How I learned to stop worrying they'd lose my luggage and LUV like SouthWest Air: 10 things I learned about SW by flying with them

April is coming to it's final week and Summer fast approaches! For many, that means vacations, travel, other cities not their own. While "no money" generally still means "no vacation", "a little money" might be able to buy a little more vacation than you thought.

One of the first things you need to figure out when going away, is how you're going to get there. For some, the cheapest option might be driving there. Depending on what sort of car you drive, or if you don't drive at all, the bus may be the next best option as far as getting the cheapest fare is concerned. The down-side is that in addition to usually being pretty uncomfortable, time on the road eats into the time you could be spending lounging in a sunny park, or on a river bank or in a nice hotel room somewhere. It could be worth it to pay a few extra bucks and fly...

When someone says the words "budget airlines, I bet the first or second thing that comes to your mind if you live in the United States is Southwest . --What comes to your mind when you hear the words "Southwest Airlines" might be something other than "budget airlines" or "cheap travel". Maybe you think "cramped cabins" or "lost luggage" or "FLIGHT FROM HELL" (-or maybe you just think of this? ).

Horror stories about lost baggage, crowded and uncomfortable planes were all things I had heard, and before I actually flew with them, this bad press had more or less formed my expectations for the experience of flying Southwest. Despite all the bad press, I decided to fly with them anyway. After all, the one thing I knew for sure, was that they still had the cheapest fares to New Orleans.

Here are ten things I learned about Southwest by flying with them:

1) Southwest truly is the greyhound of the skies

Obviously I'm referring to the bus service, not the racing breed. Depending on which flight you book, Southwest is more like a literal airbus. For example, on our way into NOLA, our plane first stopped off in Nashville, TN to let some passengers off, and then let on some others. For some reason I wasn't really expecting this, but it wasn't a big surprise. Briefly I had wondered why our flight from BWI in Baltimore to Louis Armstrong in New Orleans was going to take closer to four hours than two and a half. The brief stop at BNA was a sensible explanation (and probably also explained why two adult-fares round trip cost just over $400 after taxes and fees). That said, the "stop" went fairly smoothly, and fairly quickly. We were probably on the ground for less than fifteen minutes before we were taking-off again.

2) If you have a specific destination in mind, with a specific date, book early!

You get a better rate if you're booking at least two months in advance (these rates may not be better than their special events and sales, but you can't be guaranteed which flights are on sale at a give time of the year). Also, once you've settled on a destination, a date, and a place to stay, I would suggest booking right then! When I first looked into booking flights to New Orleans, the best rates for the dates we could travel came to $79 per person, each way. Despite the fact that I was probably not going to find a better rate than that ANYWHERE, I felt it necessary to mull it over for a couple of hours. I went off to do some chores, made my decision and returned to try to book the tickets. What I had failed to realize was that it had gone from 11pm to 2am so technically, it was the next day. So the fares had gone up slightly. I went ahead and bought the slightly more costly tickets, and boy was I ever glad because they went up again maybe a week later!

3) If the days you want to fly are not set in stone, then when first searching fares, search a range of dates

Most people know that the most expensive day of the week to fly is typically Friday. In my experience however, the cheapest day of the week to fly seems to move around the calendar depending on the time of the year. The first set of dates I searched for my trip turned up rates I wasn't entirely satisfied with; I had a feeling better rates were out there. Fortunately, since I was booking early, with plenty of time to give my vacation notice at the office, I was able to pull up a chart that quoted the fare prices for the entire month and take my pick. Since my travel dates were flexible, I was able to book flights on the days of that month with the best rate.

4) Check-in early!

Unless you're flying Business Select, there isn't any assigned seating on Southwest (and even then, seats aren't aren't so much assigned as business select gets to board first regardless and take their pick). The advantage of this is that there is no extra charge for a window seat or an aisle seat. The disadvantage is that there is no guarantee you'll be able to snag one. Boarding was sort of a managed free-for-all with passengers boarding in groups of 1-30 and then 31-60 for A, B and C clusters. While the attendant made sure that passengers in cluster C did not board before all those in cluster B, nothing was too strictly enforced. That worked out though, because it meant no one scrutinized me -with my B:58 ticket, pushing to the front of my group to secure two adjacent seats for my traveling companion and myself. Because the last thing I wanted to do was get stuck next to some schmuck who's going to spend the next three hours regaling me with tales of their coworkers' marital troubles, while I'm trying to listen to the Boogie Nights soundtrack on my iPod.

5) If you live close to more than one airport, check the travel rates to your destination from all those that are near-by! One airport in your vicinity may offer better rates than the others

I'm fortunate enough to live about halfway between BWI and PHL. For what-ever reason (and I imagine there is one or several) tickets from BWI worked out to be between $200 and $250 cheaper than flights from PHL.


6) Southwest lets you check your first and second bags for free!

In an age where many airlines charge to check any bags and where others are talking about charging for carry-on baggage, two free checked bags offers a savings of up to $120 round trip!

7) Sometimes it's cheaper to drink on the plane than in the airport

This may have been what surprised me most about the airline. I was under the impression that Southwest was more or less the Ryan Air of the US. Meaning that I figured they would charge for EVERY SINGLE THING(non-alcoholic beverages, peanuts, the bathroom) and then tack some additional charges on top of that. Two whiskeys in the sky cost me $10; two whiskeys in the airport bar cost me $20.

8) Southwest was actually a little classier and a little more comfortable than I expected

Similarly surprisingly was that Southwest offers passengers a complimentary non-alcoholic beverage (choice of coffee, tea, soda, juice or water) and snack (we got pretzels and cheese nips). Additionally, my companion and I found ourselves with more legroom than expected (more than I expected anyway). Our flight wasn't quite as roomy as say, United, but seating was a far-cry from the school-bus style seating I expected. There wasn't a lot of reclining action available, but also there were no springs poking me in the back.

9) Maybe Southwest doesn't have the best reputation as far as keeping track of your luggage, but they didn't lose mine

That said, I can't promise they won't lose yours. Just to be safe, if you're bringing enough luggage that you need to check something, I suggest packing only things that are easily (and cheaply) replaced in your hold luggage. The odds that you'll get your bags back are pretty good, but why risk losing your favorite shirt or your new souvenirs? (For the record, the only things packed in our checked bag were toiletries and towels)

10) The pilots' reputation for bad jokes is pretty well earned

WARNING: You will probably laugh anyway.