Southwest Airlines

[FlyerTalker]

This is a Southwest thread. SW doesn't fly international routes, so no need to be anal about IATA codes.

This specific thread may be very "Southwest specific". However, if passengers get "sloppy" with codes, they could very well have problems on an international itinerary. Better to nip problems in the bud than let it slide.

 

OTOH, it's quite alright for you to use SW or whatever you like. In that you will do/say/posit whatever you think, whatever the veracity.

[Sargent_Schultz]

This specific thread may be very "Southwest specific". However, if passengers get "sloppy" with codes, they could very well have problems on an international itinerary. Better to nip problems in the bud than let it slide.

 

OTOH, it's quite alright for you to use SW or whatever you like. In that you will do/say/posit whatever you think, whatever the veracity.

 

Shhhhh....you'll interrupt the Kool-Aid drinking.

 

If you are looking for problems to nip in the bud, look in the mirror. :rolleyes::p:rolleyes:

 

[kenish]

Airline codes without an airline name do show up on monitors in the US. It's not very common but it does occur.

 

As pointed out by others, the codes are widely used overseas. They appear on monitors, electronic signs directing passengers to the correct check in areas, and on PA announcements in the terminal...."This is the final boarding call for flight L-H-one-two-three. All passengers should be on board at this time" (Best delivered by a woman with a proper British accent). If actual airline names were used it might cause more difficulty for people who aren't used to reading names in the western alphabet or who speak various languages.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Perhaps. As long as others have already hijacked the thread into another dimension...

 

From the Milan airport -

even if you didn't know DL was Delta, you can probably read D E L T A, or at least the flight number

 

 

or AZ? Arizona? Nah, Alitalia, and you can still read Alitalia

 

 

If you didn't know Venezia was Venice, you might be in trouble. Note that they didn't put the VCE code for Venezia, so you might be SOL if all you knew were codes.

[scottbee]

Perhaps. As long as others have already hijacked the thread into another dimension...

 

From the Milan airport -

even if you didn't know DL was Delta, you can probably read D E L T A, or at least the flight number

 

or AZ? Arizona? Nah, Alitalia, and you can still read Alitalia

 

If you didn't know Venezia was Venice, you might be in trouble. Note that they didn't put the VCE code for Venezia, so you might be SOL if all you knew were codes.

 

Why would an Italian airline for an Italian domestic destination, post the English name of the city rather than the Italian? Further, no one in Italy, on a domestic routing, is for any millisecond going to think that somehow AZ is referring to something in the United States.

 

However, you are going to say "Wow, there's my flight", and because you bothered to look at your ticket and notice that both your ticket, and what is posted is AZ1453.

 

Thanks for posting another reason to know the codes, and not use a term which you might think is convenient, but useless in reality

[Sargent_Schultz]

Why would an Italian airline for an Italian domestic destination, post the English name of the city rather than the Italian? Further, no one in Italy, on a domestic routing, is for any millisecond going to think that somehow AZ is referring to something in the United States.

 

However, you are going to say "Wow, there's my flight", and because you bothered to look at your ticket and notice that both your ticket, and what is posted is AZ1453.

 

Thanks for posting another reason to know the codes, and not use a term which you might think is convenient, but useless in reality

 

I was on Delta and it was a code share. Nothing on my ticket indicated AZ anything. But there on display was the airlines name and logo - no code required.

 

The fact is, you don't need to know jack about codes, which truly are unnecessary to the majority of flyers.

 

How's your Cyrillic? With an airline's logo on display, it doesn't matter.

[kenish]

The fact is, you don't need to know jack about codes, which truly are unnecessary to the majority of flyers.

 

True, just at the smaller airports like Melbourne, Munich, Frankfurt, Narita, Heathrow, etc. which the "majority of flyers" (especially those on WN) never use:

 

 

 

[scottbee]

I was on Delta and it was a code share. Nothing on my ticket indicated AZ anything. But there on display was the airlines name and logo - no code required.

 

The fact is, you don't need to know jack about codes, which truly are unnecessary to the majority of flyers.

 

How's your Cyrillic? With an airline's logo on display, it doesn't matter.

 

No need to know Cyrillic, even Russian airlines use IATA codes, it's just you that doesn't

SU - Aeroflot

S7 - S7 Airlines

 

 

BTW Kenish, nice photos.

[donaldsc]

Actually researching on the airline website....what a novel concept!!! ;)

 

Have you noticed how many questions posted here could be answered by going to Google and opening the 1st or 2nd hit.

 

So many people are totally incapable of doing anything for themselves.

 

DON

[Sargent_Schultz]

No lack of narcissism or denigrating in this forum, is there. :rolleyes:

 

People buy transportation from point A to point B and have no need for a decoder ring to go with it.

 

The boarding pass has a gate number, flight number, destination, scheduled time of departure, etc. More than enough information to get you where you are going. The flight number, including the magic code, could be randomly generated and it really doesn't matter to the consumer as long as there is a corresponding match at the airport.

