Writer’s note: I read this great post at Musing of a Housewife’s blog yesterday. It’s a really refreshing post all about the turn many blogs and the blog community is taking – self-promotion, blog marketing, branding, etc. She pretty much nails on the head a lot of how I have been feeling lately. Like I’m sending so much time reading about how to improve this site and I’m forgetting why I started it.
I’m making a promise to myself and to you guys to get back to what I love – which was reviewing and talking about the everyday products and things that help my everyday life as a Mom. Not saying that this blog can’t always use a little more PR but I wanna get a little more lovin’ and “everyday” back in the site.
So without further ado, today’s post is a tribute to Southwest, the airline that makes me actually enjoy traveling with my kids. I’ve been wanting to this post forever and well, I hadn’t gotten around to doing it. But I really do love to fly when I’m going with Southwest.
Here’s why:
-There’s no change fee. Seriously. This last trip we took to Florida, I changed the ticket twice. Two times – not only did it cost me nothing, but I actually got MONEY BACK because I changed our flight times to a cheaper flight.
-The people who work for Southwest must have to take some sort of happy pill before they go to work each day, because they are seriously the most pleasant, friendly folks I have ever encountered in all my years of travel. It makes a difference.
-They don’t charge for checked bags
-They don’t charge for drinks on the airplane. (Although I just got an email from USAirways this morning saying they are going back to free drinks – gee thanks.)
Enough said, right? I know a lot of folks don’t like the seating system (not assigned seats), but I don’t mind it. If you are traveling with any children under the age of 5, you can board at a relatively early enough time to get seats together. And if you make sure to check-in online 24-hours before your flight time, you’ll get a good boarding group anyway so it’s no sweat to me.
It seems like a no brainer to me, but a lot of folks don’t know about Southwest. If you live in or near an airport that Southwest services, consider flying them. I want to add I haven’t talked to anyone at Southwest’s PR or Marketing and this post comes from sheer love of flying with them.
25
Feb 2009
My airline of choice: Southwest
By 6 Comments
I couldn’t agree with you more! In Houston we have two airports to choose from and I am equidistant from them both. The one that Southwest flies out of is much smaller, more convenient, cheaper to park at, etc. I was bowled over when I found out just recently about the no change fee policy…my best friend changed her flight from Philly to Nashville when our other friend got sick, changed it to a month later from Philly to Houston to come see me. No difference! Amazing. And the seating thing has gotten MUCH better since the last time I flew SW in 2000ish when you had to push and shove and stand in line for hours to get a decent seat.
I agree with you! I love to fly Southwest with my kids, they have packets of coloring books for the kids to color. One time we were flying and my 2 year old was screaming, they were so nice at trying to help me and make her happy.
Another plus is they have a sense of humor especially flying into Philly!
Whit awesome post… couldn’t agree more about how unbelievably amazing southwest is – changing tickets, no charge fees, you name it. But especially love you channeling the inner “Mommies with Style”. I’ve been feeling really lost lately on Classy Mommy too and I’m just not sure how to balance it all. Thanks!
We love Southwest! I also like their Ding! feature that sends hot deals directly to your desktop. They’re secret deals that are only available to Ding! users.
I am glad that someone has had a good experience traveling with their kids. I traveled with my 9 month old and 2 year old last year to California for a family wedding. We also flew on Southwest. Unfortunately, we had nothing but problems. I was shocked that they did not allow people boarding with young children to board early. I felt bad when we were able to board because we caused a delay trying to get the car seat set up and still hold onto two kids. It was a horrible experience. I don’t think this policy is family friendly. One of the ticketing agents or gate checkers for Southwest had me in tears before even entering the gate for our return flight. I have never been treated so rudely at the airport than by this lady. It was a long trip and it has almost been a year. I am not sure when we fly again, but it will be too soon for me. If we do fly again, I will think long and hard about which airline we choose to give our money to.
I was also VERY impressed with their “no change fees!” I had to cancel a ticket the other day and it was no issue at all… AND the lady was as nice as she could have possibly been! Now, I just have $180 credit to use within a year.. that easy. 🙂