30 thoughts on “EarlyBird Ran A-Fowl | Latest Southwest Hawaii Flight Review”
Sharron P
Just flew Southwest from Las Vegas to Kona. Delay in Denver for “maintenance” then change of plane at Las Vegas . More delays, WiFi not working on this plane and as the plane sat, heat became an issue. After long delay, sitting on plane, taxied to runway and told we were 22nd in line to take off. After 1 hour on runway, it became too hot to fly. Back to gate. Powers that be, probably with input from our very experienced Captain, SW decided to off-load fuel and fly us to San Jose, where we would add fuel to get us to Kona. Very creative and forward thinking. Got to San Jose to refuel. Problem- fight crew and pilots were out of time. Had to wait for new crew. No problem- Captain and flight attendants were there quickly. No First Officer-flying in and had to wait for him to arrive and make it to our plane to take off. Still could not fix WiFi, so flew to Hawaii with not even SW movies to watch. Ugh! All in all, they did the best they could, but we were 8 hours later than scheduled arrival. Barely made it to our rental car before closing. Why did they not anticipate the heat in Las Vegas in advance? Certainly this is predictable? Southwest did say they would be crediting us miles, so will wait to see. We have flown Southwest for the last 5 years and go to Hawaii 2-3 times a year. Fortunately our flight back through Oakland went off without issues. May think about paying more to fly another carrier?
I believe you are looking for the phrase: ran afoul. Although, thinking of a plane as a flying creature, a fowl, ran a fowl might just be very very clever.
A very fair treatment of Southwest.Thank you! A treat for an exceptional attendant is always a welcome gift (my daughter is a SWA attendant and a box of chocolate covered macadamias is always welcome) I have to think the less conscientious and helpful attendants will notice when a great one is shown appreciation.
Thanks. It’s funny that you should mention the mac nuts for the flight attendants. When we mentioned that once before we took some heat from those who thought that was not a good practice.
For me, I purchase Biz Select. My own experience is that the vast majority of A1-A15’s want to sit in those first few rows – unless already occupied by the ever increasing throngs of differently abled and seniors. For me, it’s the emergency exit rows! Stretch seating and free booze!
One minor problem is if that inbound aircraft has already flown a number of legs with through passengers, then my emergency exit row strategy may not work. Then, I’ll just take an open middle in the emergency exit row and even with that, the couple in the row will usually want to “buddy up” with another leaving me an aisle or window.
Purchased 60 days or more out, Biz Select will usually have much lower fares. If I need to cancel, totally refundable.
FYI on SWA, the overhead bins in the first 3-4 rows are not as deep due to the tapering fuselage and cabin. My rollaboard fits wheels-first in bins no problem, except at the front of SWA 737’s. Not sure if this is still an issue on the 737 MAX used on most Hawaii flights.
It is interesting and funny how some people can find any seat to sit in and make that decision for themselves, and want to make the decision. And then there are those who have to be told what to do, where to sit, and can’t make a decision where to sit, and don’t like making the simple decision where to sit. I prefer making my own choice where to sit and getting more of the overall services without extra charges, at consistently overall lower airfare.
I flew from Lihue to Hilo via HNL this week, two of those flights were full, but just checking in at exactly 24 hours before departure snagged me an A29 and A36 spot… the two not full flights were like A19 and A23. I noted on all four flights, there were only 1 or 2 people in the A1-15 section. I guess on Inter island flights, no one spends extra to have a good seat for a 30 minute flight!
Thanks, BOH, for your review of Southwest on a Hawaii flight – we haven’t used SW yet for Hawaii so I was very interested. I fly Southwest if the price is right and the schedule works for me. But that doesn’t happen as much anymore, compared to 10 or so years ago. I also have lifetime 1K status on United, so they will always be my first choice, given price and schedule. With Southwest, I am a maniac about checking in exactly 24 hours in advance to hopefully get a good boarding position. I used to pay for EB fairly often, but not as much since they upped the cost. If traveling with my husband, only one of us will get EB, and that person holds seats til the other one boards.
IMO, that snack box thing on SW is ugly! Surely they could find something better. That SW boarding thing is what it is, you either love it or hate it, I’ve learned to deal with it. What I like about SW is its routing.
