Southwest Airlines

LAX to Vegas to Burbank. On time seats very comfortable cheerful staff. Very laid back feel. The only downfall is no entertainment and planes seem a little old. Great for the price.

Flew SWA for the first time between Boston and St Louis for business. On the way out to STL I had a non- stop however on the return I had to fly through BWI (Baltimore). Nevertheless both flights were pleasant and I was very impressed with their overall care of their paying customers. Will definitely fly them again.

Two round trips so far have been excellent in every respect: on time easy boarding pleasant crew (glad to say official flight time is under 2 hours; can't comment on comfort on a longer haul.) Of course SW is known for the several special ways it rises above the competition: consistently cheap fares (at least for our route) those two pieces of free checked baggage and the free reservation changes. Easy to use website is another nice advantage. As I mentioned among us we will likely be doing 6 or more round trips on this SW route each year for a while so I will be sure to review again if any of the above changes.

RNO-DEN-IAD-BWI-LAS-RNO. Good fares pleasant staff on-time for the most part and when a delay comes up we are informed. This trip held true to that again. But my only issue on this trip and it is not a fault but rather a comment. Flying cross country non-stop on a 737 for 5 hours is a bit brutal. We did get on a brand new 737-800 for the longest sector from BWI to LAS which was nice but still a very long trip on a small plane that was packed to the hilt. The crew were pleasant on all sectors. The ground staff at BWI were great and the Skycap had us laughing. All in all a good product with no complaints really. Just remember to buy a meal before you get on a long flight and if you don't mind a long flight on a small plane then Southwest is the way to go. Plus you can't beat the two free check-in bags.

We fly SWA on all occasions from San Jose CA to Ontario CA. We have a 5 year old and this is where my comment comes in. Thinking my son has passed the pre-boarding age we ignored the PA announcement and waited in line. The gate agent spotted my family and I and came to personally asked us to board along with the other pre-boarders. Because of this gesture we now minimized flying Alaska Airlines. These two airlines were our sources for price comparisons whenever we do our travel. Now we don't even bother as the prices are relatively similar and go directly to SWA.

Southwest are a cheap and cheerful airline and you get what you pay for. The cabin crew are generally friendly and helpful the aircraft's clean although seating is tight as you would expect on a budget airline. Over the past couple of years I have flown 7 sectors with them and my only complaint is with the ground check-in staff. They are with rare exception a miserable unhelpful lot who seem to think their faces would break if they smiled. The check-in system is different to what I am used to and the counter staff seemed to look down their noses in disdain when I was not sure how things worked. Would I fly with them again probably not there are a lot of other airlines competing for the same business.

OAK-ABQ return. From Oakland check-in was quick but security was a hassle inflight they offered stale Nilla wafers and the usual drinks so admittedly that part was very ordinary. Staff were very nice though and seemed to like their jobs and the seats were very comfortable. The return from Albuquerque was pretty much the same except better security more drink runs but less room. Still it gets the job well done and at a great price and it flies out of Oakland. I'll come back even it isn't high-frills.

DCA to Islip NY on US Airways Express/Republic Airlines/Air Wisconsin (these three names were either on the plane or my ticket) and it was not a good experience. BWI to Islip my normal way to get there on Southwest is professional clean easy to book and I get an overall confident feeling that they all know what they are doing. It took being lured into the DCA/US Airways flight by the relative convenience to see the other side but I learned my lesson. I'll drive the 50 miles to get to BWI from now on.

We travelled on three different legs with Southwest recently and were very impressed with the friendly crew clean and comfortable plane free baggage and the plane left and arrived on time or early on each occasion. On two of three legs we paid the extra $10 for priority boarding - well worth as the flight was quite cheap compared to other airlines in the first place. The free drink and nuts were a bonus.

I usually enjoy travelling on Southwest I like the relaxed and friendly crew. The free checked bag policy is really a plus. The boarding and open seating policy is speedy and efficient and its no problem finding seats for the family together if you check-in online 24 hours in advance. The coffee if free and as much as you want seconds and thirds on snacks too. 5$ in-flight Wifi is great for doing work. Not so great for video streaming though. The seats are comfortable enough I never get uncomfortable.