !  Didnt she realize before getting to the gate that she had 2 bags!!!!!  This of course took time for the boarding staff to explain to her how to check her bag at the gate. This held up the boarding passengers. On my last flight I took an aisle seat.  The passenger in the middle seat , sitting after i had taken my seat, had several items on the floor in front of her. I beleive to have been a bag and a coat. 3 Flight attendants looked at this ...mess...and did not say a word to her.  THREE !!  Not sure why! But, this is NOT acceptable for inflight safety!  She was also talking on her phone until just 30 seconds from take off. I beleive that those of us who do not carry on should be rewarded and 1st board/unboarding should be given to us.  Why should I have to wait for everyone to get their bags from some obscure overhead compartment when I dont carry on and SW is offering 2 checked bags FREE!  FREE PEOPLE FREE !!!! I would love to see how much actual time it takes for board and unboard flyers without all the overhead baggage. When I ask people why they carryon they say The Wait time at the baggage carousol is too long.  I havent found that to be the case. I think we spend more time waiting for everyone to get their carry-ons down. As I mentioned earlier, I am a frequent flyer, I always (always) recommend SW to anyone that is looking for flight recommendations.  I have been very loyal.  But, recently, the crammed seating, the overhead situations has gotten to be too much for me.  SW you have lost a good customer and and loyal friend. ... View more

When in flight are we able to use our cell phones to text messages? ... View more