BOH, We have taken the LIH-LAS flight many times (or OAK, etc.). We often have 3 travelers and we’ve never paid the EarlyBird fee AND we have never failed to get three seats (a row) together. Yes, we usually get in the upper 30s to 50s in B Boarding Group, but even with families boarding after A Group, we always get an empty row near the back.
Were Jeff and Rob looking past row 15 for their “together” seats? They should have easily been able to grab two seats together or two aisle seats across from each other towards the back.
We recently flew interisland on Hawaiian; even with assigned seats it was chaotic with people scrambling to fill open overhead space. At least 6 people had to come back to the front to check their bags.
Thanks for asking. After seeing close to a plane load of passengers board – 59 plus 50 plus all those in front of us in group B, no we couldn’t see all the way to the back of the plane given the boarding process. Perhaps it could have worked, but we took our changes and grabbed seats where we could. It was a completely sold out flight and we were among the last passengers to board, that’s for sure.
How other airlines handle boarding is definitely subject to scrutiny. That wasn’t our purpose here.
I always fly Southwest for inter Island flights.The planes are roomy enough and comfortable.Staff is friendly and efficient. My only complaint about mainland flights is the lack of charging ports, which I’ve heard they are upgrading.
Southwest assigns EB boarding order based on a few factors. Membership in Rapid Rewards, miles flown, date of reservation, A-List status, etc. We use them for most of our travel, including Hawaii because the price points are usually better than the other carriers. Neither my wife nor I are too tall for standard economy seats, and we have enough flights to get high enough in A with Early Boarding to almost always get in either the Exit row or the first row. Of course the first row has its own challenges with no under seat storage, but that’s livable.
Nope… When you pay for EB boarding, you number is based strictly how far in advance you made your reservation.
Membership in RR or miles flown is immaterial. It’s all about the reservation date.
And A-list buying EB would be a waste of money as they get EB “for free”. In other words, they are checked in ahead of time just like EB.
The thing to remember with buying EB is that if u make your reservation 6 months out you will have an earlier spot than some one who booked a month out. Earlier u buy, the better your number.
I think the boarding of families and those needing assistance has gotten out of control with all airlines, albeit, there’s more of an impact on Southwest because seats aren’t assigned. I once saw a family of about 10 all being seated early because of one wheelchair in their group. Needless to say I suspect a lot of overhead bin space was taken by the group before others around them were seated. All airlines, especially southwest, should limit one person to accompany an early boarder.
I concur with Kimberly.’s remarks. Last week, with a business select tickets and an A-1 and A-2 boarding cards, we counted 39 passengers board ahead of us on SW’s Denver- STL leg. Also before boarding, we too were struck by those multiple entourages accompanying a single wheelchair bound passenger. And then there were the other categories before any Alphas could board. Started to wonder why bother with business select again? We did find overhead storage space though.
We were also delighted to get two free drink coupons, one for each leg of the trip. That had never happened to us before in years of flying SW. Then we were surprised once again to find the first leg was so short that no drink service was offered.
Very accurate description of the Southwest experience! As a long time customer of “the bus in the sky”, I miss the old days when the flight attendants were all funny, friendly and the 737’s were not Old, Old, Old!
Keep up the great work!
I have recently had issues with EB “detaching” from my reservation. Honestly, I think it is a technical issue. This is how EB works – the earlier you book your flight prior to departure (40 days, 100 days in advance, etc) the higher on the Early Bird list you are. Think A16, A17. The closer you are to travel the less important it becomes because your assignment might actually only be 1/2 people in front of those NOT purchasing it. Another caveat is if you make any changes to your reservation (lower price, flight, etc) your Early Bird will be realigned as if purchased that day. I have been skipping EB and just paying to upgrade 24 hours prior! It is only really important if you are not going to be able to check-in exactly 24 hrs prior!
Southwest should refund (or retain as future credit) any Earlybird that results in your being in Group B or later. That would go a long ways toward making me think it is worth it. Or limit the number that can be purchased and let them board before families with small children etc – if there needs to be a little rearranging for kids, well, at least you got your luggage in the overhead, and sometimes that seems like half the battle.
