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I just flew SouthWest 2 weeks ago so I'll try to "walk" you through my experience.
I had the early check-in so I was able to print out my boarding pass at Grandma's the night before. I got to the airport (SLC) 3 hours before my flight was to leave for Portland (PDX). SouthWest has several kiosk/computers that you can check-in with if you have the pass. Otherwise, you'll need to talk to the desk clerk to check in. Only takes maybe 5 minutes to actually check in though the wait in line can be really long if there's a lot of people. Then, I showed my pass to the desk clerk so she could check my luggage. She put the stickertag on my suitcase and then handed it back to me.
Next I had to take my suitcase to the x-ray machine. Apparently these days you're not supposed to lock your luggage. Who knew? Mine was but it was not much of a problem. They just had me wait in case they needed me to unlock it--otherwise I would have been able to just drop it off and continue to the gate. After that my suitcase was no longer my problem. They took it to be loaded. All I had to worry about was my carryon. I had a backpack and my purse.
(One thing I forgot to do that usually helps is that since most luggage looks the same, get some duct tape in a different color(s) and put some kind of marker on your luggage so you can easily spot it when it comes off the carousel at the end of the flight. My brother did his initials across the back, my dad did some interesting stripes, etc. Just make sure it won't somehow come loose and catch on things.)
Then I walked on to the security gate for people. They had these big stacks of bins. I put my backpack, purse, and shoes into it and set it on the conveyor belt for the x-ray. Then I walked through the metal detector, picked up my bin on the other end and put my shoes on. There were a couple of little benches for people to sit on. You don't have to wear flip-flops but shoes that are easy to slip on/off help. My flight was quite warm--too warm but it probably depends on a lot of factors how warm/cool the cabin is.
After that it was a simple matter of following the signs to my loading gate. I found it, and there was a big seating area, bathrooms, a few shops along the way. They even had a TV with cartoons playing (Hanna-Barbera anyone?
). I definitely recommend taking a book or iPod or something just in case. The last time I flew it took a couple of hours to get through, this time it only took 25 minutes so I had a lot of wait time before loading.
Maggie the Cat had a good description of the A, B, C loading. There were several poles with the letter on top and then a smaller sign with a range of numbers. So, A 1-20; 21-40; 41-60; B 1-20; 21-40; etc. There was a TV screen up by the customer service desk that would display the current flight information. Then when my flight came up on the screen all I had to do was stand in the A section by the pole with my number group and wait for the go-ahead from the customer service desk. Southwest has open seating so you can pick any seat you want.
I had the early check-in so I was able to print out my boarding pass at Grandma's the night before. I got to the airport (SLC) 3 hours before my flight was to leave for Portland (PDX). SouthWest has several kiosk/computers that you can check-in with if you have the pass. Otherwise, you'll need to talk to the desk clerk to check in. Only takes maybe 5 minutes to actually check in though the wait in line can be really long if there's a lot of people. Then, I showed my pass to the desk clerk so she could check my luggage. She put the stickertag on my suitcase and then handed it back to me.
Next I had to take my suitcase to the x-ray machine. Apparently these days you're not supposed to lock your luggage. Who knew? Mine was but it was not much of a problem. They just had me wait in case they needed me to unlock it--otherwise I would have been able to just drop it off and continue to the gate. After that my suitcase was no longer my problem. They took it to be loaded. All I had to worry about was my carryon. I had a backpack and my purse.
(One thing I forgot to do that usually helps is that since most luggage looks the same, get some duct tape in a different color(s) and put some kind of marker on your luggage so you can easily spot it when it comes off the carousel at the end of the flight. My brother did his initials across the back, my dad did some interesting stripes, etc. Just make sure it won't somehow come loose and catch on things.)
Then I walked on to the security gate for people. They had these big stacks of bins. I put my backpack, purse, and shoes into it and set it on the conveyor belt for the x-ray. Then I walked through the metal detector, picked up my bin on the other end and put my shoes on. There were a couple of little benches for people to sit on. You don't have to wear flip-flops but shoes that are easy to slip on/off help. My flight was quite warm--too warm but it probably depends on a lot of factors how warm/cool the cabin is.
After that it was a simple matter of following the signs to my loading gate. I found it, and there was a big seating area, bathrooms, a few shops along the way. They even had a TV with cartoons playing (Hanna-Barbera anyone?
). I definitely recommend taking a book or iPod or something just in case. The last time I flew it took a couple of hours to get through, this time it only took 25 minutes so I had a lot of wait time before loading.Maggie the Cat had a good description of the A, B, C loading. There were several poles with the letter on top and then a smaller sign with a range of numbers. So, A 1-20; 21-40; 41-60; B 1-20; 21-40; etc. There was a TV screen up by the customer service desk that would display the current flight information. Then when my flight came up on the screen all I had to do was stand in the A section by the pole with my number group and wait for the go-ahead from the customer service desk. Southwest has open seating so you can pick any seat you want.
], and most of what I would recommend has already been said, but what the hey.
Have a good trip!
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