Southwest Vacations; trustworthy?

Hello All! I wanted to know what the real deal is with Southwest Vacations. I did a search, but much of the information is outdated. I%26#39;ve researched %26amp; spent hours cruising every travel site I can think of, and SWV is astronomically cheaper to book my trip through. Literally several hundred dollars cheaper.

ANYWAY, last year I had an *extremely* bad experience with what I thought was a reputable internet booking site (in the top 5 travel sites we all know very well) while trying to book a trip to Mexico, and now I%26#39;m SUPER paranoid to trust anyone other than my local AAA agent; she has always gone out of her way to help us.... of coarse, at a price. ;-)

So, the question is, should I book with Southwest Vacations, and trust that we are ACTUALLY getting the hotel, flight, and dates they SAY we are booking?? Point being, do they give you what the computer screen says you%26#39;re paying for?

Thanks for the help!!

P.S. I read about the seating %26amp; boarding pass thing. It%26#39;s annoying, but I%26#39;ll deal with it for the price they%26#39;re offering if they are legit.

Southwest Vacations; trustworthy?

I fly SWA literally everywhere I go. I would even pay EXTRA to fly them I love them so much. I love the boarding process, and I love sitting wherever I want.

I have used their vacations MANY times and have been very pleased with the experience everytime. Couldn%26#39;t recommend them highly enough.

*PS prices don%26#39;t include tax, and are only good if you have 2+ traveling. 1 person pays double (because of the double occupancy thing), also tax will be significant so just remember to price that in.

Enjoy!

Southwest Vacations; trustworthy?

My travel agent (and one of my best friends - known her since we were born practically) uses Southwest Vacations to book their Vegas packages. We have used it twice (through her) and have never had any problems.

Have you priced out your trip booking everything seperately yet? I was surprised to find that Southwest was NOT the cheapest option for me. I used www.kayak.com for my airfare and then booked the hotel direct.

If you are traveling soon and a package is the best bet, I have heard of others using SW Vacations and they were fine.

Thanks guys! I%26#39;ll try that site next! I had tried booking separately and for some reason, that was about the same darn price. I%26#39;ve gone so far as to try booking one way with ';A'; airline, and returning with ';B'; airline. No love.

We are going to drive from Lexington (home) to Louisville in order to get the deal with SWV, but it%26#39;s only about an hour (with traffic), so that%26#39;s all good.

It%26#39;s me %26amp; hubby, Memorial Day weekend. Let%26#39;s hope it all works out!!

I have used SWAV %26amp; never had a problem %26amp; got what it shows on the screen. We%26#39;ve used it several times %26amp; everything was as stated, no complaints.

We%26#39;ve taken a SW Vacation at least 6 times in the past 5 years---booked through our travel agent---and never had a problem.......always saved $

We use SWV and like them very much and always get the best deal for what we want (we know the room cannot be taken off for comps, when using them, but we don%26#39;t gamble enough for that to concern us. Meal charges can be taken off though.)

What I really like about SWV is you can choose flight times (we try for the non stop flights) and you choose the hotel you want. We also buy the pre-travel waiver (29.00 pp) WELL WORTH IT for us. When you have the waiver, you keep checking prices and if it goes down they will credit your credit card for the amount. Our prices dropped 3 times last year and 2 times this year (saving an additional 308.00 this year). Also you can cancel anytime up to 2 hours of your trip (so if you find a better deal or something happens and you need to cancel) getting full credit on your credit card minus the pre trip waiver fee. Check prices daily they change often.

Also SWV are ticket flights, they mail you your tickets a few weeks before trip (you can%26#39;t get boarding passes online like you can with other flights) but you can check in at the airport up to 24 hours ahead of time if you want.

You%26#39;ll have no problems I can think of. I fly Southwest twice a week for work. We have booked the Vacations a few years back and everything was perfect. The on-time arrival is one of the highest of all the US carriers too. I average about 125+ flights a year, rarely am I delayed more than 20 min and in 5yrs for weekly flights, I%26#39;ve only had 2 flights cancelled. Pretty good track record.

As far as the A, B, or C ticket, it is gonna really depend on when you check in. But I can say since they have gone to this line up, it%26#39;s 100% better than before. No rushing to get to the airport to stand in line prior to the flight. You%26#39;ll be given a Letter %26amp; Number on your barding pass when you check in, thats your place in line. Just sit and relax until time to line up and board, usually 10 minutes before the flight.

I do believe and I could be wrong, but with a Vacation Package you are not able to check-in online 24hrs prior to your departure. I think you now have to do that with a vacation package when you arrive at the airport, meaning this could give you a B or C boarding ticket depending on how full the flight is.

If the airport was closer, you could drive out 24hrs before and check in and get your boarding pass, but the hour drive each way might not be worth the trouble. With a B, #1-30, you should have no problem getting two seats together though.

You can call Southwest to get the correct answer on the heck-in.

Hope this helps, have a great time.

If booking separately is about the same, I would still book separately. If the hotel price drops you will now be ahead because the hotel will charge you the lower price. In addition, as someone else said, if you gamble enough you might get some comps.

We used SW Vacations last December to Vegas...no problems what so ever.....no surprises.

The boarding and seating procedure is no big deal....you have a seat regardless of where you are in boarding line. Dh and I had decided that before we flew that we would be o.k. if we didn%26#39;t get seat together. We aren%26#39;t picky people as to where we sit...we just want to be on the same plane....no big deal. We always managed to be able to get seats together anyway with one to spare luckily coming back.