Posted on Wednesday, 20th January 2010 by Catherine
Photo By: TL1970
Over the past 16 months my husbands’ job has required weekly travel. In fact his job is in another city but he comes home on the weekends. So Monday – Thursday I am wearing my “single parent” shoes. Boy I could write a bit about that life (perhaps in another post ) 
Most of us wear TONS of shoes each day. Along side my single parent shoes are my thrifty shoes. I am after all his virtual assistant. Handling flights, travel schedules, hotels etc. The travel expenses of his job are our responsibility. Since we are on a very limited budget I have had to get creative. The biggest blessing to help with the air travel came from a new airline we started using about the time he began traveling.
Southwest Airlines – You know the purple and orange planes with the REALLY cheap fares?
BY FAR the best airline you can fly. Southwest is amazing. First of all there are NO, none, zip, zilch nada charges for luggage. Two bags fly for free with each passenger. They have no change fees. We change flight days/times left and right and have never been charged any fees. We do pay for fare differences but no additional just for the hey of it fees.
I sign up for web alerts (Click-n-Save) to places we travel we wish we could travel to just in case a great deal comes along (which is has). We are fortunate because my husband’s travel can be booked at $49 one way if we do it 7 days in advance. It is really a wonderful airline. You may be skeptical of their lack of assigned seating but let me assure you, all you need to do is go online 24 hours before your scheduled departure and you will be assigned a number. That number will allow you to board in order and pick your seat. It is not that big of a deal.
We signed up for their frequent flier program too which is based solely on the number of “legs” (one-way trips) you fly. It takes 8 round trips to get a free ticket. For those who fly a lot that adds up quickly. Guess what? We went to redeem the free flight and we could do it WITHOUT fees and without black-out dates, without having to book the ticket months in advance. I was shocked. It was so easy and FREE. (okay there was a $2.50 fee) but nearly free.
Southwest’s customer service is second to none as well. I have called numerous times and am always wildly impressed with the people I speak to. Let’s face it, THAT doesn’t happen very much these days. So as you can see we are saving TONS of money by using this airline. I know right now they are not in every city but growing by leaps and bounds. Check out this link for details.
Next time you fly consider checking into Southwest. You won’t be disappointed and you will probably save some money making your thrifty shoes fit a bit better!
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Using Southwest is working for me! This post is part of the “WFMW” (Works for me Wednesday) over at We are THAT Family.
January 20th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Did you see that they fly to Orlando……..Good note to make for future summer plans
January 20th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
I have never been in an airplane and unless for some reason something bad would happen do not plan to be as I am scared to leave the ground
January 20th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
I haven't flown Southwest in a number of years because I didn't like how aggressive everyone got when it was time to board the plane/find a seat. From your post it sounds like they've made some changes though. Maybe it's worth trying again.
January 20th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
I only fly to visit my mom in Ohio, and always take Southwest. There's a layover in Baltimore, but I coordinate it to fall at either lunch or dinner so the time goes quickly. Southwest now has a deal where, if you pay a little extra, they will assign you the "A" seat grouping. It's worth it to me, as I can't stand sitting between two people!