Wednesday, April 23, 2014

An Introduction to Southwest Airlines

Previous Posts

Frugal Travel Introduction
Starting Out on Miles and Points
Booking Revenue Flights - Part 1
Booking Revenue Flights - Part 2
Credit and Travel Rewards

In my opinion, for domestic travel, it just does not get any better than Southwest Airlines. Southwest has been our most flown airline, and we love every chance and opportunity to fly with them!  In this post, I will outline all of the great things I like about Southwest and its rewards as well as their limitations.


Our Southwest Testimony

Our LUV for Southwest began last August when we earned a Companion Pass. Since then, we have flown at least a one-way flight every month since and have plans to do so up until October of this year (as far out as their schedule goes right now). During the course of all those flights, we have only booked on points for my ticket, and Amanda has come along for free each time (I switched it over to my Dad once). The only out-of-pocket cost per flight has been $2.50 or $5 for taxes per person.

Companion Pass aside, there are some great opportunities to earn and redeem rapid reward points with Southwest. I helped a family of six book flights (five requiring a ticket) to Oregon this summer. Each parent got a Southwest 50k credit card. After the sign-up bonus points posted, we booked their flights the day summer availability opened up. At the time, we did not have enough points to cover every ticket. But two days later, the price dropped, so we were able to lock in their flights using points for everyone. The value of the flights if paid in cash was just over $2,000. Their total cost after using points was $188 ($50 in taxes + $69 annual fee per card).


The usual pic with the Southwest Credit Card stand!

Route Map

Southwest's route map is below. They have been just flying domestic in 48 states for quite some time but have recently added some international routes. Southwest has acquired AirTran and are slated for the complete takeover by end of this year. In the Caribbean, San Juan has been an option to fly as of 2013, but starting July 1st this year, there are flights from a select few domestic airports to more Caribbean and Mexico locations, the farthest being Aruba. Southwest has been flying from Minneapolis for just over five years now, and they only have eight non-stop destinations. Use the interactive map to hover over Chicago, Denver or even Milwaukee, and it is noticeable that those airports have more non-stop locations compared to MSP.


Fare Searches

There are two ways to search for flights on Southwest that I really like. The first is the Low Fare Calendar. Pick any flight and then click the month box for the Low Fare Calendar. This will pop up a full month of the lowest fare on any given day. From there, its a good way to gauge what a reasonable priced ticket might be.


Click "search the low fare calendar."


Low Fare Calendar in dollars


Low Fare Calendar in points

From there, select the specific day to fly and then pick the flight to take. Southwest does not fly direct from MSP to Seattle, so it will require a stop somewhere. When I look the options over a few things come to mind when deciding which one to take:

1. Total Flight Time All things considered, I usually want to take the shortest trip from Origin to Destination.  If I can do that in less time, great.

2. Where Are My Connections? If I can connect in a city along the way, then that usually means my "butt in seat" travel time is most efficiently used. This is not always a great concern as I love flying, but worth considering.

3. Can I take a "no plane change" flight? With this, I could fly on the same plane all the way through. It would stop in a city, but I would not need to exit the plane. Other passengers who have arrived at their destination or who are making a connection get off, and new passengers get on. With this, I am less worried about having a missed connecting flight or something like that as I am in the plane the entire time. Also, I would be with a only a few other passengers staying on, so I could choose just about any seat on the plane!

4. POINTS required! This usually will have the most sway for a guy like me, but in the instance below, I'll take a decent travel time with same plane and almost lowest fare.



Example of flight options MSP-SEA available on points.

Getaway Finder

Another option that I have just recently starting looking into is called the "getaway finder." With it, I can select a starting point and other criteria. I can then drag the price (either dollars or points) to what the max I want to spend. If there is absolute flexibility on destination but with set with dates to fly, it would not hurt to continue checking this method. If originally choosing a trip to Seattle for $269 R/T (or 15,106 points), a better option might pop up later to a different location with a lower price. With a few clicks, the destination could be switched and could possibly yield some savings! 


Example of a search from MSP for a round-trip anywhere on Southwest.com.



Here is an example of max 17,000 point redemption for a round trip the weekend of May 9-11.

Flexibility

The ability to cancel/rebook flights on Southwest adds value to an already valuable program. If booking a revenue flight, the cancelled flight would not go straight back to the credit card used to book the flight but instead into travel credit that would need to be used within the next 12 months from booking. It is possible to book a business select or anytime flight and have ability to receive funds back on credit card, but I do not see much value added for the higher cost flight.

When booking on points and cancelling, the points go back to my reward account, and I can select to have the minimal tax fee refunded to my credit card. Many times if we are taking a flight somewhere, and we are not sure what specific time or date we can fly out, I will book one, two, or three one ways. I can cancel up to ten minutes before flight departure. Or, if we are still unsure if flying to the destination at all, we can still book and figure out the rest of the plans later, knowing we could always cancel the whole flight if needed.