 

Gate changes happen, but usually the gate number is sufficient to get you to your destination. If the gate is incorrect, there is still more than enough information to go to the magic table and do a table look up multiple ways. The faster way is to look for Destination and Scheduled departure - it could be in the reverse order, depending on the primary sort key. The magic tables, as shown in the pictures, are not sorted on the magic (IATA) code.

 

If you have way too much time on your hands, you can scan the entire table for the magic code and flight number, but that is extremely inefficient.

[scottbee]

No lack of narcissism or denigrating in this forum, is there. :rolleyes:

 

People buy transportation from point A to point B and have no need for a decoder ring to go with it.

 

The boarding pass has a gate number, flight number, destination, scheduled time of departure, etc. More than enough information to get you where you are going. The flight number, including the magic code, could be randomly generated and it really doesn't matter to the consumer as long as there is a corresponding match at the airport.

 

Exactly, which is why everyone here is trying to figure out why you insist on further complicating it by using a code which is wrong. Life is complicated enough already.

[Sargent_Schultz]

Exactly, which is why everyone here is trying to figure out why you insist on further complicating it by using a code which is wrong. Life is complicated enough already.

 

Not everyone, only a select few.

 

I'm not using an IATA code for SW - I'm using an abbreviation or acronym. It only seems to be an issue for those addicted to IATA codes.

[6rugrats]

Have you noticed how many questions posted here could be answered by going to Google and opening the 1st or 2nd hit.

 

So many people are totally incapable of doing anything for themselves.

 

DON

 

You know the saying that there are no stupid questions? I disagree with that. A stupid question is one to which you could have easily found the answer yourself. People find this board, but cannot do a simple google search, which would answer, IMO, at least 75% of the questions posted here.

[Sargent_Schultz]

People with an IQ above a donut know that you can't believe everything you read on the Internet which includes Internet Cruise Boards.

 

If there are stupid questions, what does that make the posts of those who respond in any way, shape, or form? :p

[Globaliser]

From the Milan airport -

even if you didn't know DL was Delta, you can probably read D E L T A, or at least the flight number

It's relatively rare for airports outside the US to have US-style screens showing an airline logo, as kenish says.

 

So those taking your advice to ignore airline codes could be pretty stuck in many airports around the world, when they find no airline logos on display.

 

Mind you, it probably doesn't affect those who fly WN all the time, for the corollary reasons to those why I've never flown WN and am unlikely to do so soon.

[Sargent_Schultz]

It's relatively rare for airports outside the US to have US-style screens showing an airline logo, as kenish says.

 

So those taking your advice to ignore airline codes could be pretty stuck in many airports around the world, when they find no airline logos on display.

 

Mind you, it probably doesn't affect those who fly WN all the time, for the corollary reasons to those why I've never flown WN and am unlikely to do so soon.

 

In kenish's example, the airline code is not needed to find the correct flight. Only the departure time and destination, and occasionally the flight number.

 

SW is not the only airline I fly, but is often the best value.

[Globaliser]

True, you might be able to find your flight if you have only the number, time and destination. You might be able to find it if you only have the number and time, or the number and destination, or the time and destination. You might even be able to find it if you have only one of those pieces of information.

 

However, I suspect that most people would value having everything of relevance. The less information you have, the greater the chance of a mishap - particularly in a big airport where more than one airline may have a flight from the same terminal bearing the same number leaving at about the same time. Being able to identify the airline, whether by logo or airline code, can be a valuable additional piece of information you have to help you get to the correct gate and aircraft - as even you recognise by your reference to the Delta logo in the example you gave.

 

And in many airports around the world, that additional piece of information is provided only by the two-character official airline code.

 

As far as I know, it is only in the US that airport displays routinely fail to give the two-character official airline code in addition to any other information that may identify the airline. This may underline the casual attitude seen here towards these codes.

[Sargent_Schultz]

You can usually find your flight with only the gate number on your boarding pass. If there has been a gate change, someone at the old gate, or in a nearby gate can provide the new gate information to you.

 

Too much information can be quite confusing to some.

[Globaliser]

Too much information can be quite confusing to some.

The world's airports must then be full of people struck down with catatonia caused by information overload.

 

How can it uniquely difficult to do this in the US, and nowhere else?

[Sargent_Schultz]

The world's airports must then be full of people struck down with catatonia caused by information overload.

 

How can it uniquely difficult to do this in the US, and nowhere else?

 

The US tends to look at what the rest of the world does, and then do something different.

 

In the unusual case of when a airline code needs to be used as a tie breaker, there is still no need for the passenger to know that there is a meaning to the code, in order to use it.

[UpstateCruizer]

Do you think I need to be online at midnight to snag a good rate? Do they change them at 9 am? Any insight??

 

Thanks again!

 

 

I read ahead and didn't see anyone answer this so I'll share my experience albeit limited. Southwest does not use the 12 midnight time frame when opening new flights. I've started checking them starting at 8:30am and found most of the time they've opened somewhere between 9am and 10am.

 

Some brave soul may come here and post that they are now opened but that usually turns into snide comments from the anti-Southwest population :rolleyes:

 

Good Luck on your flights and I will be there checking for October flights right along with you :)

[Litewait]

I get back from the Carnival Paradise on the 22nd. And turn around and book for August on the 23rd..

 

Good Luck to you!!