In the United States, Southwest airline is the big money-saver airline that most passengers know as far as their piggy banks are concerned. Southwest is a low-cost, discount airline that gives out dirt cheap air fares to its customers just to make sure that the customers fly with them the next time. Southwest started out as a small, Texas-based airline some three decades back and has grown today to become one of the mini airlines that runs the runways with bigger names in the United States’ airline business. The short-haul, cheap airfare-giving airline now offers flights to sixty cities across the United States. The main reason for this achievement is due to the simple fact that prices for flights on Southwest Airlines are so low that passengers simply cannot resist the urge to purchase other airlines’ tickets while forsaking Southwest’s.

Purchasing Southwest’s dirt cheap air tickets is pretty easy using the airline’s web site or through an offline travel agent. However, buying your tickets via the airline’s website is very convenient and much cheaper too. It allows you to see all the available flights that are open. Furthermore, the website is extremely user-friendly. The big drawback however is that, Southwest airline does not feature in travel websites such as Expedia and similar travel web sites. Therefore, if you want to check out Southwest’s discount air fares compared to other airlines, you just have to do a systematic search on the airline’s individual websites. You may even come up with some strategies to get your fair share of cheap airfares because after all, there are new and modern strategies coming up daily with each one that comes out beating or complementing the one before.

Do not see this as a problem anyway because these proxy online services take a commission from the airline for each customer that buys a cheap air ticket through them. This is the second reason why Southwest airline is able to comfortably offer very cheap discounts on its air tickets. The cheap price Southwest offers for its air fares are simply unbeatable. Southwest airline still offers great specials every week. Weekly internet specials can be e-mailed to you when you signup. And just to let you know, signing up to be notified for specials is absolutely free. Southwest airline does not always provide meals for the passengers. However, on a series of flights that are at least two hours long, peanuts and similar snacks are usually served. On non-stop flights that are at least two hours long, a packaged snack will be served.

Drinks, beverages and non-alcoholics are available on request. If you think that you might get hungry on your flight, then you should take snacks along with you. These are very good values for dirt cheap air fares right? Pre-assigned seating is well permitted on Southwest Airlines which operates an open seat policy, though passengers are boarded in three tiers, therefore seating is not reserved. You can sit wherever there is a free seat. When passengers check in at the gate, they are given a plastic boarding card with a number. Passengers board the flight in groups of thirty people. This method of boarding may have been changed by now but it can be a good or bad feature, depending on what number you receive. If you are the person holding boarding pass number one, you could still be the last person in your group to board the plane. Nevertheless, if you have number thirty, you can be the first person to board the plane.

Southwest Airline passengers are allowed to check in three bags and take two bags on the plane with them. This lenient baggage rule is great for anyone, especially students. The only thing to warn you about is that if you have a full flight, you might have trouble finding a place in the overhead bin to put your luggage and checking in will take a longer time than usual. All the same, flight attendants are always there to help you find a place to put your things. Southwest airline’s flights are usually very entertaining. Although Southwest does not show movies on their flights, the flight attendants do provide some entertainment through manual methods; using their skills and talents during the flight. Nonetheless, Southwest Airline is the cheapest way up the skies.