We love the flexibility of Southwest.   Examples of some of the activity from trips to Colorado and South Florida.

The best practice with Southwest is to book early if planning to use them, and then watch for fare sales. Fare sales happen just about every week when different months/routes go on sale. On just about every flight we have taken, I have cancelled at some point and re-booked at a lower point redemption. This means I am checking their website frequently!

We used Southwest to get to Newark (EWR) for our Italy flight.  First of all, I booked several flights on the way out since I wanted to have a few backup plans if weather was bad that weekend (did not want to miss the second itinerary on United). Second, we booked our one way out to Newark right after booking the Italy flights. At the time it was ~12,000 points to fly from MSP-EWR, but we had three months to see if the required points was going to drop. I re-booked it two or three times, and eventually it only cost 7,144 points for our one way to EWR.

It is worth it to use the Southwest app (which saves recent searches) and check once a day on booked flights to see if the cost has gone down. It is literally about three clicks to get to a recently searched flight. Most likely within a few months, it will at some point drop and only takes five minutes to cancel and re-book.

A golden rule with Southwest, is to ALWAYS book two one ways and not a round-trip flight. Sometimes the destination flight may drop, but the return flight has increased in price. In that scenario, the drop on one of the one ways may not be enough to offset re-booking the round-trip flight, or it could be even more costly because the other one has increased substantially. If I have booked two one ways, I can focus on each one way in itself and re-book it whenever there is a reduced price. It does cause a lot of activity in my account/email though! I use my Southwest credit card now primarily for paying the tax fee on each of our flights. However, I have received two page credit card statements just with the in/out of the $2.50 or $5.00 tax charge!

Free Bags

A cost that can really add up when not thinking about it in advance is baggage fees. If flying Southwest, two bags can be checked without additional cost. The commercials are pretty clear on this one, so that is nice, and they say it could be worth up to $100 which would be true if checking 2 bags on another airline charging $25 each per one way. We actually have not taken advantage of this great perk of the airline too much. We usually like to travel with carry-ons, and then jump out of the airport quick at the destination. Plus with short weekend trips, we really do not want to be waiting  at the baggage claim or having to deal with lost luggage.

Customer Service

The flight attendants on board seem to just about always have a wise crack ready to go and are really good about giving an extra pack of peanuts, coffee, or Amanda's favorite - hot chocolate! The first time I flew with them I asked if I could have a cup of coffee and Sprite. The flight attendant responded "Sure you can, this isn't Delta!"


Extra peanut bag? Sure thing. Coffee and sprite? No problem.

I have not had a pre-flight talk go this far but usually they are joking throughout the entire thing. It is hilarious to hear in what is normally a very stiff process. I recently was talking with an AirTran flight attendant, and I asked what her feelings were on the acquisition. She and the other attendant chimed in right away to express their excitement about it. They were excited to be able to work for Southwest because normally it is very hard to get into Southwest as a flight attendant. According to its corporate fact sheet in 2013, the company (which has 45,000 employees) received 100,682 resumes for 1,521 new employee positions last year.

Boarding and Check-In Processes

For those who have not flown Southwest before, the first time flying might be a bit of a training session until you know what to expect.

Boarding

Some people initially see Southwest boarding to be somewhat like herding cows as there is no assigned seating. So once a passenger is on the plane, any seat is fair game.  Obviously, then, there needs to be some order prior to getting on the plane.  

Southwest mainly flies 3 planes: the Boeing 737-300Boeing 737-700, and Boeing 737-800. The maximum number of passengers each plane can hold is between 143-175 travelers. During check-in, either the letter A, B,or  C will be assigned and listed on the ticket, followed by a number 1-60. Passengers board in the letter group and number within their letter group.

Example: If I have B05, I'll be the fifth person to board after the A group has all boarded. Everyone lines up before boarding the plane and walks on looking to avoid the middle seat between 2 large men. 

A1-20 are basically business travelers that sit in the first few rows and start reading the paper while others are boarding. I like the sweet spot of A20-45 where I feel I have the best chance of grabbing the exit row where there is a little more leg room (keep in mind most other airlines will charge an extra fee for this row). Either way, it is a fun process for me, and I always enjoy getting to know fellow Southwest fliers on the plane. I love boarding!

If flying with kids, family boarding begins after A group, so it is also very family-friendly!

The C group is basically those that have never flown Southwest before and get their ticket when showing up to the airport. On packed flights, the C group basically fills in all the middle seats and typically needs to check carry-on bags as overhead bin space is filled at that point. 


Southwest boarding: A1-60 first, then B1-60, finally C1-60. 

