Southwest Airlines

• Low Cost
• Two Bags Checked Free
• On-Time Flights
• Amenities and Entertainment

Low Cost

Southwest is a low-cost airline. Ticket prices are some of the lowest on the market. On top of its low prices, Southwest offers many discounts and promotions on their website. The rewards program is also beneficial and easy to use. It is clear to see how to earn a free flight through Southwest. These different promotions and specials available can help ensure that Southwest is the lowest price available for many domestic flights.

Two Bags Checked Free

Southwest has a generous checked baggage allowance—two free checked bags per passenger.

Many other airlines charge for more than one checked bag and some airlines don't allow any free checked baggage at all. This makes Southwest one of the top airlines for checked baggage.

Any checked bags (after the two free) cost $75 per bag.

There are size restrictions for baggage on Southwest Airlines. Bags need to be less than 50lbs and have dimensions (length + weight + height) of 62 inches.

Overweight items (51lbs to 100lbs) and oversized items (63 inches to 80 inches) will also be accepted at a fee of $75 per item.

On-Time Flights

Southwest Airlines has a very high on-time percentage for most of their flights: roughly 85% on-time, 6% late, 2% very late, and 4% excessively late (information according to Flightstats.com). This is higher than a number of other top airlines. However, some of the most-active routes received low ratings. Top flights include:

• Burbank to Oakland (3.2 stars, 87% on time)
• Phoenix to San Diego (3.2 stars, 85% on time)
• Los Angeles to San Jose (3.2 stars 83% on time)

This shows that even top flights are barely receiving three stars. Southwest's lowest-ranked flight is Dallas to Austin, receiving only 1.5 stars and being on-time roughly 70% of the time. Many other top airlines have a large number their most active flights in the four-star range. Compared to this, Southwest does not compare as well as some other top airlines.

Amenities and Entertainment

Southwest offers many of the standard amenities when it comes to in-flight services. As a low-cost airline, some in-flight services are lacking when compared to those that other top airlines provide. Check out some of the airline's in-flight amenities:

• Entertainment: Southwest allows passengers to use personal devices for their entertainment and provides free live and on-demand television. This includes 19 live channels and up to 75 TV episodes from popular series. There are also more than 25 current movie choices available for purchase on flights. Southwest does not have other means for entertainment besides passengers personal devices. Most other airlines have some sort of screen provided and many more options for media.
• Food and dining: While a number of the major airlines offer meal options on their flights, this low-cost airline does not. However, complimentary drinks and snacks including pretzels and peanuts are available. Many other low-cost airlines do not offer any complimentary items like this.
• Wi-Fi: For $8 a day, passengers can access wi-fi services on personal mobile devices to browse the web, check emails, and explore social media sites. This is also how the in-flight entertainment is streamed. This is a very affordable option that not every airline provides. However, not every flight with Southwest offers wi-fi. Passengers can check amenities with flight information on the Southwest website to check if their flight will have wi-fi or not. Flights without wi-fi service do not have other options for entertainment.

• Boarding Process
• Open Seating Policy
• Ten Minute Rule
• Limited Destinations
• Government Action
• Limited Aircraft Comforts

Boarding Process

The boarding process on Southwest is slightly different than most other airlines. Instead of having passengers choose a seat with some type of interactive map during purchase or check-in, Southwest does not assign any seats. It gives a group (A, B, or C) and a number (1-60) to assign the order of boarding.

Open Seating Policy

Southwest uses an open seating policy so passengers can sit anywhere that is open once they have boarded the plane. This would make the boarding process less smooth than airlines that assign or let passengers choose seats beforehand.

With an open seating policy, passengers may be confused as to where to go and may run into more problems or potentially take longer to be settled on the plane.

Ten Minute Rule

Passengers are suggested to be ready to board the plane 30 minutes before departure time and must have their boarding pass and be at the gate at least 10 minutes before departure time. If they have not arrived at least 10 minutes before, Southwest will cancel the reserved space and the passenger will not be eligible for the denied boarding compensation.

Limited Destinations

Southwest flies to 90+ different destinations (mainly domestic), although international routes are available to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. This is a small number of destinations when compared to other airlines, such as United which flies to 300 different destinations and many more internationally.

Keep in mind that the 90+ served destinations cover most of the United States. For passengers that need to travel domestically, Southwest would most likely be able to serve in their desired destinations.

For passengers who want an airline that is able to take them to both international and domestic destinations, Southwest would most likely not be able to serve them the best. Looking at just the number of destinations, Southwest would be considered a small airline.

Government Action

There is an alert for this company because of a government action which was recently placed against them in 2014. At that time, Southwest advertised $59 flights to certain destinations. However, after an investigation, it was shown that there were no seats available to any destination at that price.

The airline was fined for their deceptive advertising. This false advertising is a red flag for how Southwest has in the past conducted business. 

Limited Aircraft Comforts

We also felt like the Boeing-driven fleet reduced some of the comfort creature features for customers. Generally, Airbus planes include bigger and better seats, with more seat pitch and width.