Travel Thread

[DigitalGypsy66]

We are flying Southwest out to LA in June. They have changed our flights twice already. One was a gate and slight time change, the next change was a completely different connecting city.

What do I need to start worrying about with Southwest? I've never flown with them before.

[dodint]

Check in early if you didn't buy any kind of priority boarding. I didn't know that my first time and sat dodint between two adult men.

[nocera]

Yeah just check in as soon as it allows you to get an earlier boarding time, unless you upgraded that on your ticket. I love Southwest.

[blackjack68]

Upgrade to A1-15 for a few more bucks if you can.

Otherwise, be on exactly 24 hours before departure time and hope to get Group A or lower Group B. If you get Group C, you’re getting a middle seat in the back.

[skullman80]

I won’t fly southwest unless it’s like a 90 minute flight or less. Way too cramped and I like to pick my seat.

[tifosi77]

Checking in on SW is like Ticketmaster. You can be sitting there with the app open on multiple devices hitting refresh over and over again, and when you get through 30 seconds after the appointed time, you're already in Group B with a number in the 50s.

[shoeshine boy]

I won’t fly southwest unless it’s like a 90 minute flight or less. Way too cramped and I like to pick my seat.

cramped? they have way more leg room then Delta. but yes, I too prefer to pick my seat.

set an alarm to check in for BOTH flights. if you wait even 5 or 10 minutes, you'll be in the back of group B or in group C and then it's Middle Seat City.
spring for Early Bird if it's not too pricey.

[NTP66]

SW's entire fleet, unless I'm mistaken, consists entirely of 737s - half old, half MAX. On anything other than a MAX, you're not getting a ton of leg room, so I'm curious about which Delta metal you're comparing it to.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Check in early if you didn't buy any kind of priority boarding. I didn't know that my first time and sat dodint between two adult men.

better adult men than juvenile men

[shoeshine boy]

this was my comparison of legroom on a 45 minute flight from HNL>OGG on Southwest (top) and a 9 hour flight from ATL>HNL on Delta Airbus 330 (bottom)
for reference, I'm 5'2"
this was October 2019

[Shyster]

From seatguru, Southwest appears to use a 31" seat pitch on its 737-700s and a 32-33" seat pitch on its -800s and MAX8. Depending on the aircraft, all of Delta, American, and United have a 30" seat pitch for some standard seats. For example, American's MAX8s and A321neos have a 30" seat pitch for the standard "main cabin" seats.

Seat pitch isn't necessarily a direct proxy for legroom. It's defined as the distance between the back of your seat and the back of the seat in front and includes stuff like the depth of the seatback structure and cushions, plus the tray table. Theoretically, you could have a seat with a lower seat pitch, but if the seat itself is thinner in terms of the cushions and whatnot, there might be more legroom than another seat with a higher seat pitch. But it's used as a rough proxy for legroom, and generally a higher seat pitch means more space for the passenger to occupy.

[blackjack68]

Just flew Southwest last week 800 on first leg and 700 on the second and could tell the difference. Even if it’s small.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

[NTP66]

GOOD.

[willeyeam]

Thanks Biden!

[dodint]

Oh my. Consequences for actions you say?

[shafnutz05]

Two days in a row of government wins.

[NTP66]

Two days in a row of government Biden wins.

[count2infinity]

Prices are gonna go up… but still, they need to be held accountable.

[NTP66]

Gonna go up? They have been steadily rising for over a decade.

[NTP66]

Looking at trips I have routinely taken:

PHL/SAV: $230 > $394
PHL/OGG: $750 > $861

[Troy Loney]

Probably worth noting that the delay has to be "significant", which if I read right, means > 3 hours for domestic flights.

[count2infinity]

Gonna go up? They have been steadily rising for over a decade.

More so than normal... this is going to hurt their bottom line. They're not going to just say "Welp... guess there's nothing we can do!".

[count2infinity]

Looking at trips I have routinely taken:

PHL/SAV: $230 > $394
PHL/OGG: $750 > $861

So this is 10 years ago vs today? Or what? Because if it's 10 years of price change, the first is more than the rate of inflation, the second is less.

[RonnieFranchise]

Wake me up when this turns out to have any relevant teeth whatsoever.