and that's why i stopped flying them even while as a poor college student. for 10 bucks more, i could get organized boarding and better service.

going between burbank and norcal though, they've got flights like every 30-60 mins. And they are pretty cool about changes. Like if u get to the airport early, they'll totally let you change flights.

but... yeah, the no assigned seating is sooooooooooooooooo irritating. I really hate that cattle call. I'd never fly them for anything longer than to Vegas or NorCal. =/

yeah, they really do have a pretty tight lock on the socal-norcal routes, although last i checked, united's trying to break it.

but changes...the last time i tried to change it, they were going to charge me the fare difference instead of just letting me standby. superlame.

the one thing i really hate about cattle-call is being at the gate like, 2 hrs early so you can sit in line. the very last time i flew them was LAX-PHL since it was the cheapest one-way i could find...packed plane, boarding group B towards the back of the group line. 5.5 hours, not a good time.

They call 'em flying cattle cars for a reason...

*has to take southwest to Portland tomorrow*

That's odd - I fly SWA pretty much anytime I can in the US because it's the only airline that I've never had a problem with. Any flight I've been on has always left on time or early and arrived early.

I fly United for business and despite having over 100K mileage plus points with them, I'll never use them for personal travel.

YOU'RE ALWAYS TAKING THEIR SIDE!

*slams door*

You must be a complete idiot, especially with that amount of mileage. You could upgrade to first anytime you want yet you choose to be part of the cattle on Shitwest airlines.

Nothing like that. SWA is just cheaper, and the poeple that I typcally fly with can't afford to use airlines like United that are priced sigificantly higher.

For example: Next week I'm going to Michigan. Round-trip on SWA (non-stop) is $49. The next lowest price was $279 on American with a stop in Chicago that had a 2-hour layover (United was closer to $400). So four of us are traveling on a better time schedule for less money than it would be for one person to fly on another airline.

I agree that their seating system sucks and they're completely no-frills, but for the majority of the time - they're the lesser of the evils for me because I can get there on time and save money.

If it would be fruitful to use my points with UA, I would - but in my experience First Class in the continental US really isn't anything special anyway. First Class international is, however. I'm stashing my mileage points because next year I'll be doing a lot of travel to Asia - and I have no interest in doing that in coach. I've done that before, and I'd rather not have to do it again.

And flying anywhere in the US (with the exeption of Hawaii) isn't a long enough flight (for me) to care where I sit. To me, an 8-hour flight is short.

I can respect the opinions of those that don't care for SWA though - as I can see what there's NOT to like about it. I was just surprised people had problems with them being late since I've never had that problem with them in all of the times I've flown using their service.

i hate southwest and don't mind paying more to avoid them.
they're always delayed (especially later in the day) and i hate not having an assigned seat.

the seat thing drives me CRAZY (and it's not a long trip).

Delta and I aren't speaking either. It was an abusive relationship.

I've never had a problem with SW until this past week. The average lateness of my two flights was 3 hours, 20 mins. It took me two days to get home. But I've had consistently bad service from US Airways and Northwest. And I've never flown America West, but everyone I know who has calls it America Worst. So, when they say, "We realize you have a choice in airlines..." what they really mean is, "We're glad you find us less crappy than the other guys." And I fear it's only going to get worse.

LA to SF area flights are delayed all the time, UA's shuttle is fscked up all the time too.

I've heard similar things - fortunately my flying patterns mean I never have to fly SW. =)

BTW, y'know that insignia on your shirt almost looks like a Dharma Initiative logo... I take it that doesn't mean you have to push a button every 108 minutes.

/LostGeekery

OMG, I love your icon! :)

You're so fucking cute. I love that fatal butt acne.

Anyway, I fly them tomorrow. I'll letcha know what happens. I can't stand that they're the cheapest, but y'know.

Actually, one more funny thing I remembered. One time, I was flying home, and I was all bummed cuz I had boarding pass "C" ... then, the gate changed. We all RUSHED/RAN to the other gate. When I did that, I was like, "Why did I just RUN to be first in line in C?!" :)