Southwest out of MIA

[JimnKathy]

10 hours ago, foxrunner said:

This discussion is a reminder of how bad air travel has become post 9/11. The other thing we should all be happy about is that cruising hasn't completely changed. Count your lucky stars and get on a ship!

I totally agree.

We had several challenging flying experiences coming to and from cruises since the restart...luckily our RCL sailings were wonderful each time!

My better half and I decided to drive 11 hours from Memphis to Galveston on our most recent cruise (with 3 young grandkids and their mom) and found this trip to be a FAR better experience than risking crazy flight reschedules/cancellations common in this post-pandemic world.

 

[sleepy425]

21 hours ago, Villageidiot said:

People spent hours flying to avoid about three hours of driving down the freeway?

I'm doing this in April.  I'm running races at Disney then boarding a cruise the next day.  It is $60 to fly MCO to FLL, $95 to rent a car plus the cost of gas (and tolls maybe? I didn't look to see if there are tolls).  I have to head to the airport to put my son on a plane back to CT, so smartest option is for me to also hop on a plane to get to the port.

[smokeybandit]

34 minutes ago, sleepy425 said:

I'm doing this in April.  I'm running races at Disney then boarding a cruise the next day.  It is $60 to fly MCO to FLL, $95 to rent a car plus the cost of gas (and tolls maybe? I didn't look to see if there are tolls).  I have to head to the airport to put my son on a plane back to CT, so smartest option is for me to also hop on a plane to get to the port.

But you're flying MCO directly to FLL. Not MCO to FLL via BUF

[Villageidiot]

1 hour ago, sleepy425 said:

I'm doing this in April.  I'm running races at Disney then boarding a cruise the next day.  It is $60 to fly MCO to FLL, $95 to rent a car plus the cost of gas (and tolls maybe? I didn't look to see if there are tolls).  I have to head to the airport to put my son on a plane back to CT, so smartest option is for me to also hop on a plane to get to the port.

This makes sense, I was picturing locals with access to their own vehicles flying to Fort Lauderdale.

[smokeybandit]

2 minutes ago, Villageidiot said:

This makes sense, I was picturing locals with access to their own vehicles flying to Fort Lauderdale.

[sleepy425]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

But you're flying MCO directly to FLL. Not MCO to FLL via BUF

Oh yeh missed that part.  I'm direct MCO to FLL.  No way I would do it if it wasn't a quick direct flight!  I'd happily fork over the Uber money if there was a stopover involved in flying.

[WAYNO]

We've  flown a lot.  We have no favorite airline, as none of them are user friendly, helpful, or trustworthy.  And none are getting better

We have also found MIA to be the least friendly and/or helpful airport.

And the more we fly, the more we are experiencing delayed and/or cancelled flights. Our most recent cancellation was MIA.  And in the Miami culture, the airline employees were pretty worthless.  It was not their job man.

When I'm delayed, I find myself researching other flights.  I use Flightrader24 to track delay patterns.   And in most cases, I've found Southwest to have the most delayed or cancelled flights.  I no longer include them in my travel searches, regardless of itinerary or cost. 

Southwest Airlines and MIA... Not a combination I would ever trust.

 

I wont for a second expect to convince anybody any more than the Southwest fanboys/fangirls will convince me otherwise.  I have my own experiences, and act accordingly.

[smokeybandit]

Southwest will always have more delays just due to how they utilize their aircraft. One delay early in the day can delay that plane's next 5 flights.

All their other issues can also make a huge delay mess when something goes wrong.

[teddy]

4 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Southwest will always have more delays just due to how they utilize their aircraft. One delay early in the day can delay that plane's next 5 flights.

All their other issues can also make a huge delay mess when something goes wrong.

In 2017, I flew Southwest (for the first time) from Portland, ME to San Antonio.  The departure from Portland was delayed due to maintenance issues and I was told the next flight was the following morning.  This was one of the only times I've ever complained, and I did it politely.  They put me in a cab and sent me to Manchester, NH.  I missed that flight so they put me in another cab to Boston where I was able to get on a flight that got me to Texas in time for my meeting.

I really want to stay loyal to them because of the way they handled that delay,  but since the pandemic, they've always been higher priced on flights out of northern New England than other airlines.

[Zacharius]

On 6/9/2023 at 5:50 PM, Ampurp85 said:

I only do direct

Direct is great, but you should try nonstop some day

 

On 6/9/2023 at 7:14 PM, twangster said:

This is the downfall of WN.

Let's say that there is a big event in MIA.  The Icon inaugural sailing for example.

You are flying Chicago to Miami.

The plane started in Los Angeles, flies to Chicago and then to Miami.

Let's say 150 people board in LAX.  Of those 100 are heading to MIA.  The plane stops in MDW and 50 people get off, but 100 passengers are flying through to MIA.   

You are boarding MDW with an A1 boarding pass.  You are now passenger 101 on the plane in row 20, middle seat.  Welcome to SWA.

Back in the late 2000s, I found myself flying the Saturday morning, 6am ONT-PHX-MDW flight 1-2x monthly for like six months in a row. This was before WN had an ONT-MDW nonstop. There were always like 60-70 of us through passengers in Phoenix, sometimes more. Every. Single. Time. I guess that's why they started doing nonstops on the route. Anyways, those people in Phoenix who thought their A20 meant something got a shock when they found out they were really like the 85th person onboard and most of the good seats were long gone. 