Just flew Southwest from Las Vegas to Kona. Delay in Denver for “maintenance” then change of plane at Las Vegas . More delays, WiFi not working on this plane and as the plane sat, heat became an issue. After long delay, sitting on plane, taxied to runway and told we were 22nd in line to take off. After 1 hour on runway, it became too hot to fly. Back to gate. Powers that be, probably with input from our very experienced Captain, SW decided to off-load fuel and fly us to San Jose, where we would add fuel to get us to Kona. Very creative and forward thinking. Got to San Jose to refuel. Problem- fight crew and pilots were out of time. Had to wait for new crew. No problem- Captain and flight attendants were there quickly. No First Officer-flying in and had to wait for him to arrive and make it to our plane to take off. Still could not fix WiFi, so flew to Hawaii with not even SW movies to watch. Ugh! All in all, they did the best they could, but we were 8 hours later than scheduled arrival. Barely made it to our rental car before closing. Why did they not anticipate the heat in Las Vegas in advance? Certainly this is predictable? Southwest did say they would be crediting us miles, so will wait to see. We have flown Southwest for the last 5 years and go to Hawaii 2-3 times a year. Fortunately our flight back through Oakland went off without issues. May think about paying more to fly another carrier?
Hi Sharron.
Thanks for your first comment and for sharing your challenging experience with us.
Aloha.
I believe you are looking for the phrase: ran afoul. Although, thinking of a plane as a flying creature, a fowl, ran a fowl might just be very very clever.
Hi E-Lectric.
Thanks. Yes, it was intentional. Lol. BTW, thanks for all of your comments.
Aloha.
A very fair treatment of Southwest.Thank you! A treat for an exceptional attendant is always a welcome gift (my daughter is a SWA attendant and a box of chocolate covered macadamias is always welcome) I have to think the less conscientious and helpful attendants will notice when a great one is shown appreciation.
Hi Dan.
Thanks. It’s funny that you should mention the mac nuts for the flight attendants. When we mentioned that once before we took some heat from those who thought that was not a good practice.
Aloha.
For me, I purchase Biz Select. My own experience is that the vast majority of A1-A15’s want to sit in those first few rows – unless already occupied by the ever increasing throngs of differently abled and seniors. For me, it’s the emergency exit rows! Stretch seating and free booze!
One minor problem is if that inbound aircraft has already flown a number of legs with through passengers, then my emergency exit row strategy may not work. Then, I’ll just take an open middle in the emergency exit row and even with that, the couple in the row will usually want to “buddy up” with another leaving me an aisle or window.
Purchased 60 days or more out, Biz Select will usually have much lower fares. If I need to cancel, totally refundable.
FYI on SWA, the overhead bins in the first 3-4 rows are not as deep due to the tapering fuselage and cabin. My rollaboard fits wheels-first in bins no problem, except at the front of SWA 737’s. Not sure if this is still an issue on the 737 MAX used on most Hawaii flights.
It is interesting and funny how some people can find any seat to sit in and make that decision for themselves, and want to make the decision. And then there are those who have to be told what to do, where to sit, and can’t make a decision where to sit, and don’t like making the simple decision where to sit. I prefer making my own choice where to sit and getting more of the overall services without extra charges, at consistently overall lower airfare.
I flew from Lihue to Hilo via HNL this week, two of those flights were full, but just checking in at exactly 24 hours before departure snagged me an A29 and A36 spot… the two not full flights were like A19 and A23. I noted on all four flights, there were only 1 or 2 people in the A1-15 section. I guess on Inter island flights, no one spends extra to have a good seat for a 30 minute flight!
Thanks, BOH, for your review of Southwest on a Hawaii flight – we haven’t used SW yet for Hawaii so I was very interested. I fly Southwest if the price is right and the schedule works for me. But that doesn’t happen as much anymore, compared to 10 or so years ago. I also have lifetime 1K status on United, so they will always be my first choice, given price and schedule. With Southwest, I am a maniac about checking in exactly 24 hours in advance to hopefully get a good boarding position. I used to pay for EB fairly often, but not as much since they upped the cost. If traveling with my husband, only one of us will get EB, and that person holds seats til the other one boards.
Evenif southwest was the only option, I wouldn’t fly them under any circumstance.
IMO, that snack box thing on SW is ugly! Surely they could find something better. That SW boarding thing is what it is, you either love it or hate it, I’ve learned to deal with it. What I like about SW is its routing.
Southwest seats and leg room is superior.
Yes better WiFi or screens would improve flights.
That won’t happen
Just love the leg room and seats on Southwest.
I liked my snack box better than the “whatever it was” on Hawaiian!
Hi Jay.
Good sense of humor: “whatever it was.” Thanks.
Aloha.
