Getting your player ready...
Travelers who haven’t flown the nation’s largest low-cost carrier before may need a quick course in the airline’s quirks. It has a few:
Southwest does not have assigned seating. Passengers board by groups based on how early they check in. “A Group” passengers board before B and C groups and sit wherever they want.
Southwest tickets are not sold on travel websites Orbitz, Travelocity or Expedia.
Southwest flies only Boeing 737s and most have 137 seats.
Southwest caps its ticket prices at $299 each way.
If you buy a nonrefundable Southwest ticket but don’t use it, its value can be applied toward the purchase of future travel for a year.
Southwest does not transport live animals except trained service animals accompanying customers with disabilities.
Southwest does not serve sandwiches or meals on flights. It serves beverages and peanuts, pretzels or packaged snacks.
Southwest requires “customers of size” – those who can’t lower their armrests or who “compromise any portion of adjacent seating” – to book as many seats as they actually fill. If the flight does not oversell, Southwest will refund the price of the additional seat.
Southwest will pay for overnight lodging if passengers miss the last flight of the day because of something within the carrier’s control, such as swapping planes. It won’t pay for the lodging if the inconvenience was not within Southwest’s control, such as bad weather. Southwest also does not pay to book its passengers onto other airlines or absorb the difference between its fares and those of other airlines.
Southwest’s frequent flier program, Rapid Rewards, tabulates trip credits, not miles. Members can get a free trip after accumulating eight roundtrips or 16 one-ways within 24 months.
Until Feb. 9, Southwest won’t limit the number of frequent flier reservations it accepts on each plane, but will have blackout dates. After Feb. 9 it will limit the number of seats available for frequent flier redemption but won’t have system-wide blackout dates.
Southwest’s only code-share agreement is with ATA Airlines, which stops flying to Denver Jan. 10. ATA will continue to carry Southwest passengers from other airports.
Southwest does not charge change fees, paper ticket fees or fuel surcharges. It does not charge fees for unaccompanied minors on nonstop or direct flights.
Southwest allows each passenger three checked bags under 50 pounds.
A Southwest computer application called DING!, downloadable from the airline’s website, delivers an “audible notification” to your computer desktop whenever it has updates on sales.
