Love Southwest!

[Willbcruisin]

Anyone who can fly Southwest to their destination I say download DING!!!

Thanks to DING I am able to travel R/T for $300.00 for the 3 of us!! Just happened to sign on and check out the latest DING and wow..... I had a flight already booked and they just cancelled it and rebooked at the much lower fare and now I have a credit with them. (might have to book another cruise for next year). The flights for our cruise were the biggest worry for me with everything going on in the industy. I booked our cruise in Jan. 05 but did not secure our flights until this month. Again.... check out the DING if you can!!

Happy Cruising!!

[kenandlaura06]

Ding is great!

[hdawson]

I do admire Southwest for what they have accomplished over the last thirty years and profitably. For me I prefer AirTran since I can do my check-in online, choose my seat and print out my boarding pass from home the day before flying. I understand that Southwest is contemplating a similar plan over the next year or two.

[Coolmama_1]

I do admire Southwest for what they have accomplished over the last thirty years and profitably. For me I prefer AirTran since I can do my check-in online, choose my seat and print out my boarding pass from home the day before flying. I understand that Southwest is contemplating a similar plan over the next year or two.

 

You can check in online and print boarding pass. You still have to line up A,B,C group for seating.

 

I love ding too! I just need to wait now until schedule opens up past 1/18

[silentbob007]

I love Southwest though don't really like the cattle car approach. I've noticed, however, that some airlines are following their boarding example, even with assigned seats. Instead of boarding rows 25 and higher (which is just too much math for the 60 people hovering around the gate, blocking everyone else's way), now it's group 1. :)

[parody]

choose my seat

 

Coolmama_1 has answered 2 of your concerns. On the matter of assigned seats, I believe SW considered it and decided to continue their current approach. So, I know of no plans to change what you see now.

[hdawson]

parody. At the time that SW decided to bailout ATA, they said they were going to consider assigned seats over the next year or two. ONe other point in AirTrans favor is that they fly the youngest fleet of all domestic airlines. Avg age of aircraft is 3.5 yrs. Glad to see that they are expanding routes and adding more cities. Disclaimer: I like AirTran so much I have bought their stock. And they still allow two checked bags, each weighing 70 pounds.

[parody]

Yes, assigned seating was a consideration in 2004. But, if you can believe the CEO, in March 2005, he had this conversation:

 

Q: Any update on assigned seating, which last fall, for the first time, Southwest didn't rule out?

 

A: In this environment, where price is everything, I'm not convinced that customers really want assigned seats. We had a lot of customers who said please don't assign seats.

 

We could assign seats tomorrow, and it won't add one dollar of revenue and it may add a lot of costs. So in this environment, it makes no sense.

 

Read the full article at http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-03-08-swa-ceo_x.htm

[silentbob007]

On my last AA flight, I got into a conversation about SWA with an older passenger sitting next to me, and she insisted that she loved SWA and their no-assigned seat policy because "everyone on the flight is treated the same."

[Setme2sail]

parody And they still allow two checked bags, each weighing 70 pounds.

 

We just flew AirTran Sept 17 and returned on Sept 27 and the weight limit on baggage is now 50 pounds. Don't know when it change because it was previously 70 pounds but no longer. Weight limit is stated on there web site under checked baggage.

[hdawson]

Setme. I just learned of this change myself in the last week.

[cruisewiththekids]

Okay, I guess I'm slow. What's DING?

[silentbob007]

DING is a program that you can download from Southwest.com that constatnly runs on your computer. Essentially, you get very specific daily specials that are sometimes 80% off normal fares ... if you can fly at the times provided.

[silentbob007]

Talking about selecting seats ... it looks like AirTran has a new way of buying tickets. Economy (with no seat selection) or Economy + that allows you to simmediately elect seats for about $20 more.

[parody]

To add a little more on this subject, Ding! fares are sent out once or twice a day and pop up on your computer automatically (maybe you have seen the ads on TV) it doesn't work on Macs; just PCs, and only with certain operating systems. The fares typically expire the same day they are posted but are generally 10 to 25 percent lower than normal Southwest sale fares. You can only get Ding! fares by having Ding! on your computer. In other words, if someone was to tell you that SW was offering a special fare on Ding!, you cannot go to their website and get the fare being offered. Do a search on Google if you want additional details or go to http://home.netcom.com/~rcowen/ding!_fares.htm.

[cruisewiththekids]

Thanks for the info on Ding. I didn't know about it. Now I'm anxiously awaiting a Ding from CLE to FLL. I need it soon, because mid Dec. is starting to sell out. I can't wait much longer. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot, so to speak, and miss out completely on the Internet fares.

[parody]

I can't wait much longer

 

There was a website in which individuals would post Ding! specials on a regular basis. Unfortunately, that site does not seem to be current anymore. However, although expired, you could look through past Ding! sales to get an idea of the frequency for which specials were offered in the market that you are interested in. The site can be found at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406138&page=11&pp=15 In terms of waiting longer, you can try the strategy used by some -- that is, buy a regular WN ticket and if a Ding! special comes along, cash it in for that.

[cruisewiththekids]

Go my Ding fare!!! $49, about half what I had reserved earlier this morning. Went ahead and cancelled the former and rebooked.

 

The return flight wasn't available, but I'll keep checking. Otherwise, I'm going home on Continental N/S. I'm willing to pay a bit more for the convenience, but if I could get the return on SW Ding, it would be a round trip of about 138.00. Hard to pass up, even though I'd have to make a connection. That's CLE to FLL.

[cruisewiththekids]

Sorry, hit my message twice.