After 20 years of traveling around the world a five star review for an airline seems crazy to me but most recently I have been very impressed with Southwest. The fairs are very reasonable almost certainly less in every case compared to the competition and with no hidden fees. The free bags (your first 2) was also a huge part of the rating for this company. On a recent flight with US Airways we paid more than $150.00 just for extra baggage fees to fly with them. Goodbye US Airways you have lost our business forever. Our last couple of flights to Vegas on Southwest we actually arrived ahead of schedule.
The open seating on Southwest was a little different however once we got used to it this was actually a great concept as everyone simply chooses the seat they want. If seating is of great importance to you just get their a little early and you will have first choice of the entire plane. Awsome.
Finally, a feature that I love with Southwest is that you can manage your own tickets online. Example: We bought tickets to fly to San Diego a couple months ago $151.00 round trip - great price and weren't able to make the flight. I simply went online to my Southwest account and changed our reservations with absolutely no fees. How cool is that. I can simply book my own travel and make changes up to the day of departure with no additional fees or penalties. We have done this a couple times and it actually works out great for Southwest because they done have to pay for employees to amend our schedules and in our case we actually upgraded our flight so everyone wins.
On time hassle free flights, very friendly staff, free bags, lowest fares, open seating and my own personal online management systems are all reasons this airline deserves the best rating available. Damn good job Southwest. See you soon.