Airline Review: Southwest Airlines Flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco

Los Angeles to San Francisco (Alaska Pre Cruise) . 2012 . September 13

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

Several airlines fly direct from Los Angeles to San Francisco – United, Southwest, Delta, American, and Virgin America.  Flight time is around 1 hour and 20 minutes, and there are around 40 to 50 flights per day offered by the above airlines. We chose to fly with Southwest as it offers the cheapest ticket price and two free checked bags per person! This certainly comes in useful for us as we had packed quite a fair bit of luggage for our Alaskan Cruise.

Online Booking

We had booked our air tickets directly online through the Southwest Airlines website, which offers a choice of three flexible fare categories as follows:

Wanna Get Away Fare
Southwest's Lowest Fare. Although this fare isn't refundable, if you need to cancel your trip, 100% of your ticket value can still be applied to future travel for up to 12 months.

Anytime Fare
With this fare, if you have a change of plans and need to cancel your flight, you'll receive 100% of your ticket value as a refund to your original form of payment when booking this fully-refundable fare.

Business Select Fare
Business Select is their most rewarding, completely refundable fare. You'll receive Priority Boarding, access to our Priority Ticket Counter and Security Lanes, and a premium drink ($5 value), and maximum Rapid Rewards Points.

Southwest Fare Types (Credits: millionmilesecrets.com)

Although we only booked the air tickets 2 weeks in advance, we still manage to secure 2 tickets at the Wanna Get Away Fare of USD$68.80 per person for an early flight at 6.10am to San Francisco! :) That works out to around SGD $85 per person!

Check-in

As it was an early morning flight, we had to wake up very early so that we could reach the airport by 4.30am for check-in. It was advised on Southwest's website that we should arrive at the airport 90 minutes before departure.  As we were staying at Four Points by Sheraton LA International Airport, we were able to take their 24 hour shared shuttle to the airport. Do check out our review of the hotel here!

Photo taken while we were travelling on the shuttle to the airport. That's how early we were up, at the crack of dawn!

We were at the airport on time at 4.30am and there was already a long queue at the Southwest Check-In Counters. However, there was no Southwest Check-in Staff in sight. It was probably around 1 hour before flight that the check-in staff arrived.

Check in was a bit messy initially with the large crowd, but it soon settled down and we were off to the boarding gate by 5.30am.

Boarding

We were impressed by Southwest's Boarding policy where passengers board the aircraft based on their assigned boarding positions when they check in. Your boarding group (A, B, or C) and number (1-60) will be displayed on your boarding pass.

General boarding starts with Business Select customers, who are guaranteed positions at the front of the A Group, followed by Rapid Rewards A-List Members and the remaining Customers in the A Group, families with children under age 5, then groups B and C. You can purchase an earlybird check-in at USD $12.50 one-way per person if you do not belong to the above groups. This should ensure that you will be assigned under the A Group which will allow you to board earlier.

A Group Boarding Positions at the Gate. You will stand at your boarding position based on your group and number assigned. This ensures orderly and quick boarding onto the aircraft.

Tip: Southwest has an open seating policy, so there are no assigned seats on your tickets. You are free to sit at any available seat when you get onboard.

Photo taken on board the flight. It was pretty full for an early morning flight with pockets of empty seats.

Cabin Amenities and Food

The seat pitch of the leather seat was slightly cramped, compared to previous short haul (Silkair, Berjaya Air) or budget carriers (Air Asia, Scoot) that we have taken in Asia. However, for a short flight of less than 1 and a half hours, we guess passengers would not mind the seat pitch as long as the price is cheap.

Being a low cost carrier, no full meals were provided by Southwest on board. But they do provide a complimentary drink and snack for this short haul flight, which is a pleasant surprise for us! :)

You could choose from a selection of complimentary non-alchoholic beverages which include cold soft drinks like Coke, Sprite and Dr Pepper, Minute Maid juices as well as hot coffee and tea.

We opt for the Minute Maid Apple Juice and a Hot Cocoa.

On our flight, we were also offered a complimentary pack of Pretzels each, which surprisingly was quite tasty! Do try them if you are on board a Southwest Flight!

In Flight Magazine and Shopping - Spirit Magazine and Skymall

If you did not bring your IPAD or personal entertainment devices on board for the short flight, you may want to flip through the on board in flight travel magazine or shopping guide from Southwest.

We took some photos on the flight as dawn starts to break...

 and some more as we fly through the white clouds and the US terrains...

Time flies fast for the short flight...soon we were touching down at San Francisco Airport...

Waiting to collect our checked in luggages at the SouthWest Belt at San Francisco Airport.

Overall, the flight was comfortable, and the landing and take-off smooth. We also enjoyed the complimentary drink and snack provided.

Final Verdict:  We like Southwest's free check-in luggage for the first two pieces, its Boarding Policy and complimentary beverages and snack. However, the check-in process can be better managed. Overall, we would have no hesitation to take another Southwest flight when we travelled to USA again the next time!

This post is part of our Alaska Pre and Post Cruise Report and follow-up of our popular Alaska cruise series. Do check out our Alaska Cruise story too if this is your first time here! :)

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