Southwest can be frustrating for some people, and awesome for others. Everyone flying southwest, regardless of status, ticket type, whether or not you have a southwest credit card, etc gets 2 free checked bags AND a free carry-on and free personal item. Per Person. But, there are no assigned seats on your boarding pass. You get to choose your seat as you walk on the plane, based on what is open and available. So you want to be in a group that boards earlier rather than later.

normally, you want to check into a southwest flight exactly 24 hours before boarding, when check in becomes available. this determines which boarding group you are put into (which determines how good of a seat you can claim, since southwest does not have assigned seats on your boarding pass). The earlier you check in, the better seat you’ll get, basically. Being last to board almost always means middle seat.

With some southwest credit cards (plus and premier) you get 2 Early Bird checkins per year. After making your reservation, go online into your account and pay to add early bird check in, using your southwest card. The cost will be credited/refunded back to your credit card on your statement. This will automatically check you in 36 hours ahead of your flight. Usually this gives you an A boarding group, but its not guaranteed. This is especially useful if you are taking a redeye flight and don’t want to wake up early the day before, just to check in. Or if you know you’ll be out of service, or out in the mountains somewhere. Early Bird takes care of that for you.

if traveling with a child 6 or under, you are eligible for Family Boarding, which boards between A and B group, regardless of what’s on your boarding pass. So, most of the time, we don’t even bother with setting an alarm to remember to check in 24 hours ahead of departure. Sometimes we don’t even check in until getting to the airport as we know we will board after A group when traveling together as a family.

Row 23 is a little secret for flying on southwest. When the drinks and snacks are brought out during the flight, there are two sections that are served first: the very first row of the plane (which you likely won’t get unless you’re an A-list status or A boarding group, maybe)… and row 23. So if you have kids that are super excited for snack and drinks (or hungry and thirsty), row 23 is where the back section starts for the refreshment cart.

In addition to being first to receive refreshments, row 23 is a good spot to be when the plan starts filling up. When those in the later boarding groups start to get on the plane, usually most window and aisle seats are already taken. Most passengers do one of two things: immediately sit down at a middle seat up near the front because they’re pretty certain they’ll have to sit in the middle anyway OR they start heading towards the back of the plane in hopes they find an open window or aisle seat as they walk (which they often do). Row 23 doesn’t mean you absolutely will not have someone sitting in your row, but its less likely as they usually find a seat on their way towards the back.

credit cards:

Unless you’re a diehard, loyal southwest only customer, there’s not a ton of reasons to have most of the southwest cards (3 personal and 2 business cards are offered). Other than the sign up bonuses (especially when they’re high or offering automatic companion pass), they dont offer a lot of perks, or the ones they do offer are easily found on other cards I would rather have in my wallet.

There is one that actually is worth having though: The Priority card.

Priority isn’t the cheapest of the southwest cards. It has a $149 annual fee (plus is $69 and premier is $99), but it does offer the best return for the fee, in my opinion. Each account anniversary, you receive 7,500 rapid rewards in your account. When redeemed for flights, these points are worth about 1.5 cents each. So 7500 points is about $112 in value. You also receive an annual southwest travel credit of $75, giving this card a value of about $187, which more than covers its annual fee each year. That being said, you do need to actually use the credit for it to be worth it. This credit means that if you spend up to $75 throughout the year on southwest tickets, you will see up to that amount credited back to you on your statement. We rarely book flights using cash and pretty much only fly southwest using our points (which can be transferred at a 1:1 value from Chase Ultimate Rewards). BUT each of those flights you book with points, you are required to still pay for government taxes and fees, which equates to a little over $5 per person, each way. These taxes and fees, if paid using your Priority credit card, count towards the $75 credit annually, and will be credited back to you. *It cannot be used for in flight purchases*

This card also comes with 4 upgraded boardings per year (bumps you up into A group boarding when space available).

Honorable mention: Premier. It has a $99 annual fee. You are given 6,000 anniversary points (worth about $90). It does not have an annual travel credit, but does give you two free EarlyBird check-ins each year. The anniversary points *almost* cover the annual fee. So if you don’t see yourself spending $75 each year on Southwest, then you might want to skip the Priority and go for this Premier card instead as it has effectively a $9 annual fee (factoring in the anniversary points).

Both the Premier and Priority earn points at the same rate. So the only *important* difference is their annual fee, and the few small perks (like anniversary bonus, travel credit, etc) that come with them.

I did not mention the Plus card, which is actually the second credit card I ever received years ago, and the first rewards card that got me started on earning points and flying “free.” - I got it when the sign up bonus was high, and I wasn’t sure I had enough credit history to get one of the higher fee cards. This was also before I knew much about how all this stuff works. I realized after a couple years that it wasn’t super beneficial for me to have, and I have since done what’s called a “product change” - where you call Chase bank and request to change from one card to another. This doesn’t require a new credit , doesn’t take a hard hit on your credit report, and it shows up as the same existing line of credit as your old card once you’ve swapped over to the new card. You are, however, not eligible for the new cards sign up bonus, but will still get to enjoy the perks of owning it. Owning the Plus card was costing me a small amount of money each year, whereas owning the Priority card- that annual fee is completely covered and then some with the perks mentioned above.