pinniped

+1.

I'd probably diversify into something else. Not sure what you're doing hotel-wise (probably a lot with that much travel), but you might want to think about how you will maintain a stash of award miles for trips beyond the Southwest footprint. Maybe SPG Amex, maybe BA Visa, maybe something else.

In any case, for a short hop to Chicago (assuming your destination is the Loop or nearby), a 737 to MDW beats an RJ to ORD every single time. If you had a lot of longer-haul travel or other Star Alliance travel, it might be tougher to leave the comforts of 1K.

olouie

Sounds like consulting. 10+ flights a month would be fairly normal. Fly out to a client site Sunday night, stayed until Tuesday/Wed, fly to next client site, fly home Friday night. 3 Flights per week is pretty easy to do.

Bonehead

Perhaps, but I have the option to buy up to FC for a reasonable price in most cases (and even get the odd upgrade); just ain't possible on WN. I really do feel for WN customers, because that new seating is so much less comfortable than the old seats.

toomanybooks

Citi Prestige after 10/18/14 will give 3 TY points per dollar for airfare and hotels. If used for AA flights, that's 4.8% back and you get the miles/status credit. 15% more if you are Citigold. Hard to beat.

palmetto86

600+ flights in my lifetime (I'm 27), not the past 5 years. 40+ of those came from interning with B6 one summer in college. I've probably flown 80+ flights a year over the past 5 years with job and personal travel.

Ding ding ding. Health care strategy consulting for four years. Now I work for a health analytics startup in Louisville. I still travel 2-3x a month, but not nearly as much as I did. BF is in Chicago, so travel there a ton from both SDF and client visits.

I'll probably drop down to Plat on UA, but stick to SWA for SDF-MDW travel.

Bear96

I went from flying almost exclusively UA to now flying almost exclusively WN a couple of years ago. Not because I had any real issues with UA, but with my current job, WN can take me nonstop from my home base to most everyplace I have to go for work now. (WN is huge in TPA.)

You will like no more RJs. Once you reach A-list you will like priority boarding and pretty much guaranteeing an aisle seat towards the front of the plane, and the preferred security lines. Also the peanuts and other snacks compared to UA, which offers nothing. And the F/As only seem to charge for drinks (via $ or coupons) about 50% of the time.

The no-change fee is one thing that also makes me stick with WN whenever I might be tempted to stray for a slightly cheaper fare or better schedule. Exactly when I will finish up business when I am traveling is almost a pure guess when I am booking. It is so nice to finish up early and be able to just get the next flight home by paying only the fare difference. Often I can get home the day before I originally planned, and with no third-degree by the boss or corporate travel department because I saved one night in the hotel / car rental / airport parking expenses, which offsets any higher fare that the change may have involved. Add in an additional $200 (or whatever it is now) for a change fee on other airlines, and I would have been told I should not have made the switch and should have stayed on the road an extra night.

Don't count on Pre-Check carrying over. I was Pre-Check on UA and US (never applied for it through US, so not sure how I got that, unless it is because of the *A link between UA and US at the time), and it didn't carry over.

I have been frustrated lately by WN's on-time performance. Afternoon / evening flights have been almost chronically late, and I am not talking about a 30-minute inconvenience - more like over an hour (three hours the other day). BUT, morning flights are usually OK, and at least they never seem to cancel. And the employees are almost always great.

Bonehead

United's SDC policy allows one to change at no charge whatsoever in most cases to any flight within 24 hours of your originally scheduled flight request time once you are at T-24. If you have a 5 PM flight home on Friday, you can take the 7 PM flight on Thursday as long as it isn't heavily booked/full.

What is the exact policy on WN regarding when the fare difference kicks in? Same calender day, or what exactly?

gooseman13

Fare difference essentially always kicks in, unless there are IROPS that delay your flight. You have to upfare to the Anytime (Full Y) fare to get on a different flight. UA's SDC is a great benefit, and even for non elites isn't it only $75?

hiker72

I've always thought of A flight as there and back... which you've defined as 2 flights, which probably makes more sense than my definition.

80 flights by your definition (one way) definitely seems more realistic. It's about the same as I travel.

With that many flights, you'll still be able to earn status and CP VERY quickly.

darthbimmer

Similar thing here. A few years ago my travel pattern shifted. Prior to that I was flying mostly transcon and international, and UA was a solid choice. Past few years I've been flying mostly regional in the western USA, where WN is the obvious choice. It's easy to bash UA for their worsening service and loyalty program-- and they certainly have diminished their quality-- but for most of us who switch that's not 100% of the story.

olouie

What I like about WN change policy is that you can change anything. Different destination? No problem. Different airport? No problem. Different time? No problem.

Yes it does require you pay the fare difference but you get the full value of your previous ticket. Since I buy BS fares mostly that means I can do changes easily. Most prob won't need this flexibility but it's nice.

On UA the SDC it has to be same origin and destination and is only free for gold and higher. http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...daychange.aspx. Can be useful for some but isn't all that great.

Also trying to do it is like pulling teeth. I did it a few months ago but took a while on the phone. It wasn't working online for some reason. WN changes usually take a few minutes on phone or online.

ursine1

As has been completely beat to death here over and over again and again, the consensus is that Southwest is the winner when it comes to advance changes, and legacies when it comes to same-day changes.

If you're booking BS then that's another animal all together, and really should be compared to unrestricted fares on other carriers.

Bonehead

Right, $75 for non-elite and Silver MilagePlus members. Non-members can't use SDC.