Southwest Airlines

Prize patrol: airports and airlines giving away great stuff

Contests, Free Stuff, , , ,

Wish you could drive a cool car or fly to some cool places? Then stop playing solitaire on your computer and enter some of these contests:

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Through June 29, 2009, American Airlines is running a “Capture the Flagship Experience” game.   Top winner gets two round-trip Business Class tickets to anywhere American flies in Europe, Asia or South America and a HD video camera.  21 first place prizes come from this list:  membership to the airline’s club, 50,000 AAdvantage miles or Bose headphones.

Nuts About Southwest

Southwest Airlines is giving away a family four-pack of airline tickets to any destination the airline serves.  To enter: let them know you’ve posted one of the airline’s “My Peanut and I Fly Southwest” buttons  on your blog, Facebook profile, and/or other social media sites. Contest ends May 31, 2009.

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Each month through August, 2009, the folks at Airport Parking Reservations.com are giving away prizes (cameras, cashmere travel pillows and solar chargers) for the most creative parking lot photos. (And if you have a photo of the person who scratched my car at an airport parking lot in Seattle, let me know….)

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And, for those who don’t have cool cars to take pictures of, the folks at Frankfurt Airport are giving away an Alfa Romero Spider. Go on a virtual shopping spree before May 31, 2009 to get a chance to enter.

Good luck! Let me know if you win!

Portly passengers may pay twice on United

Obesity, Seatmates of Size, , ,

This week United Airlines joined Southwest and several other airlines in formalizing and posting a  “seatmates of size” policy on its website.

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(From a 2007  Well-Mannered Traveler column on this topic, courtesy MSNBC.com)

Although the policy was quietly posted on the airline’s Web site some time ago, it went into effect just this past Wednesday, April 15th.

The policy will please passengers who find themselves squeezed in next to someone who doesn’t really fit in their own seat and will disappoint travelers who feel that, rather than charging large passengers for more space, airlines should just be putting larger seats on all airplanes.

You can read the current policy here but, in a nutshell, the policy states that if you don’t fit into your seat with the armrests down, if you need more than one seat belt extender to buckle your seat belt, or if you simply do not fit into a single seat in your ticketed cabin, then you may end up having to purchase a second seat and fly on a later flight.

The key word here is may.  Which is not what the policy first stated.

Last Wednesday, the policy United posted on its Website stated that passengers falling into certain categories MUST by an extra seat.  By the end of the day, however, the wording had been changed to better reflect the policy an airline spokesperson  said was the “real” policy: that before charging anyone for a second seat, United flight crews would try to find two adjacent seats for the large passenger at no extra charge

I think that’s a big  difference.  And I’m glad they changed the wording. Read about how the wording got changed in my Well-Mannered Traveler column, The Skinny on United’s seatmates of size”, on MSNBC.com.

And tell me what you think….

Travel tidbits: Free/green stuff from Southwest; trophy display at PHL

Free Stuff, ,

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St. Patrick’s Day is on March 17th, but Southwest Airlines is celebrating almost a full week early. Tomorrow, March 12 (Thursday), three “very sprightly, very green, very enthusiastic leprechauns” will be flying to and from a variety of cities leading in-flight trivia games and passing out prizes in departure gates.  Look for them in Dallas, San Antonio and Harlingen, TX, Chicago, Tulsa, Denver, Kansas City and St. Louis, MO.

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And sports fans passing through Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) tomorrow will be able to get a little face time with the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies World Series Championship Trophy.   The trophy will be in the Terminal B/C Food Court between noon and 2 pm.

Travelers will be able to get their photos taken with the trophy, so don’t forget your camera.

The Phillie Phanatic will be there too.phanatic

Tidbits for travelers: BWI Twitters, Southwest pampers,

Delays, Security, Weather, , ,

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) used its Twitter account during the recent east coast snowstorm to share information about weather conditions and flight delays and hopes you’ll sign up to get their tweets- including updates on parking – next time you’re headed that way.

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And Southwest Airlines rolled out yet another priority security lane for its Business Select and Rapid Reward A-List Customers. There are now “Fly By” lanes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Baltimore/Washington International, Dallas Love Field, Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Orange County John Wayne, Denver International, San Francisco International, and Los Angeles International.

Southwest Wi-Fi to filter for pornography

Cell Phones, Wi-Fi, , , ,

Earlier this week, Southwest Airlines announced that it was finally testing in-flight Wi-Fi on two planes and plans to being testing the service on four planes in just a few weeks.

The service is provided by Row 44, which provides Wi-Fi via aircraft-to-satellite technology.  The service will be free during an initial testing phase and will allow passengers to access the Internet via laptops, iPhone, and Wi-Fi enabled smart phones.

Cellular phone service won’t work with Southwest’s in-flight Wi-Fi service. And while VOIP will be blocked for passengers, it will be available for the cockpit and cabin crew.

That opens a lot of possibilities.   Good and bad.

Also, while Southwest is heavily touting the fact that it’s wrapped one of its airplanes with a decal featuring the cover model from the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, according to Row 44’s president and co-founder Gregg Fialcowitz, Southwest Airlines will be filtering on-board Wi-Fi to block sites that might contain pornography.

Sort of a mixed message there, don’t ya think?

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New Orleans airport and Southwest Airlines celebrate with prizes and karaoke

Free Stuff, Fun Stuff,

Southwest Airlines is celebrating 30 years of service at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) today with a 1979-infused party that includes a  DJ spinning “records” from ’79,  decorations and costumes from the 70s, a karaoke machine, and games and prizes throughout the day, including a “Money Cube” where customers can grab prizes.

There should also be folks dressed like 1970’s-era Southwest Airlines flight attendants.

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(1970’s era uniforms courtesy Southwest Airlines)

Airport baggage scales: are they balanced?

Baggage, Carry-ons, Fees,

It’s natural to wonder (or hope) that the bathroom scale is wrong when you weigh in each morning.

At the airport, it’s a different story entirely. Airlines have been getting strict about charging passengers for overweight bags to the tune of millions of dollars each year.

But last week, the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures did a surprise inspection of the scales used by Southwest Airlines and US Airways at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

According to this article in the Arizona Republic, both airlines got dinged. Southwest “had to shut down three of its 26 scales because they received red tags, the most serious violation, from the inspectors. The problem: The scales did not start at zero.”

Another reason to try to fit everything you need into a carry-on bag…..

Free tickets for some Southwest Passengers at BWI today

Free Stuff

Feeling lucky?

Today Southwest Airlines is celebrating 15 years of service to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

The airline is offering special on-line “DING!” fares for travel to and from BWI and handing out free anniversary cookies at the airport. Many travelers waiting for their flights at BWI will also have a chance to win free plane tickets.

Bikes and free tickets at Portland International Airport

Art, Contests, Recreation, ,

At Oregon’s Portland International Airport, (PDX) travelers can enter a contest to win a pair of round-trip tickets from Portland to any Southwest Airlines destination. The contest is part of the airport’s Summer Splash celebration and runs until Labor Day.

You can enter the contest in person at the airport or on-line here.

If you did visit the airport in person, however, you’d have a chance to see an exhibit of 10 bicycles designed and built by Oregon craftsmen and craftswomen, on display in the E Concourse through September. Included are a broad range of machines, including a steel pursuit bike, folding bike, recumbent cargo trike, steel freakbike – also known as tall bike – and a bike with a frame made from Douglas fir.

Even better: PDX is one of the few airports in the country with a multiuse bike and pedestrian path connecting regional trails to the terminal. So you can ride your bike to the airport!

Photo courtesy Portland International Airport