Southwest Airlines
By Kakoa on
I have flown on many different airlines and I have to say that Southwest Airlines is by far the worst! I will never fly Southwest again unless it is my only choice to get where I need to go.
I flew to Las Vegas with a large group of people on Southwest back in February. This was my first experience with this airline. I was confused at first because you do not get an assigned seat, you get a boarding letter. Either A, B, or C. A's board first, B's next and C's last. You are in trouble if you are a C because 1. you get the crappy leftover seats (if you are traveling with someone, bet that you won't get to sit with them), and 2. You might not get on the plane at all! I have been told by numerous people that they overbook the flights and last last people in the C group don't get on.
Well before the plane was ready to take off people started lining up at the gate in their respective line. You can not leave your stuff on the floor in line and go take a seat, so many people were sitting on the ground in line. Once more than about 5 people get in line everyone starts getting paranoid. Next thing you know, everyone is rushing to get in line so they can get a good seat. Talk about stressful! I was uneasy the whole time thinking that my husband and I were not going to be able tog et a seat together.
It's first come, first serve on the boarding passes. Even though we checked in online 24 hours in advance we were not early enough. We were in the B group while all the rest of our group was in the A group. Once we all pushed our way on the plane, my husband and I found 2 seats together way in the back. The closest other people from our group were about 5 rows ahead. The same thing happened on the way back home. And once all the double seat areas were taken, people traveling together were very upset. I got many dirty looks from disgusted people.
The seats were very uncomfortable, and there was hardly any leg room. I kept stretching my legs out and hitting the person's feet in front of me. And the person behind me kept banging on his tray table. The flight was about 4 hours long. We were served some sort of lunch and drinks, but it was not that good. I can't even remember it. We ended up eating what we packed in our bags.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. I have only flown this airline one time and it was definitely not my favorite trip. Too bad they can't have assigned seats. They should!
I agree that this is not my favorite airline- I think there is a reason that they are the "budget" company. While our experience wasn't quite as bad as yours sounds like, I don't think we would go out of our way to travel Southwest again, either.
Oh my gosh! Sounds like a terrible experience! I wonder why they don't do assigned seats. Is it really that big of a hassle to give you a seat number? Should I ever fly again, I know who NOT to use.
I have heard a lot of people complain about Southwest. Sad isn't it, prices keep going up but service keeps going down. Thanks for the great information. I didn't know about the seating!
I am so sorry that you had such a difficult experience with South West airlines. I flew them once quite a few years ago and I was very impressed with them. I do not recall the seating situation, however, and it may have been different then.