Southwest Airlines is a regional air passenger carrier with continental reach. The company competes with larger carriers using a couple of operating methods the global carriers don't use: Point-to-point flight routing rather than hub-and-spoke routing, and a tendency toward serving out of smaller airports when doing so is feasible. Generally, passengers can find lower rates in markets where Southwest operates. If there's a downside, you can bet frequent flyers will find it. With Southwest, there are no assigned seats, so you can get stuck sitting where you don't want. There's a secret to snatching the best seats on a Southwest flight.
Place a reminder on your phone calendar, as soon as you have your itinerary booked, that will go off 24 hours and 5 minutes prior to your flight departure. A BlackBerry, an iPhone or any other phone with a calendar memo function will work nicely.
Enter two things in the calendar memo field: a link to Southwest's mobile version of its website (http://mobile.southwest.com) and your confirmation number. This way, when your reminder goes off, you will simply be able to click on the URL and then input your confirmation number right as your departure time is 24 hours away.
Check in right at 24 hours prior to your flight, using the confirmation number stored conveniently in your phone. Obviously, you cannot print your boarding pass from your phone, but that's fine. You will have your place in line. You can print it out with your computer and printer at home or use a Southwest kiosk at the airport where you can print your boarding pass as you enter the airport.
Proceed to the gate for boarding.
Line up in the boarding queue when called upon according to your boarding number. If you followed the steps above and nobody else beat you to it, you should be in the A boarding group with a very low number, such as 1 or 2, but possibly much higher depending on the physical needs of other passengers. You will likely be close to the front of the boarding line if not first.
Select a seat. If you're a frequent flyer, you probably already know where you like to sit.
