Stay far away from Southwest airlines!

Southwest has been caught advertising low fares without making many seats available at those fares.

The Department of Transportation has fined Southwest Airlines $200,000 for violating the agency's fare advertising rules. The agency says Southwest did not extend advertised fares to enough seats during two recent sales.

The DOT says one Southwest violation came during a Valentine's Day "Luv a Fare Sale" promotion in which the carrier advertised one-way, nonstop fares "for $100 or less." However, the DOT asserts that Southwest "failed to include a reasonable number of seats available in a significant number of city-pair markets in the fare sale." The DOT says fares offered in sale were offered only on 1%-2% of the available seats on some routes.

So reports USAToday.

I say this as a fan of Southwest, albeit one who rarely flies them.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We have flown Southwest Airlines for over 20 years without any problem. We find it to be economical when having had to pay for flights, but we usually get our flights free through their Rapid Rewards Program. We usually fly non-stop which means we don't have to worry about stopping or changing planes. The one time we used another airline, we were left behind with no luggage!!
So for us, it's only Southwest Airlines.

SWA has taken really good care of me over the years both pricewise and schedule wise. I will not fly anyone else unless I have too.

+1!!

Another vote for Southwest, though their frequent flyer program is stingy compared to the old system.

MOrtyC, I couldn't imagine flying without an assigned seat. When I finally tried Southwest, I found the open seating to be no real issue.

I still love SWA. I think like any other business there are decisions that could be better.
I dislike that they change the direct flight schedules often, but still think they are the best all around value.
Unfortunate that happened, especially your first time, I felt the same way about American.
MO

All airlines have issues from time to time. I'm fine with Southwest, they have the most non stops for me (I hate stops), are reasonably priced and I've never had much of an issue with them. I do prefer assigned seating but it's not really a big deal. I have had flight delays for various reasons on most of the airlines I've flown over the years. It's definitely frustrating, especially on the front end of a vacation.

Candy, plusses and minuses on the new system. It used to cost 18,000 pts for a flight, now I average about 21,500. But the points don't expire and there are no limits on free seats...looks good to me.

For sure, Bill, a few positives added to cushion the blow with the changed. But I racked up many more free flights under the old point system. Still the best thing going, though.

Personally, I find it laughable that one would refuse to fly Southwest because they can't pick ( and pay extra for) their seat. With 2 bags flying free, multiple( if necessary) ticket changes allowed, funds carry over to be used at a later date - what is not to like.