In the United States, Southwest airline is the big money saver airline that most passengers know as far as their piggy banks are concerned. Southwest is a low-cost, discount airline that gives out dirt cheap air fares to its customers just to make sure that the customers fly with them the next time.

Southwest began as a small, Texas-based airline some 32 years ago and has grown today to become one of the mini airlines that runs the runways with bigger names in the United States’ airline business. The short-haul, discount airline now offers flights to 59 cities across America. The main reason for this achievement is due to the simple fact that prices for flights on Southwest Airlines are so low that passengers simply cannot resist the urge to purchase other airlines’ tickets while forsaking Southwest’s.

Purchasing Southwest’s dirt cheap air tickets is pretty easy using the airline’s web site or through an offline travel agent. However, buying your tickets via the airline’s website is very convenient and much cheaper too. It allows you to see all the available flights that are open. Furthermore, the website is extremely user-friendly. The big drawback however is that, Southwest airline does not feature in travel websites such as Expedia and similar travel web sites. Therefore, if you want to check out Southwest’s discount air fares compared to other airlines, you just have to do a systematic search on the airline’s individual websites.

Do not see this as a problem because these proxy online services take a commission from the airline for each customer that buys a cheap air ticket through them. This is the second reason why Southwest airline is able to comfortably offer very cheap discounts on its air tickets. The cheap price Southwest offers for its air fares are simply unbeatable. Southwest airline still offers great specials every week. Weekly internet specials can be e-mailed to you when you signup. And just to let you know, signing up to be notified for specials is absolutely free.

Southwest airline does not always provide meals for the passengers. However, on a series of flights that are at least two hours long, peanuts and pretzels will be served. On non-stop flights that are at least two hours long, a packaged snack will be served.

Complimentary tea, coffee and non-alcoholic drinks are available. The airline does provide one small cup of soda free of charge and one to two bags of peanuts. There are alcoholic drinks, ranging in price from $3 to $5. Beer, wine or cocktails are available for purchase at $3 each for beer and wine; $4 for cocktails. If you think that you might get hungry on your flight, then take snacks. These are very good values for dirt cheap air fares right?

Pre-assigned seating is well permitted on Southwest Airlines which operates an open-seating policy, though passengers are boarded in three tiers, seating is not reserved. You can sit wherever there is a free seat. When passengers check in at the gate, they are given a plastic boarding card with a number.

Passengers board the flight in groups. Each group contains 30 people. The boarding groups are in the sequence 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, and so on. This can be a good or bad feature, depending on what number you receive. If you are the person holding boarding pass number 1, you could still be the last person in your group to board the plane. Nevertheless, if you have number 30, you can be the first one on the plane.

Southwest Airline passengers are allowed to check in three bags and take two bags on the plane with them. This lenient baggage rule is great for anyone, especially students. The only thing to warn you about is that if you have a full flight, you might have trouble finding a place to put your luggage and checking in will take a longer time than usual. All the same, flight attendants are always there to help you find a place to put your things.

Southwest airline’s flights are usually very entertaining. Although Southwest does not show movies on their flights, the flight attendants do provide some entertainment with their commentary during the flight. Nonetheless, Southwest airline is the cheapest way up the skies.