Check-In

On other airlines it may not be necessary to check-in right at 24 hours before departure, but other airlines do not board like Southwest. This is also one of those areas where you might think we are crazy, but we like to think of it as having an efficient system. We set up phone alarms for ~24 hours and 15 minutes prior to departure. Then, we get ready to click "check in" on our smart phones. There will be two clicks needed prior to getting a boarding position. Other Southwest crazies will be doing the same thing, so quickness and getting to clicking the second "check in" in the shortest amount of time once reaching 24 hours prior to boarding is key. The check-in button is not even available until 24 hours before, so once it is visible, it is go time! 

From our experience, we have found that using a smart phone is faster than using a computer. Internet speeds are one thing of course, but the pause between those two clicks could be the difference of an A vs B boarding position. Also, the distance for my finger to move from the first "check-in" spot on my screen to the second "check-in" spot on my screen is shorter and faster than the distance between the two clicks using a mouse on a computer. My friend joked that he should make two dots on his phone screen protector, so he can always make the clicks simultaneous!   



Example of clicks on a smartphone to get to boarding position.  Don't pause after first check-in click!



Personal best last October!
Apparently boarding position was not important to everyone at 6:45 a.m. the day before.

There have been programs designed to do this automatically, however, Southwest has been pretty successful at getting these sites shut down. Instead, Southwest now charges $12.50 for Early Bird Check-in which occurs 36 hours before departure. Depending upon how many people sign up for this, it should get a traveler a good position in line. I would rarely elect for this, so usually we are just a little ways back behind the EarlyBirds. 

We did use Early Bird Check-in when going to Newark in route to Italy because 24 hours prior to departure, we were in the middle of a ski race and could not stop and check-in. Also, I wanted us to be in the first few rows to jump off the plane and make our 30 minute connection at Chicago Midway. Other than that situation, I have never used it, and usually we end up somewhere in the A's to low B's, depending upon how full the flight is and how many Early Bird check-ins or A-List elite's are on board. 

Disadvantages to Southwest Airlines

Southwest is not for everyone or for every situation. There are also some limitations I am not too fond of.

1. You can only search for flights on Southwest.com.

This makes it much harder to find fare sales or hidden city fares. I normally like to search on ITA Matrix for any other airline, but I can not search for Southwest there. One nice benefit is I can still search Airtran on ITA Matrix. Also, the searching ability with the "getaway finder" and "low fare calendar" on southwest.com are great features, so I'm glad those are possibilities.  Also, the calendar only goes out about 6 months as compared to some other airlines that have it open for the next 12 months.  However, make sure to check HERE to know when the next time the schedule gets extended.

2. It offers a limited network.

Although Southwest is growing and servicing more destinations and non-stop flights, there are still limitations. From Minneapolis, there are only eight non-stop destinations, and I can only hope they add to their non-stop options. If a traveler does not enjoy making a stop, then this airline might not be a right fit. However, if living in Chicago, Houston or Denver, there are more options.

Southwest is a cost-cutting airline, so in some cities they will fly into a smaller airport instead of the main one. Examples: In South Florida, they fly into Fort Lauderdale but not Miami or in Chicago they fly into Midway instead of O'Hare.

MSP: 8 non-stop flight destinations compared to Chicago-Midway having 64 non-stop flight destinations.

3. Their on-time performance is lagging.

Southwest used to be at the top among airline carriers in getting passengers to their destination on time. They broke the industry mold of having "hubs" and instead flew mostly non-stop flights between heavy traffic areas. Now that they are trying to connect more airlines to more cities, their records are going down. This past December was a brutal month for them, and it is worth tracking to see if this is something that will turn around or become a recurring theme. However, it has experienced an airline industry record 41 consecutive years with a profit and no bankruptcy. Those two stats are something no other airline can claim, and the recent dip in on-time performance will be something its customers and shareholders will demand in order for that streak to continue.

4. The airline recently went through a devaluation in points.

Every airline goes through a devaluation to their points throughout the years. Southwest did just this on March 31, 2014. Prior to this, it took only 60 points per $1 in base air fare (so 1.67 cents per point in value). Now it has increased to 70 points per $1 in base air fare (1.43 cents per point). However, there are some taxes that are not required to be paid when booking on points such as the Excise taxes, Segment fee, and Passenger Facility Charge.

These charges can vary by route, but in the below example, the true value of booking by points to fly to Denver for 5,535 points (plus $2.50 tax) vs $96.00 is a value for each point of 1.69 cents. By this valuation, the 50,000 point Southwest credit card would be valued at $845. Double that value if getting two cards - $1690. Double that once more if flying with a Companion Pass - $3,380 in free travel! I will not even go into the intrinsic value of ability to cancel and re-book flights which would inflate this value higher. As you can see, I still see a lot of value in Southwest points even post-devaluation!


Overall though, we think the advantages to flying Southwest far outweigh the disadvantages or limitations of the airline, especially when it comes to domestic travel. What do you think?

Perhaps now you are wondering, how to earn points for free flights on Southwest? Next up, I will breakdown the Southwest Companion Pass and other ways to earn Rapid Rewards points.

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