I flew on Southwest Airlines with a handicapped friend in 1998. They allowed us to preboard on our flights, and yes, we did get our choice of seats. I don’t know if they still do this, but they used to.
Confirming what Anne Neville said. My late wife traveled with a motorized scooter and we were always preboarded. Sometimes there were three or four people in wheelchairs preboarding with us. When you get to the gate they’ll tag your wheelchair, then let you take it through the jetway to the door of the plane. When you arrive at your destination your wheelchair will be offloaded first and will be waiting for you at the door of the plane. We never had to use the aisle chairs (I assume those are used to move non-ambulatory persons through the plane) as my wife could walk short distances, but I seem to recall there was always one sitting by the door of the plane just in case.
eta: fix coding
I’d rather be flung in the general direction of my destination by a catapult than fly Southwest.
Southwest is always my first choice–if I’m able to book well in advance, the fares at other airlines aren’t even competitive. But the biggest plus is being able to change flights without hassle.
And over at the other ticket counter, you’ll be stunned to see the sense of entitlement that gets flung around by boorish people paying first-class fares and bitching because the airline had the gall to run out of the passenger’s favorite beer in the Captain’s Club.
I don’t think it’s so much “cheap brings out the assholes” as “flying brings out the assholes.”
SWA and Jet Blue are the only two airlines that stand out in any way whatsoever for me. Both because they don’t seem run by mindless drones, and Jet Blue because they actually leave (or left-- been awhile since I’ve been on them) water and snacks out at the back of the plane! They also have individual TVs at each seat, which was nice, but not having to wait for a ＄！＃＠＾％& flight attendant to actually go fetch me something every time I was hungry or dehydrated was incredible. Amazing how something so incredibly simple could earn them a satisfied customer for life. Blows how something like that is “thinking outside the box.” Fuck you, Corporate America.
Noted. On behalf of the rest of Corporate America, kindly note our preference to be called, Contract Manufactured in China with Scant Controls and Shipped to America.
I’ll second that emotion.
I worked for Southwest for 2 years loading/unloading luggage. It was the most physically demanding and lowest paying job I ever had. It was also by far the funnest place I have ever worked. I have never had a job that I enjoyed as much as this one, I looked forward to being there everyday. Unlimited free tickets for me and my family was a great bonus as well. I fly SWA whenever possible.
My wife and I have been flying Southwest regularly for the last 8 or 9 years. During that time, they’ve always had an abundance of direct flights on the BWI-Tampa route, which constitutes the majority of our flying. (The deal was, if we moved to the metro area where my family lived, then she could fly down to where her folks live pretty much anytime within reason, and I’d come along at least half the time.) We’ve been so pleased with Southwest that we’ve stopped even considering flying other airlines that fly the same routes they do.
Dave and I are flying Southwest to Tampa this week, and back next week. We love them. They’re cheap and friendly, and fly nonstop to everywhere we’ve had to fly in the US. The next lowest price was ~$50/each.
It shows. Every Southwest employee I’ve ever encountered - phone reps, baggage handlers, flight attendants, gate agents, etc. - has been almost contagiously upbeat.
People may want to liken Southwest to mass transit with wings, but the people I’ve met at Delta and Northwest made San Francisco bus drivers seem cheerful in comparison. Sure, the Northwest agent at MSP was able to get me onto an earlier flight home after my meeting ended early, but his overall demeanor was “Next!” all the way through. And the Delta agent at ATL? Well, they were just plain unpleasant when we asked them to page for transport to ferry my elderly father in law to the other terminal building. You’d have thought I was asking for a free puppy the way she acted.
I like Southwest, but I don’t find them to be all that cheap. I fly out of Houston, and can generally get at least as good a price on Continental.
I have a love/hate relationship with Southworst Airlines. After reading these replies, I’m interested in testing a theory:
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For those who love SWA, was most of your experience with non-stop flights ? (no connections)
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For those who hate SWA, was most of your experience with connecting flight trips ?
I love SWA if I can get a non-stop flight to my destination.
I hate SWA if I have to connect somewhere. It is the connections that piss me off about the no-assigned seat policy - an “A” boarding pass doesn’t do you much good if your arriving flight was so late (as usually tends to be the case) that you arrive at the gate while they’re boarding the “C” group ! Connect through Las Vegas, and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Every airline suffers late connections, but I seemed to have the worst experience with SWA. I was working in Santa Fe for a number of months, and I don’t know how many times I raced down to Alburquerque only to find that my flight was 2+ hours delayed (yet was reported “on time” a mere hour before the flight).
Two more anecdotes (which will therefore = “data”) – I flew SWA from Vegas to the Bay Area yesterday; meeting ended early, so I called and asked if I could get on an earlier flight. The agent said that I could, but it would be a hefty price hike, as my ticket had lots of restrictions (but was incredibly cheap). When I said I’d stay with what I had and keep the money, the agent cheerily responded “well, then relax! get a massage!”. Loved it.
And my flight pre-boarded a wheelchair passenger, so we can confirm that, too.
Southwest overbooks a lot. I have seen the gate agents cruising the waiting area on oversold flights looking for the slightest excuse to deny someone boarding without having to pay compensation. Did you doze off? Must have passed out. Did you have a drink in the bar? You must be drunk. Disagree with the gate agent about anything? Creating a disturbance.
I fly 40 round trips a year, and I don’t fly Southwest because I have to get where I’m going, and I have never been involuntarily bumped from a legacy carrier flight. I see dozens of people denied boarding on Southwest flights, and they’ll be denied compensation with the flimsiest provocation.