Southwest Airlines Review

I flew Southwest Airlines for the first time last year but did not fully appreciate their splendid service until recently. Southwest Airlines is the only airline I will fly now that they travel from Chicago Midway airport to Minneapolis and back. (I live in Chicago but my family resides in Minnesota, so I always head home for the major holidays.)

I love how Southwest runs its check-in process. Boarding passes are available online exactly 24 hours prior to departure and throughout the day leading up to your flight. Simply log online, enter your name and confirmation number, and you'll be directed to a page with your boarding information.

You'll be assigned a letter and a number. The letter is your group, the number is your position in the group. If you're A12, you are the twelfth person to board the flight. This is fantastic because seats are first come, first serve on Southwest. At first I was wary of this process (what if I get stuck in between two people who snore, drool and hog the arm rests?!), but now I love it. Most of the time people leave middle seats at the front of the plane open, so I grab them and am first off the plane - woo!

Best of all about this check-in process: you DO NOT have to have immediate access to a printer to get your boarding pass. Your information is reserved up until your flight, so you can print everything at the airport. Just have access to a computer 24 hours prior to your flight and you're guaranteed to get a decent seat.

Southwest Airlines also does not charge for bags. You can check two bags up to 50 pounds for no fee. No airline does that!

Did I mention the flights are cheap? I can book a flight only ONE WEEK in advance for a Friday-Sunday trip from Chicago to Minneapolis for just over $200. Otherwise it is around $139-$159 dollars.

I also really like that Southwest chooses to fly in to smaller airports - for the most part. They fly in to Minneapolis' Humphrey terminal (the secondary terminal), which only has 8 gates, so getting through security is a breeze. Flying out of Chicago it's Midway, which in my opinion is the better of the two Chicago airports. The only delays I have had at Midway are weather delays in OTHER cities. Typically at O'hare - the other Chicago airport - you'll have a weather delay with clear skies and sun burning down on you. Ridiculous.

Their rewards program is pretty sweet. If you fly eight round trip flights in a year you get one free. That's not hard if you take in to consideration holidays and such.

The flight attendants on my flights have all been friendly and funny. One even sang to us upon landing: "For other airlines be forgot & never brought to mind! Cause Southwest Airlines got you here and we got you here on time!" - TRUE.

Five stars for Southwest Airlines. I will not use another airline again, as long as I can help it!