phxtfr1

Hello All,

I have flown HP for the past 3 years enough to maintain my gold status. My average is somewhere between 60-70 segments annually, longest segments are PHX-PDX, PHX-MCI, PHX-Texas, PHX-OMA, all others are short hops.

Would you recommend switching to WN? How do they treat their business customers? I do not care about free drinks or first class, more important is bin space and an aisle seat from the exit row forward.

I would like to avoid making connections and spreading miles among multiple carriers. Any suggestions?

Thanks

omegadeal

Just my thoughts, but with WN you will likely have the following pros:

* No change fees / full credit is given to the next flight
* Nicer / happier staff
* More on time departures (In my experience)
* Better award availability
* More comfortable coach seating (Seating actually has cushions)
* Better / easier to do more functions website
* Business customers (those who have FF status) are almost guaranteed an A boarding card

and the following cons:

* No standby unless on a business fare
* Stupid Wright Ammendment rule making you stop somewhere when flying into DFW
* A bit longer to earn free flights (In my experience)
* Inability to earn international awards
* Cattle call boarding (although the new program takes care of my concerns here)
* No elite lines for security (This is the killer for me)
* No WN club system (I'm not a member of US's anyway)

I think the decision really matters as to why you don't like US and will WN alleviate those issues for you. I personally have been thinking of switching to UA and then just using US with my UA number when I have to fly US. I took my first UA flight from PHX the other day and Terminal 2 is much less crowded than Terminal 4 and the parking is much cheaper as well.

United757

Thats not in effect anymore, well final restrictions are lifted in 2014.

BoeingBoy

A short-haul flier might just see the opposite. 16 segments earns a free ticket on WN so 64 segments (about mid-way between 60 & 70 segments would earn 4 free tickets. It'd take 100,000 miles on US - apparently more than the OP flies each year - to earn the same 4 domestic award tickets.

Get A-List membership and 32 segments/year gets you the best boarding priority available 36 hours prior to departure. Get 100 segments in a year and get a free companion ticket that lets someone fly with you free for a year.

Jim

aztimm

I thought the Wright Amendment impacted flights to/fr DAL, not DFW. Both US and AA fly PHX-DFW multiple times per day, however if you wanted to fly WN PHX-DAL, you had to buy separate tickets, get off the plane, claim/re-check bags in either ABQ or ELP.

tombyron

Thats not true. An agreement was reached that allows thru-ticketing on Southwest back in June 2006 from DAL (and became effective in Oct 2006) And as an earlier post stated, in 2014 non-stop flights beyond the previous restricted states will be allowed.

aztimm

The biggest problem I have with WN is that when I travel for biz, I don't always arrive at the airport hours ahead of time to get to the front of the A line. Many times I arrive after the boarding process has begun. On US, I have a reserved seat, that will be mine until maybe 10-15 min before the flight leaves. On WN, I get what's left, which is usually middle seats, unless something has changed with their recent biz focus?

From PHX, for most of us, our options are really just US and WN. I guess if you do many long-hauls and/or international (where you'd connect anyway) you can go with someone else. But for my patterns, US/WN works best, and I'll still take US (for now).

phxtfr1

For those that posted, thank you for your advice. I will continue with HP to maintain Silver, which I have done already for 2008 then book what I can with UA.

Jumping to WN would also cost me the priority line, which in PHX is a big plus. My card would still get me through priority in terminal 2 as well while I accrue with UA.

With the elimination of the bonus miles for travel, I cannot find a significant difference between Silver and Gold status.

Side note, was comparing award travel directly against UA for a trip to DEN, 25K miles with UA and a $5.00 fee, 37K or 50K depending on flight plus $30.00 fee with HP.

ERAU_MBA_Student

[QUOTE=aztimm;10181288]The biggest problem I have with WN is that when I travel for biz, I don't always arrive at the airport hours ahead of time to get to the front of the A line. QUOTE]

Thats not true anymore, Southwest now boards in number order A1-A30, A31-A60, B1-B30, B31-B60, C1-whatever. A1-A15 is for customers who buy the Business Select fare. A16 starts with SWA's elite frequent flyer "A-List" and then after A-List it is based on check-in order (beginning online 24 hours in advance).

aztimm

So if I arrive 10 minutes after boarding has begun, and they are up to the B group, they save seats for a straggler A group? If not, I don't understand how what you wrote above changes my situation.

As I said above, many times I arrive after boarding has begun. On US, I have a reserved seat that will be mine until ~15 min before they close the flight.

ERAU_MBA_Student

Sorry I guess I miss understood your point. I thought we were talking about the old WN boarding method were everyone lined up in the A, B, C lanes well before the aircraft started pointing and that was why you had to arrive at the airport early. If you arrive during boarding then you only have your choice of whatever seats are left.

IADCAflyer

Is PHX always a mess?

We landed on time, but waited 30 minutes for a gate. After racing from B29 to A27 (a longer haul then at PHL!), we departed only to wait about 35 minutes to depart. When we were wheels up, there were 19 aircraft on the two taxiways awaiting depature.

Wow.

JBLUA320

The no elite lines depends on the airport. At PDX, for example, an RR Card is considered an "elite" card (don't ask why), and you can clear elite security.

matt75

I am currently a Chairman with US, and made my transition to Southwest about 2 months ago. I generally fly short hauls 2-4 times a week, primarily between Las Vegas and Phoenix. To be honest, I have never encountered a wait of longer than 10 minutes at security in both McCarran or Sky Harbor. In fact, even though I have not yet qualified for the A-List program at Southwest, I have always had an "A" boarding pass with no exception (I do print my BP in advance, of course). If you are a business traveller (especially self-employed like me and paying your own travel expenses), you just cant beat WN for the price. The fare structure is simple, no change fee, flight attendants will often offer multiple drinks even on a 45 minute flight, and the free tickets add up quickly. At US, I would have to fly between Vegas and Phoenix nearly 117 times (based on 256 miles) to earn ONE free ticket! On Southwest, that would add up to 7 tickets (plus a companion pass). Once you make the change from US, you won't want to go back.

awaflyboy

Just curious, where is Gate B29 in PHX?