[Baked Alaska]

15 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

Direct is great, but you should try nonstop some day

 

Back in the late 2000s, I found myself flying the Saturday morning, 6am ONT-PHX-MDW flight 1-2x monthly for like six months in a row. This was before WN had an ONT-MDW nonstop. There were always like 60-70 of us through passengers in Phoenix, sometimes more. Every. Single. Time. I guess that's why they started doing nonstops on the route. Anyways, those people in Phoenix who thought their A20 meant something got a shock when they found out they were really like the 85th person onboard and most of the good seats were long gone. 

^^^^THIS^^^^ So, let's solve this First World problem here! What are everyone's hacks for navigating a Southwest booking? And, what are you criteria to abandon that booking in favor of another airline? 

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, Baked Alaska said:

^^^^THIS^^^^ So, let's solve this First World problem here! What are everyone's hacks for navigating a Southwest booking? And, what are you criteria to abandon that booking in favor of another airline? 

I don't think there really are any hacks needed. Just be sure to keep checking the price since if it goes down, you can future cruise flight credit. Then again several airlines now do this in the post-covid world.

[Zacharius]

7 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

^^^^THIS^^^^ So, let's solve this First World problem here! What are everyone's hacks for navigating a Southwest booking? And, what are you criteria to abandon that booking in favor of another airline? 

My Southwest hack is to fly American and always get upgrades and seat assignments

(To be fair, most of my travel these days is international, so loyalty to a global airline/alliance is imperative) 

[Pooch]

That’s what I do.  I book with points and check every morning over coffee.  For our BDL-FLL (and brothers BOS-FLL) trip in May, flights started at about 24,000 each RT.  By the time we flew, I had gotten everyone below 15,000.  It’s easy to watch for and easy to make the change.

[Zacharius]

1 minute ago, Pooch said:

That’s what I do.  I book with points and check every morning over coffee.  For our BDL-FLL (and brothers BOS-FLL) trip in May, flights started at about 24,000 each RT.  By the time we flew, I had gotten everyone below 15,000.  It’s easy to watch for and easy to make the change.

Also a reminder for people booking hotels and rental cars - those are worth keeping an eye on too! Example - I have a rental car booked for a vacation to Destin this fall. Originally it was $850 for the week, and is now down to $600...easy to re-book as long as you haven't purchased a restricted fare. Also easy to re-book flexible hotel rates to save some money. 

[Pooch]

1 minute ago, Zacharius said:

Also a reminder for people booking hotels and rental cars - those are worth keeping an eye on too! Example - I have a rental car booked for a vacation to Destin this fall. Originally it was $850 for the week, and is now down to $600...easy to re-book as long as you haven't purchased a restricted fare. Also easy to re-book flexible hotel rates to save some money. 

You are so right!  I check obsessively.  My brother was shocked at the savings I was able to get him.  Our precruise hotel rooms also went down $30-40.  He booked those & never looked again til I bugged him.

[smokeybandit]

9 minutes ago, Pooch said:

Our precruise hotel rooms also went down $30-40.

Right on cue, I just checked my hotel for next month and it dropped $20

[twangster]

26 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

My Southwest hack is to fly American and always get upgrades and seat assignments

(To be fair, most of my travel these days is international, so loyalty to a global airline/alliance is imperative) 

I'm booking more business class these days so my loyalty is to my wallet and the best routing.  

I'm a million miler on Delta but they've gone crazy with skymile award levels to the point my miles are worthless.  Loyalty to an airline doesn't pay these days.  

[Zacharius]

14 minutes ago, twangster said:

Loyalty to an airline doesn't pay these days.  

I personally disagree. The number of times I have been bailed out on delays/cancellations/flight changes by AA/OneWorld over the years, including just last week, has saved me so much time and frustration. My domestic Y to F upgrades are almost 100%, and my international J to F upgrades do still occasionally happen (though I am still shocked when they do). The number of miles in my account means my wife and I never have to pay to fly on vacation or to visit family, which we do quite often. To each their own, but my loyalty to AA/OneWorld continues to pay off for me. 

[twangster]

11 minutes ago, Zacharius said:

I personally disagree. The number of times I have been bailed out on delays/cancellations/flight changes by AA/OneWorld over the years, including just last week, has saved me so much time and frustration. My domestic Y to F upgrades are almost 100%, and my international J to F upgrades do still occasionally happen (though I am still shocked when they do). The number of miles in my account means my wife and I never have to pay to fly on vacation or to visit family, which we do quite often. To each their own, but my loyalty to AA/OneWorld continues to pay off for me. 

I personally refuse to fly AA after they price gouged me 300% to fly home at the start of the pandemic after the Allure transatlantic.

I won't give that corrupt company 1 penny.  

[AlmondFarmer]

26 minutes ago, twangster said:

I won't give that corrupt company 1 penny. 

Thanks for giving us your two cents.

[twangster]

8 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Thanks for giving us your two cents.

I wouldn't even give them that!

[Ampurp85]

If I can help it I only fly nonstop.

On top if the change in tiers the other thing is that AA have changed their flight times too much for me to continue any loyalty. It is rarely convenient for me to fly to cruises with them, domestically across the states yes.....sometimes. But baggage fees and such have become ridiculous. That means SWA is where I am comfortable. I often can't justify the $600+ AA tickets and it's not first/business class.

The truth is all the airlines suck and my loyalty is to my wallet.

[Jack805]

3 hours ago, Pooch said:

You are so right!  I check obsessively.  My brother was shocked at the savings I was able to get him.  Our precruise hotel rooms also went down $30-40.  He booked those & never looked again til I bugged him.

I did that before my last cruise a month and a half ago. Price dropped twice for hotel, including a $50-60 drop two days before arrival! I’m a constant price watcher for this stuff for trips.