That’s right, it’s 2024, and this new year is full of opportunities to try something new. Airline free agency isn’t something most of us are used to, but it’s a good idea to see what you’re missing out on (or not, for that matter)

Why I took this trip

If you recall, I went back to Las Vegas to spend time with my family after the trip to Austria. Now, I needed to fly back to Boston after New Year’s! Normally I’d be flying a OneWorld airline like American or Alaska. Or maybe I’m redeeming a cheap flight on United via Turkish. But there wasn’t a good flight in the middle of the week that I could take. Furthermore, most of the connections were in the middle of the day, when I had work.

American had an itinerary scheduled in the afternoon (which meant after 5PM Eastern time). However, a similar itinerary popped up on Southwest. I last flew Southwest in early 2020, so I wanted to see what changed. Plus, free checked bags don’t hurt (I had plenty of stuff from the Viennese Christmas markets)!

In This Issue

This itinerary involves a short layover in St Louis. Unfortunately, Southwest doesn’t have a First Class, so no free upgrades here.

I’ve visited the Centurion Lounge in Las Vegas plenty of times, so decided this was a good opportunity to utilize The Club lounges. Though Southwest flies out of the B and C gates, all concourses have connections post-security. I also intended to check out the Wingtips Lounge in STL, but that didn’t happen.

What you WILL see though is the ~unique~ Southwest process. Everything from check-in to boarding is different than most legacy carriers.

How I booked this trip

Southwest isn’t a partner of any transferrable points currencies, so there was no way for me to transfer miles for redemption. I also didn’t have many Rapid Rewards miles going in, so I paid cash.

In total, my flights came out to $122.05. I took advantage of the Costco $430 for $500 deal, basically 14% off. My flight home had an equivalent cost of $104.96