Southwest Airlines - not a fan

[rennigade]

Since we always use points/rewards/miles to book flights...we almost never have a direct flight. What we've started doing is gate checking our luggage. The airline always asks if anyone wants to gate check to their final destination...and its free! Beats paying the $25 to check a bag right off the bat. Never have to jockey for overhead space...we can then just carry around one small bag/purse each.

[Like2Plan]

Southwest has a pretty straight forward numbering convention for the seat rows since they only have 1 cabin class. All configurations include a row 13.

They fly B737's in 3 configurations these days:
Most are 700 series aircraft -currently 513 in the fleet(seats 143 passengers):

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Southwest_Airlines/Southwest_Airlines_Boeing_737-700_new.php

They currently have 199 800's- (seats 175 passengers)

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Southwest_Airlines/Southwest_Airlines_Boeing_737-800_new.php

and currently have 16 Max 8 (seats 175 passengers)

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Southwest_Airlines/Southwest_Airlines_Boeing_737-800_new.php

(They have orders for more aircraft from Boeing, so the fleet numbers change as they take delivery.)

[TexasHusker]

To the main point, anyway, I've always been one to hang out & let most of the other passengers (the angry/frustrated/Jack-in-the-box folks) get off first, and just jump into the aisle when there's a bigger opening (while somebody behind me wrestles with a suitcase). In fact, traveling with our two >3 y/o boys (which includes flying with their car seats), we intentionally make ourselves the VERY LAST passengers off the plane, so that we don't hold up people while we juggle kids, car seats, and bags. Plus, the flight crew is often more accommodating with helping the last passengers off, because all the angry, antsy people are gone, and the flight crew wants to get off the jet just like everyone else at that point.

I tend to take this approach myself

[Drake3287]

That's great, but what about if you have a job or go to school and can't just be sitting on the computer waiting for that moment to come?

That's certainly true but most of the time it does work out or you just take a quick break etc... Only take's a minute not two to do it on your phone no matter where you are. I've been everywhere from walking on the Vegas strip to being in line at Disneyland and still able to do in time.

[~bs]

I do the same, and just cruise until the line starts clearing up in front. It's only common sense. But normally I sit by the window anyways so not really in a position to do the idiotic aisle rush, then stand around thing.

For the guys who try to grab their stuff quick and rush up a few aisles so they're a couple more people ahead in line, then need to wait another 10 minutes for the doors to open and line to clear - I think they're idiots. 1. It's utterly pointless because you aren't disembarking from the plane any faster. 2. it's discourteous because you rushed up into someone else's aisle and are standing in the way of people trying to get their bags from the overhead bins.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

i never fly southwest. For some reason I never get a good price. I always live in places that don't fly direct. And it's always more expensive than normal airlines. I wish I could snag those "crazy" deals. But I do so much better on my own.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I like Southwest but I'm not loyal to them. I'll fly which ever airlines is the cheapest after factoring in all of the fees. Including Southwest's policy on being able to change without a change fee is something I take into account as well. IMHO, someone who holds a Southwest credit card in order to gain points for free flights on Southwest would be a loyal customer. I'm not one who holds a Southwest credit card.