Sorry for my recent absence. It's been one of those things where work and life got in the way of posting here.
Earlier this week, I headed to Chicago for a business conference. For those of you who don't know, my home airport is MSP (Minneapolis) and Delta is the major player in town. I rarely get the deals that airports, say on the east coast, tend to offer.
I would usually fly NWA-now-Delta into Chicago-Midway for my conference because they had a time schedule I liked and usually met the prices of the "other guys." Well all the other airlines had dropped the route for this year.
Until Southwest came to town.
Like all WDW fans, I'm well aware of the reputation that Southwest has among the flying public. Low fares, on-time, friendly, etc.
So when Southwest came to town, I was glad they finally entered the MSP market. Initially, I was hoping SWA would influence fares to MCO.
But since I needed to head to MDW and Southwest flew there, I thought I'd check the schedule and see if it would work for me.
Actually, it turns out Southwest worked way better than Delta. I didn't want to spend any more money on the expensive conference hotel room than I had to. But I needed to be to McCormick Place in Chicago by 9am. Delta's first flight didn't leave MSP until after 7am. But SWA had a 6am flight that got me into MDW at 7:25am. The return flight options were good so I booked with SWA.
Since I was on a time schedule, I paid the $10 Early Bird fee so I didn't have to get up and check-in to get the coveted "A" boarding pass.
"What's that?", you say? Well, SWA doesn't have assigned seating. You board in three groups: A, B and C. Obviously, if you get to board with the A group, you have the best choice of seats.
Like all airlines, you can only check-in online 24 hours ahead of time. And it's first come, first serve. So you need to be online at the right time, with everyone else, to get a "good spot."
If you don't care where you are on the plane, then SWA is definitely your deal. I am totally anal about where I sit on the plane. I need to be in an aisle - it's a control thing - and I want to be as far forward as possible. So that's why I did the Early Bird.
Anyway, back to the flights themselves.
I wasn't sure how I'd like what the traveling public refers to as the "cattle call" that SWA uses to board its planes.
At the gate in Humphrey Terminal, there were six posts in the floor, spaced equally apart. Each post had a set of numbers on it on each side. One side went: 1-5, 6-10, etc. through 30. The other side was 31-35, 36-40, etc. through 60. As each group is called, passengers line up in the order that is printed on their boarding pass.
Each flight, I had A20. FYI, A1-15 is reserved for Business Select - essentially the biz traveler who's paying the higher fare.
I honestly thought it would take longer with people seeking out an open seat. But it went REALLY fast.
Let me repeat that: It went REALLY fast.
I don't know exactly what time we pushed back from the gate, but I can tell you, we arrived at our gate in Chicago at 7:12am - almost 15 minutes early. And it wasn't because we caught a tailwind.
The flight back boarded a lot slower. But there were issues beyond SWA's control. The usual people carrying on a bag that's too large seemed out of place for SWA. I mean, come on, you can check two bags for FREE with them! Check your big honkin' bag already!
Now, here's what I didn't like about SWA:
1. Seats.
The seats were very uncomfortable for me. They seemed permanently reclined even when fully upright. If I leaned into the seat back for any length of time, my lower back was killing me. I felt like I needed a pillow or something for some lumbar support. I can't imagine how bad my back would have felt on a flight to MCO that's three times the length of a flight to MDW.
2. Check-In Reminder Email
Maybe I didn't get this because I signed up for Early Bird. But I never got one reminding me to print out my boarding pass. I'm not one to need it, but it would have been nice when I was traveling to receive one.
Bottom Line: Southwest's operations made a favorable impression. But the uncomfortable seats combined with no available non-stop flights to MCO means that they'd have to have a seriously low fare for me to fly them on a Disney vacation.
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