This may seem like an ignorant question, since I've never flown Southwest (from Huntsville it's always been more convenient to fly to Atlanta on Delta and connect there), but when the plane makes a stop on a multi-stop itinerary, do the through passengers get off the plane with everyone else or do they stay onboard?

Quoting MD-90 (Reply 53): when the plane makes a stop on a multi-stop itinerary, do the through passengers get off the plane with everyone else or do they stay onboard?

On the WN through flight I was on last year (BNA-MCI-PDX), all through passengers (including myself) stayed on board.

Quoting MD-90 (Reply 53): do the through passengers get off the plane with everyone else or do they stay onboard?

They very much stay on board. Once all the passengers getting off leave the aircraft, the F/As do a count of those staying on board & then you are free to move to a different seat, stretch your legs or use the bathrooms. The F/As tidy up the cabin quickly, then boarding begins again. The stops on the ground go by VERY quickly!

-Aloha!

Quoting MD-90 (Reply 53): This may seem like an ignorant question, since I've never flown Southwest (from Huntsville it's always been more convenient to fly to Atlanta on Delta and connect there), but when the plane makes a stop on a multi-stop itinerary, do the through passengers get off the plane with everyone else or do they stay onboard?

On a longer stop over, I've been permitted to leave the plane to stretch legs, get a snack, use a real restroom. Other airlines allow this as well. I see a few people stay on. If it's a short stop, leaving is discouraged.

-Rampart

Quoting rdh3e (Reply 52): How many flights does SA)">WN have daily?

It fluctuates I believe between 3200 and 3500 daily depending on the time of year; that's ALL WN Operated Aircraft, no codes-hares, regional affiliates etc included.

Quoting rdh3e (Reply 52): No it does not. It increases the number of one stop SAME FLT NUMBER connections.

Um... potato potahto... ??? The point it still made as was stated in previous responses so I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here.

Quoting MD-90 (Reply 53): when the plane makes a stop on a multi-stop itinerary, do the through passengers get off the plane with everyone else or do they stay onboard?

No, you stay onboard, especially given that our turn times are scheduled at 25-30 mins avg there's really very little time to get off. Our turns are very fast and usually we walk through, get a thru count, give you just a few short mins if you need to use the labs etc and then we board and leave again... we don't "lolly-gag" as they say.

**I should amend this to say that, on occasion we will ask thrus to deplane in the event of:

Unscheduled aircraft changes, or if the FA crew is expected to work another flight and the outbound crew hasn't arrived, or if the flight is extremely early and the ground-time will exceed 45min, then sometimes they'll ask everyone to deplane so that the entire crew can deplane and use the real restroom or get food, but these are all exceptions.

[Edited 2011-10-19 13:14:44]

Quoting WNCrew (Reply 57): Um... potato potahto... ???

Nope, cause you have the option to stay on board for the same flight number, but not if it's a different flt number. At least that's how my airline does it.

Are there any problems with this not leaving the desirable seats open to new pax getting on? Presuming thru pax can change seats?

Quoting rdh3e (Reply 58): Nope, cause you have the option to stay on board for the same flight number, but not if it's a different flt number. At least that's how my airline does it.

Thereby proving WNCrew's point. They have one flight number for one plane making 7 flights in a day because an individual passenger might want to take any 2 or 3 of those segments without having to leave the aircraft, NOT because pax make 6 stops on the way across the country as the OP seems to think.

Quoting MD-90 (Reply 53): do the through passengers get off the plane with everyone else or do they stay onboard?

I used to get off at STL on flights SDF-STL-MCI a plane change and MCI-DAL - After I learned crews on those end of the workday flights often order pizza from California Pizza Kitchen at STL.

I'd ask the FA to include my order with the crew order, but I'd have to go with the 'selected' crew member to pay with my own money for my meal.

Quoting RamblinMan (Reply 60): Thereby proving WNCrew's point. They have one flight number for one plane making 7 flights in a day because an individual passenger might want to take any 2 or 3 of those segments without having to leave the aircraft, NOT because pax make 6 stops on the way across the country as the OP seems to think.

  We agree in this thread. I was just making the point that you can have those same offerings for SALE on different flight numbers, just at a slight inconvenience to the pax.

Quoting rdh3e (Reply 52): No it does not. It increases the number of one stop SAME FLT NUMBER connections. You can still get a same aircraft connection with different flight numbers. I'm not sure if SA)">WN lets you stay on the aircraft during a stop, but that is the only advantage of using the same flight number. Has nothing to do with "same plane" connections.

Unlike some other airlines, though, same flight number ALWAYS means same scheduled aircraft at WN. They never schedule a single flight number and have it changing birds at various stops, so when aside from the very long stops previously discussed, you are always able to stay on the aircraft - and in the case of long stops, you at least depart from the same gate you arrived. Only in the case of disruptions can that change.

