Southwest Airlines By Halcammom By halcammom on - Updated Oct 15, 2011
Southwest Airlines is based out of Love Field in Dallas, TX. We usually fly on Southwest Airlines because of price and safety record. I am always hunting for the best deal and when comes to booking airline tickets, Southwest has usually offered the lowest rate. They also have a good safety record.
You can book a Southwest flight through their website, a travel agent or their toll free number. You can't book though through the travel search engines, as they don't participate with them. I have found that their website is very easy to use and is always the method I use for booking travel with them. You can also make changes to your reservation online and cancel your flight too online.
Their price is always competitive. Another great feature of flying Southwest is the fact that they let you reschedule for no penalties or fees. If you have to cancel or find a cheaper price, you can change without being penalized. If you buy a refundable fare, you can be refunded. However, if you purchase a discount fare, you have up to one year from the date of purchase to use the credits on another flight. Also as stated, if they discount the fare further, you can rebook and save the credits for another flight. If you can't use the credits before they expire, you can transfer the credit to anyone you would like. I have rebooked about 6 times on one reservation number and have never been penalized. I don't know of another airline that will do that!
If you have every watched the show Airline, you know that Southwest does tend to overbook their flights. I have never been bumped, but I also get to the airport early. They overbook flights because they expect people to noshow or cancel at the last minute since they do have a great policy about that. To avoid being bumped, you can always check in online and print your boarding pass beginning 24 hours before takeoff. If you are traveling with a child under the age of 2 without a ticket, you can't check in online. That is a disadvantage because you may not get in group A, the group that boards first. They currently allow people with young children to board first; however, that is changing in October. So, if traveling with a young child without a ticket, get to the airport early.
Their rewards program is nice too. For every 8 flights, you get a ticket anywhere they fly. No points to keep up with!
I like Southwest Airlines. It has and will be the first place I check for airline tickets.
About The Author:
Southwest Domestic Flights Purchased at: Southwest Price: varies
We flew Southwest last year when we went to Disney World. We really enjoyed it and had no problems. We will be going back to Disney World in September and we had already booked our flights with Southwest.