What you can expect when you fly Southwest Airlines:

From Southwest Airlines:
More than 32 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. And you know what? They were right.

What began as a small Texas airline has grown to become one of the largest airlines in America. Today, Southwest Airlines flies more than 65 million passengers a year to 59 great cities (60 airports) all across the country, and we do it more than 2,800 times a day.

Apparently part of their success comes from a stripped down approach to management as well. Letting employees make decisions which is smart seeing how they are usually the ones closest to particular problem. Hiring people who "have a sense of humor" and even getting rid of such frills as assigned seating. You'll find the flight attendents to be younger than some of the other airlines.

They also fly shorter generally point to point flights. The average trip lenght is 558 miles and 1.5 hours in the air. There is a 30 minute turn around when the plane lands. The passengers exit, the flight crew tidies up and the next flight boards for another run eliminating the need for an extra "cleanup crew" to come aboard and get the aircraft ready for it's next flight.

Recently leather seats were added, not only are they more comfortable but leather lasts longer as well.

The main attraction of Southwest Airlines for customers is of course the low fares. You won't find them in any of the online travel sites that let you compare prices. You have to go to their website.

When you get there you'll find a very easy to use interface that lets you choose the city you are departing from and the destination from a drop down menu. The dates that you want to fly and that's about it.

You'll be given a few choices to choose from including the cheap "internet fares". Simply select the one you want and pay for it online, about as simple as you can get.