Quoting Furlough (Reply 17): I am sure someone from WN can can answer this question. If I listed for one of these crazy routings by calling reservations that had 4 or 5 legs... and there were seats on each segment that were open, could I conceivably be cleared all the way through starting and the origin city? You never know when useless information like this can save the day when non-revving.

I did. I was stuck in CRP a few years back, when I still lived in ABQ and was commuting back and forth to see my parents here. Giving up on the COex flights, I went over to WN and the next flight out that day, went CRP-HOU-DAL-MAF-ABQ and beyond. When I stayed on the plane at DAL, while the crew was counting thru passengers, they asked if I was going with them further on? I said yes, I was going on to ABQ. They laughed and said that deserved something, and comp'ed me a couple of drinks. Back at the HOU stop, they were either over sold or cleared too many stand-by's. They called people back off the plane, but did not call me. The CRP agent had told me to stay on board, unless they called me at any one of the stops.

JD CRPXE

All this talk about multi stops takes me back to the late 50s here in HSV.Eastern had a north and southbound MIA-MDW and MDW-MIA that stopped here using Martin 404s or CV440s.Flt 180 was MIA-PBI-ORL-TLH-DHN-MGM-BHM-HSV-BNA-SDF-IND-MDW.Flt 181 same cities reversed untill TLH-TPA-SRQ-MIA.Southern had a DC-3 flight that stopped six times between HSV and MEM.
Sparky

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 41): I honestly try not to.

Thank God.

SZDC10  

I noticed the other day their Flight 7 starts on the west coast and passes through Albany NY on its way to several
other stops.
Too bad segments don't count!

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 41): stand in line like cattle

Clearly you have not flown on WN in years. The "standing in line like cattle" that you refer to is actually quite brilliant. With the introduction of numbers to their boarding groups you only line up once your group is called. The true cattle call has now become Legacy carriers. I can't tell you how tired I am of flying legacies and when my group/zone number is called I am constantly fighting my way while groups and zones 2, 3, 4, 5 etc are hovering over the gate like a bunch of race horses making it extremely difficult to board with my assigned group.

So who has the cattle call in all reality?

Interesting reading the info for the "multi sector" flights, and which legs they have "traffic rights" on etc



SOUTHWEST AIRLINES TEXAS - WN 2142

[Planned Flight Info]
BUF-BWI 10:15/Fri - 11:25/Fri 01:10
BWI-RDU 11:55/Fri - 13:00/Fri 01:05
RDU-TPA 13:30/Fri - 15:20/Fri 01:50
TPA-AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS 15:50/Fri - 17:25/Fri 02:35
AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS-SAN 17:55/Fri - 19:00/Fri 03:05
SAN-SFO 19:35/Fri - 21:05/Fri 01:30

[Flight Notes]
BUF-BWI F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
BUF-RDU F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
BUF-TPA A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
BUF-AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
BUF-SAN A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
BUF-SFO A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
BWI-RDU F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
BWI-TPA F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
BWI-AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
BWI-SAN A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
BWI-SFO A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
RDU-TPA F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
RDU-AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
RDU-SAN F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
RDU-SFO A/ NO LOCAL TRAFFIC
TPA-AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
TPA-SAN F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
TPA-SFO F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS-SAN F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS-SFO F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
SAN-SFO F/ LOCAL AND ONLINE CONNECTING TRAFFIC ONLY
RDU-TPA DEPARTS TERMINAL 1
SAN-SFO DEPARTS TERMINAL 1
BWI-RDU ARRIVES TERMINAL 1
AND CURRENT: Austin - Bergstrom International (AFB) (AUS / KBSM), USA - Texas">AUS-SAN ARRIVES TERMINAL 1
SAN-SFO ARRIVES TERMINAL 1

Quoting jasewgtn (Reply 66): Interesting reading the info for the "multi sector" flights, and which legs they have "traffic rights" on etc

Not sure what you're talking about...there's no such thing as "traffic rights" within the U.S. unless you count subsidies or airports that have slot and perimeter rules. And I'm absolutely sure there is not a single flight in the WN system that doesn't carry local traffic.

He is probably talking about what sectors WN will sell to passengers, for example it will not sell BUF-TPA to a pax on this flight, but will sell them a connection instead.

Quoting ScottB (Reply 26): was flown by Delta Air Service with Travel Airs back in 1929.

I'm old, but not that old !!!1

Quoting acjflyer (Reply 65): Clearly you have not flown on WN in years. The "standing in line like cattle" that you refer to is actually quite brilliant. With the introduction of numbers to their boarding groups you only line up once your group is called. The true cattle call has now become Legacy carriers. I can't tell you how tired I am of flying legacies and when my group/zone number is called I am constantly fighting my way while groups and zones 2, 3, 4, 5 etc are hovering over the gate like a bunch of race horses making it extremely difficult to board with my assigned group. So who has the cattle call in all reality?

