My flight was booked using 5,010 Rapid Rewards Points about a month and a half before travel. The flight was one-way from Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX) to Dallas Love Field
(DAL). On the day I traveled, there were four nonstop flights available between the two airports, and the one booked was the final one of the day.
Southwest Airlines
has an open-seating policy, which means that the earlier a passenger checks in, the better the chance they do not end up in a middle seat or in the rear of the aircraft. Because I did not have status with Southwest and did not care to pay for early-bird check-in, which is automatic, I checked in exactly 24 hours before my flight. Although I booked the last flight of the day because of the price, I wanted to arrive in Dallas earlier to make it to church, so I hoped to take advantage of Southwest’s same-day standby policy.
Upon checking in, I was surprised to see that the same-day standby option was not available. I thought it might be because my flight was the following day, but I have seen other airlines offer the option at check-in. I reached out to Southwest on X and was told the option would be available on the day of my flight.
I managed to list myself on a flight departing at 09:05 at about 06:00. At the time, there were 15 available seats and no one on the standby list, so I was the first in line and was confident I would get a seat. By the time I arrived at the airport, about eight of us were on the list.
At the airport
I arrived at Terminal 1 at LAX at 08:03 via the Flyaway bus, which is operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) between LAX and Van Nuys Airport and Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Because I was traveling with a checked bag, I had to stop at bag drop, which was surprisingly busy. Typically, I would have headed straight for security as I tend to check in online and have my boarding pass before I arrive at the airport.
Because of the long line, I was afraid I might miss the bag drop cutoff. By the time I had tagged my bag and gotten in line, I had only 15 minutes left to check my bag. The line moved quickly, and by 08:17, I had dropped my bag off.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
There are two security checkpoints at Terminal 1, one exclusively for CLEAR and TSA PreCheck members, and the other for general security. I arrived at the CLEAR kiosk at 08:26 and within six minutes had cleared security, after going through the metal detector three times.
The walk from the checkpoint to the gates is very short, with the nearest gate located no more than five minutes away. I stopped rightpoint to photograph a few aircraft at the closest gates after the check and arrived at my gate at 08:37.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
As I approached my gate, I checked the app and realized that other standby passengers had been cleared for the flight. It turns out my name had been called, and since I was not yet at the gate, I had been skipped. But there was still room for me.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
Boarding was supposed to have started at 08:30, but one of the flight attendants could not be located, so boarding was delayed until 08:50. Because there are no seat assignments on Southwest, passengers are given boarding positions in three groups, A, B, and C. Each group has numbers 1-60.
On the plane
As a standby passenger, I had one of the last boarding positions, C54. I scanned my boarding pass nearly 20 minutes after boarding started and was on the jetbridge at 09:09, four minutes after our scheduled departure time. I was the final passenger to board and was on the plane within three minutes.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
Most seats were already taken, and I hoped that if I went all the way to the rear of the plane, I would find a window or aisle seat. I was wrong, and I ended up in row 26, where a middle seat was available. I got the aisle seat as a mother and child were traveling together.
Our plane pushed back from the gate at 09:22, 17 minutes behind schedule. By 09:31, we were rolling down runway 24L at LAX and headed for Dallas, and I was settled in seat 26C.
Currently, all seats on Southwest aircraft are the same, but the airline’s seat offering is set to change as it ditches its open-seating method. The only extra-legroom seats currently available are at the bulkhead and emergency exits, and these seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. But, in the future, Southwest will offer extra legroom seats for a charge or for free for some statusholders.
The aircraft I flew on was a Boeing 737 MAX 8, one of 244 that Southwest has in its fleet. According to Flighty, which I use for all my flights when I travel, the plane I flew on had its first flight in January of this year.
As it was a relatively new aircraft, every seat was equipped with seat-back power. However, unlike other airlines, only USB power (type A and C) was available. It is very nice that Southwest has both options, as most devices have moved to USB-C, but some have not made the change.
At 09:36, one of the flight attendants made an announcement that we had reached cruising altitude and that the crew would come by soon to take drink orders. Unlike most airlines, instead of going down the aisle with a cart and all the drinks, Southwest takes passengers’ orders and then serves the drinks on trays.
By 10:00, flight attendants were in the aisles and taking drink orders. Within about ten minutes, I had my drink, and a few minutes before that, some of the crew had served snacks. We were given two snacks: pretzels and graham crackers.
As I had not flown Southwest in a few months, being served two snacks was a surprise to me as traditionally the airline only served its snack mix in the famous yellow bags. If you are reading this and have memories of flying on three hour flights with meals, you are probably laughing at the fact that we had just two snacks. And if you flew on flights like that, I am jealous.
Southwest is consistent in one thing that I think is extremely important: customer service. Although I prefer other airlines for different reasons, Southwest’s staff is always friendly. The crew on my flight was no different, which is a highlight.
Besides some turbulence in the first 20-30 minutes, the flight was relatively smooth. Since I was working, time flew by. At 11:34 (Los Angeles time), the Captain came on and announced that we were descending into the Dallas area and that we should have an on-time arrival at the gate.
Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying
We touched down at 14:03, two minutes ahead of our arrival time, and taxiing took seven minutes. Despite our on-time arrival, our bags took some time to arrive at the baggage claim. When our bags arrived, we had been on the ground in Dallas for almost an hour.
Overall
I still enjoy flying Southwest and have found it to be a consistent experience. The airline continues to have an open-seating policy, although not for long, gives every passenger two free checked bags, has personal device entertainment on its entire fleet, and its staff are friendly.
Taking advantage of the same-day standby option was incredibly helpful on this trip and a great benefit to passengers. Another highlight of the trip was being able to fly into the airport where the airline was first founded, as I had never done so.