Most airlines aren’t very family-friendly. In my experience, they see their ideal customers as business travelers who don’t really care how much they spend on a ticket. As a result, my family and I have had some pretty mixed encounters on Delta, United, American and other airlines.
But on Southwest, we almost always have a pleasant trip — and an affordable one. Below, find six reasons why family travelers should give up on the large, legacy carriers and focus on flying Southwest.
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1. The Companion Pass
Southwest is unique in offering a Companion Pass that you can use an unlimited number of times, on either paid or award flights. This is a boon for families, and even couples who want to cut their ticket costs in half. To get it, all you have to do is earn 110,000 points in their Rapid Rewards program in a calendar year, and it’s good until the end of the following year.
Points from their credit cards count towards the Companion Pass, including the sign-up bonus. This means that by applying for a business and personal Southwest card, you can earn nearly enough points for a Companion Pass from their sign-up bonuses alone, which are typically 40,000 to 60,000 points each. My wife and I both have the Companion Pass, which always allows us to take two of our kids along for just a few dollars in taxes and fees.
2. Free Checked Bags for Everyone
Southwest is the only airline that still offers free checked bags for everyone, on all of its flights. In fact, Southwest gives each passenger two free checked bags, whereas no other airline offers everyone a single free checked bag on domestic flights. This is no big deal to business travelers, whose fees are often expensable, but it’s awesome for families.
For example, if you’re taking a ski vacation, it’s great to check both your skis and suitcase for free. And if you want to travel light and just check nearly all of your stuff — so you focus on wrangling your kids instead of dragging a heavy suitcase through the airport — that’s another option.
In contrast, we tend to carry on as much as possible when flying on other airlines, just to avoid paying baggage fees.
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3. Open Seating
Some brilliant but evil airline employee must have decided once that it was a great idea to monetize parents’ need to sit next to their kids to handle feeding or simply to keep them safe — not to mention families’ and couples’ desire to sit together. Whoever came up with this method for determining booking fees, most airlines these days will charge you extra to select your own seats. Some seats at the very back of the plane are offered for free, but if you can’t find seats together, you face a difficult choice. You may end up paying hundreds of dollars to select seats together — or you’ll need to rely on the kindness of the crew or strangers to sort things out. Not exactly how you want to start a trip.