Hmm... actually just flew with Southwest a few days ago, which was the purpose of my post. You don't think standing line at posts at a gate is a little ridiculous and childish? It's kinda funny when the woman who is B26 is trying to organize us in order between B26-B31.

I am flying to my sister's wedding in Kansas City next weekend on DL. I bought the ticket a few days ago, reserved window seats, and don't have to line up with the cattle to attempt to get a window seat.

I don't think the anti-Southwest vs. pro-Southwest is a winnable one.

Can we end this?

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): I don't think the anti-Southwest vs. pro-Southwest is a winnable one.

depends on if you are with the people who fly the largest domestic airline or not...

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): I am flying to my sister's wedding in Kansas City next weekend on DL. I bought the ticket a few days ago, reserved window seats, and don't have to line up with the cattle to attempt to get a window seat.

Cool.

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): I don't think the anti-Southwest vs. pro-Southwest is a winnable one. Can we end this?

LOL seriously? You started this!

Quoting Silver1SWA (Reply 73): LOL seriously? You started this!

Well said.

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): You don't think standing line at posts at a gate is a little ridiculous and childish?

Pick what you are going to come to the battle with. You never said childish or ridiculous. You said cattle call and I have never once in my life seen cattle line up in order and carefully walk their way into the cattle chute. So please don't try to belittle me and make me sound dumb by coming at me from a different angle that you never stated.

Everyone rushing to the door when Zone 2 is called is much more like a cattle call - perhaps when you are in Kansas City for the wedding you should make a stop at a ranch and you will see what I am referring to.


As for childish - yes, the public needs order and as ridiculous as the lining up may be it creates that order. So I will give public the benefit of a doubt when they stop asking idiotic questions like "Is the plane on the ground yet?" to which the agent replies, "No not yet mam." to which she asked,"So is it still in the air?"

When those questions cease to exist then I will admit that the lining up is not necessary. I think I may be waiting some time.

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): I don't think the anti-Southwest vs. pro-Southwest is a winnable one.

I agree. You never should have started an anti-Southwest thread in the first place.

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): You don't think standing line at posts at a gate is a little ridiculous and childish?

As opposed to, say, arriving at a gate and trying to decide whether your Zone has been called yet? Nope, don't think it is childish or ridiculous at all. You must be a young'un, still sensitive to all sorts of illogical external inputs...

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): Hmm... actually just flew with Southwest a few days ago, which was the purpose of my post. You don't think standing line at posts at a gate is a little ridiculous and childish? It's kinda funny when the woman who is B26 is trying to organize us in order between B26-B31.

As opposed to a hundred + people crowding the gate entrance?

Quoting southloopswa (Reply 76): It's kinda funny when the woman who is B26 is trying to organize us in order between B26-B31.

Actually it's more annoying and rude as long as she is in the correct spot she should mind her own business.

I'll take the no-assigned seating when it gives me no change fees. I am going to Florida in February and I haven't heard back yet about whether I have the time off, thanks to no change fees I was able to book now and take advantage of a sale not worring about if I needed to change the dates would I have to pay $150 to change it. I was also able to change my flight from 5pm to 1245pm when a few more sale price inventory was released.

I can't believe that I actually read through this whole thread.  

As soon as I read JCS17's post I knew where it was going. What's dissappointing about it is that more people fly this airline domestically then any other airline. They don't have to board a sardine can, they don't have to sit for four hours at a mega hub with 10,000 of their closest friends, they don't have to pay bag fees, they don't have to go to 10 different websites in order to have peace of mind in their buying decision, they don't have to pay change fees, they don't have to worry about showing up for a "Southwest" flight and being on some express carrier or partner airline, they don't have to wonder what - or if -the snack will be or whether there will be a beverage service - and on and on and on.

I'm not a WN fanatic. I would just as much choose Alaska (I live in Seattle), but honestly, I like being able to easily view all fares on their site in a simple format and I like being able to see if and where my flight will be stopping or I will need to change planes so that I can in a matter of moments pick the right fare and itinerary for my family. If I only flew AS on our trips to the sun, I'd have not been to SMF, OAK, SJC, or RNO in recent times. To me, it's mildly interesting to see the different areas, and you are really seldom there more than 30 minutes before you are on your way again.

You don't like those things? Fine. You've got lots of airlines to choose from. I just wish we didn't have to constantly rehash pet peeves as if it's a topic of revelation.

-Dave

Quoting rfields5421 (Reply 22): For example Delta used to fly (and I've flown it several times) ATL-MGM-MEI-JAN-MLU-SHV-DAL in a DC-9 or B727.

Actually I used to take that flight MLU eastward to ATL then connected to ORD. Since I was an aviation student I really liked all the take offs & landings.

