Southwest tips

A Southwest Airlines passenger said she enlisted the help of her Instagram followers to retrieve her lost bags after airline staff said they couldn't help.

A Southwest Airlines passenger says a man she believes was an off-duty pilot for the company AirDropped her an explicit photo and video of his genitals before takeoff on a flight heading from Las Vegas to Dallas.

Southwest Airlines will allow all passengers to fly same-day standby for free, bringing the carrier in line with other major airlines in the United States.

Don't joke about airline pilots and alcohol.

A Taylor Swift fan asked a Southwest pilot to fly over the pop star's concert in Los Angeles — and to her surprise, he obliged. 

Mary MacCarthy and her 10-year-old daughter, Moira, had just deplaned at Denver International Airport when two Denver police officers met them at the gate, calling them by name and notifying them that they had been reported for suspicious behavior.

Southwest Airlines is already preparing for spring break next year with new flights to Belize, Los Cabos, and San Juan.

Southwest Airlines is one of the most popular airlines in the United States thanks to its friendly flight attendants, and its two-free checked bags policy, the open seating onboard the aircraft and the low prices. The airline also likes to offer sales on its flights, and there’s a new one that travelers are getting excited about. For the first time, Southwest Airlines has launched a buy one, get one 50% off on base fares.

Southwest Airlines is helping travelers take two vacations almost for the price of one with the company’s first-ever buy one, get one 50 percent off sale.

Southwest Airlines will significantly reduce midweek flying capacity next year, becoming the latest airline to do so.

Today’s announcement that Southwest has a new marketing relationship with a rideshare company was no surprise. As rideshare services have become an ever-larger part of the travel landscape, such tie-ups have proliferated. It won’t be long before every airline and hotel loyalty program has a rideshare company on its roster of points-earning partners.

Southwest is getting out of the overbooking game. Following the recent “incident” involving United Airlines, Southwest will heretofore only sell as many tickets as it has seats.

As it has been doing with some regularity, Southwest has upped the sign-up bonus for its Rapid Rewards Premier credit card to 50,000 points.

Southwest manages to succeed where most companies, and airlines in particular, fail, selling a mediocre product, at a price that is rarely the lowest, racking up an industry-leading record of profitability, all the while maintaining a firm hold on the hearts and minds of its customers. Very few companies make so many people so happy so consistently.

Basic economy fares may be sweeping through the industry, but one airline says it’s staying out.

Although the proliferation of revenue-based programs and dynamic award pricing is changing the game in fundamental ways, the availability of award seats remains one of the key factors in determining the real-world value of any airline loyalty program. It would seem, then, that a definitive comparison of award-seat availability among the various airline programs would be a natural. The best program is the most rewarding program, no?

For years, Southwest, which already flies more domestic passengers than American, Delta, or United, has been known to have aspirations to fly to Hawaii. Last night, the company made those intentions official.

Did you feel that? Did the earth just move below our feet?

Rapid Rewards members normally earn 600 points for qualifying car rentals. That’s 600 points no matter how long the rental, or how much the rental costs—not a very compelling proposition, especially for longer rentals.

When it comes to making elite status in its Rapid Rewards program a must-have status for high-frequency flyers, Southwest is at a considerable competitive disadvantage. With no first-class seats or airport lounges, there’s just not much that Southwest can offer super-loyalists in exchange for their business.

As a self-described budget airline, Southwest lacks the cushy seats and airport lounges full-service airlines use to reward elite members of their loyalty programs. Southwest’s signature benefit for its best customers — and it’s a doozey — is the Companion Pass: free flights for a travel companion, for travelers who fly 100 one-way flights or accumulate 110,000 Rapid Rewards points.