Airline Review #1 - Southwest

Alright, so Southwest is arguably the most travelled airline in the US these days. I have to admit that I have probably flown Southwest more than any other airline in the past 8 or so years. There are a couple of things to note about them.

First off, the only place you can find their fares are on their own website, southwest.com. While my understanding is that this enables them to have lower fares, it is a bit annoying having to check their website in addition to using a multi-airline website since it wastes time.

Secondly, although I have used them in the past for great deals (i.e. flying from Manchester, NH to Los Angeles last year for less than $400), it seems that recently they have upped their prices a bit more and they are not the great deals that they once used to be. For example, in comparison to the $400 I paid last year for a flight, the cheapest round-trip fare at the same time for the same locations cost $580 round-trip. This is far from cheap in my books, and as a result, I've slowly been moving away from using them.

Thirdly, the in flight experiences I've had have been mixed. Generally the flight attendants are very friendly and helpful, but there isn't any entertainment on flight! That can make long flights quite the boring times (by the end of my 7 hours of flying on the LA trip, I was bolting to the door to get off!). One upside of Southwest is that they do have free snacks onboard, and free pop or juice, and they are generally pretty good. I've uploaded a picture of the pack I got when I flew them last time - quite tasty. Although not very healthy.

Lastly, the boarding ticket and seating process. I find it to be good, since it rewards people who are on the ball and sign in at the first possible chance online. However, more people are now coming online right at the moment they can, and even after refreshing multiple screens repeatedly right before it started until you could check in, I still only managed to get in A16. So yea, intense. But I find it good because then you aren't stuck waiting around the gate to get a seat you want (personally because I'm tall, I like to get the exit row, which generally go fast).

Last words: All in all, Southwest is a good airline. No major complaints, and generally I've had smooth flying experiences. They are losing their reputation as the cheapest flight option in my opinion though. Overall, I would give them a 7.5/10.
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