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 41): The ticket was given to me by my father, who has some sort of odd infatuation with WN. He travels from Fairfax to BWI to stand in line like cattle and accrue miles to go to places like Orlando and Los Angeles (or Islip).

As a father who shares a similar 'infatuation' (though I, and perhaps your father too, would argue that a better term exists.. such as loyalty to quality, reliability, etc.), I beleive I can speak to this. I travel quite a bit for a living, which at the moment is at a bit of a peak. In the past 3 weeks I've flown through LAX, BUR, LAS, DFW, TUL, ORD, etc. enough times to make me feel like a nomadic local. When I flew American, they almost killed me with a hydraulic failure on approach in to DFW (AAL650) and then shuffled me in to the "system" for a 11pm arrival in to Tulsa. The emergency event could have occurred anywhere else, sure, but if it had occurred on WN my chances of getting to my final destination much faster would have been far better.. even if it was through DAL with a stop or 2.

From a 10,000' view, I can almost always count on Southwest to adapt to weather, delays and other unseen situations to get me to my destination on-time or with minimal inconvenience. I don't travel to get pampered and elitistic with window seats.. I travel to get where I am going on time.

Quoting jcs17 (Reply 71): Hmm... actually just flew with Southwest a few days ago, which was the purpose of my post. You don't think standing line at posts at a gate is a little ridiculous and childish? It's kinda funny when the woman who is B26 is trying to organize us in order between B26-B31. I am flying to my sister's wedding in Kansas City next weekend on DL. I bought the ticket a few days ago, reserved window seats, and don't have to line up with the cattle to attempt to get a window seat.

Childish? No. Functional, you bet. The forumla with Southwest is simple.. YOU CONTROL your options. Want food? Bring some. Don't want to bring some? Here's some free snacks. Want a window seat? Grab an Early Bird check-in. Don't want to pay for an Early Bird check-in? Then be sure to check in 24 hours and get yourself an A or B boarding group. You don't start loosing window and aisle seats until the high B's. Want to check a bag? That'll be $0. Want to get to your destination on time? Welcome aboard.

If Delta works for you, great. That's one less complaining person at the WN gate crying "cattle call" like it was the 1980s again..   

As for me, WN's not Virgin America because that's not their business model.. and that suits me just fine.  

Quoting mrskyguy (Reply 80): If Delta works for you, great. That's one less complaining person at the WN gate crying "cattle call" like it was the 1980s again..

I'd take the 1980's flying over 2010's flying any day. And that is not factoring in the TSA.

But seriously, I can't see what the complain is.
The only difference boarding-wise between WN and others is that you HAVE to be at the gate at your assigned boarding slot (assume you have one where you can pick a seat you want) to get that seat you want. Legacies you don't. Maybe that's the whole "cattle call" reference. But that's WN's strategy to get people to hustle. In the interest of 25-min turns and on-time departure, I guess we have to sacrifice a few minutes of terminal-browsing.

And about flight routing...I just have to say jcs is thinking way too much. Instead of using 3 or 4 flight number to display the aircraft's routing for the day, they used one. Pure ops decision. To the general flying public it makes no difference whether they transfer in a WN city of SWF, MCI, or LAS, or a legacy hub ATL, DFW, ORD, or IAH.

WN has been able to make it work for the past 40 years despite the unconventional way of operating its route network. I guess there is method to the madness...

I'd love to see pax of today surviving travel "in the good days"... you better shower, put on your dress clothes and get ready to make a lot of through flights. You'd also better not have a roller-bag... you might be on a wide body but it's probably got small side-only bins that those you'll find on a Classic 737... some didn't have center-line bins.

Recently working a flight into So-CAL and there were young 20-somethings witting together all complaining about "..the good ole days of flying.." before they were even a twinkle in someone's pants... and this little old lady in front of them stood up, turned around and proceeded to tell them about the "Good Days" when she was traveling with her baby, in heels and hose, eating gross airplane food and it took her 14hrs to get from DEN to FRA to see her husband who was in the military... she had very few carryons because there was no place to put them and she smelled of old cigarette smoke when she landed. She said "I'll take the downsides of today over the REALITY of yesteryear ANYDAY..."

Quoting WNCrew (Reply 82): and she smelled of old cigarette smoke when she landed.

To me that's the worst thing about flying in the "good old days." Smoking and non-smoking sections of the cabin? Ugh, NO THANKS.

It's almost silly the way I use to anticipate the rolling down the aisle of the food cart back in the day (70's/80's). I don't know what I was so excited about, but hey, it was "free"! Of course, I still get excited for the rolling down the aisle of the nuts and bev cart - it's still free!  

-Dave

Quoting WNCrew (Reply 82): Recently working a flight into So-CAL and there were young 20-somethings witting together all complaining about "..the good ole days of flying.."

Why am I not surprised this was in SoCal....