BOH, We have taken the LIH-LAS flight many times (or OAK, etc.). We often have 3 travelers and we’ve never paid the EarlyBird fee AND we have never failed to get three seats (a row) together. Yes, we usually get in the upper 30s to 50s in B Boarding Group, but even with families boarding after A Group, we always get an empty row near the back.
Were Jeff and Rob looking past row 15 for their “together” seats? They should have easily been able to grab two seats together or two aisle seats across from each other towards the back.
We recently flew interisland on Hawaiian; even with assigned seats it was chaotic with people scrambling to fill open overhead space. At least 6 people had to come back to the front to check their bags.
Hi Mark.
Thanks for asking. After seeing close to a plane load of passengers board – 59 plus 50 plus all those in front of us in group B, no we couldn’t see all the way to the back of the plane given the boarding process. Perhaps it could have worked, but we took our changes and grabbed seats where we could. It was a completely sold out flight and we were among the last passengers to board, that’s for sure.
How other airlines handle boarding is definitely subject to scrutiny. That wasn’t our purpose here.
Aloha.
I always fly Southwest for inter Island flights.The planes are roomy enough and comfortable.Staff is friendly and efficient. My only complaint about mainland flights is the lack of charging ports, which I’ve heard they are upgrading.
Southwest assigns EB boarding order based on a few factors. Membership in Rapid Rewards, miles flown, date of reservation, A-List status, etc. We use them for most of our travel, including Hawaii because the price points are usually better than the other carriers. Neither my wife nor I are too tall for standard economy seats, and we have enough flights to get high enough in A with Early Boarding to almost always get in either the Exit row or the first row. Of course the first row has its own challenges with no under seat storage, but that’s livable.
Nope… When you pay for EB boarding, you number is based strictly how far in advance you made your reservation.
Membership in RR or miles flown is immaterial. It’s all about the reservation date.
And A-list buying EB would be a waste of money as they get EB “for free”. In other words, they are checked in ahead of time just like EB.
The thing to remember with buying EB is that if u make your reservation 6 months out you will have an earlier spot than some one who booked a month out. Earlier u buy, the better your number.
I think the boarding of families and those needing assistance has gotten out of control with all airlines, albeit, there’s more of an impact on Southwest because seats aren’t assigned. I once saw a family of about 10 all being seated early because of one wheelchair in their group. Needless to say I suspect a lot of overhead bin space was taken by the group before others around them were seated. All airlines, especially southwest, should limit one person to accompany an early boarder.
I concur with Kimberly.’s remarks. Last week, with a business select tickets and an A-1 and A-2 boarding cards, we counted 39 passengers board ahead of us on SW’s Denver- STL leg. Also before boarding, we too were struck by those multiple entourages accompanying a single wheelchair bound passenger. And then there were the other categories before any Alphas could board. Started to wonder why bother with business select again? We did find overhead storage space though.
We were also delighted to get two free drink coupons, one for each leg of the trip. That had never happened to us before in years of flying SW. Then we were surprised once again to find the first leg was so short that no drink service was offered.
Very accurate description of the Southwest experience! As a long time customer of “the bus in the sky”, I miss the old days when the flight attendants were all funny, friendly and the 737’s were not Old, Old, Old!
Keep up the great work!
Hi Hugh.
Thanks. The aircraft on our Hawaii flights have all been their new Max 8 planes. Those are on average just 2 years old.
Aloha.
Yikes! Not a good aircraft by any means
I have recently had issues with EB “detaching” from my reservation. Honestly, I think it is a technical issue. This is how EB works – the earlier you book your flight prior to departure (40 days, 100 days in advance, etc) the higher on the Early Bird list you are. Think A16, A17. The closer you are to travel the less important it becomes because your assignment might actually only be 1/2 people in front of those NOT purchasing it. Another caveat is if you make any changes to your reservation (lower price, flight, etc) your Early Bird will be realigned as if purchased that day. I have been skipping EB and just paying to upgrade 24 hours prior! It is only really important if you are not going to be able to check-in exactly 24 hrs prior!
Southwest should refund (or retain as future credit) any Earlybird that results in your being in Group B or later. That would go a long ways toward making me think it is worth it. Or limit the number that can be purchased and let them board before families with small children etc – if there needs to be a little rearranging for kids, well, at least you got your luggage in the overhead, and sometimes that seems like half the battle.