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Tags: In-Flight WiFi / WiFi / Airline News / Airlines / Southwest Airlines / Southwest / Row 44 / → All Tags

Southwest Wants Their 544 Planes Plugged Into In-Flight WiFi ASAP

For everyone who relies on the cheap fares and consistent service of Southwest Airlines, we've got some great news for you today. According to SWA's official blog "Nuts About Southwest," they have concluded their year-long testing phase, which only had four aircraft (of their 544) flying around with WiFi.

They've just signed the contract with in-flight internet provider Row 44 to begin equipping their entire fleet with the gizmos necessary to get us passengers connected at 35,000 feet. Installations will begin in the second quarter of this year, beginning at the pace of 15 aircraft per month and hopefully quickly ramping up the pace to 25 per month.

After the jump...yea, but how much will it cost to use?

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Tags: Checked Baggage Fees / Delta / JetBlue / Baggage Fees / Southwest Airlines / US Airways / United / Continental / Airline Fees / → All Tags

Kayaks, Surfboards, and Antlers: How to Check 'Special Item' Luggage

Honestly we have enough trouble dealing with checking just one piece of luggage, so it’s difficult for us to imagine dealing with anything unique at the check-in counter. Surprisingly, airlines are pretty welcoming when it comes to your oversized bags, sports equipment, musical instruments, and anything else you might need to bring with you. However, it’s going to cost you a few extra bucks.

If you’ve got a big track and field meet coming up or just want to bring a nice present to Bruce Jenner, no need to worry about bringing your javelin on the airplane—it’s totally cool. It will need to be checked—no carrying it on please—and if you’re flying on Continental Airlines it will cost you the same as any other checked bag. American Airlines isn’t as friendly to javelin throwers, and they’ll charge $100 in addition to their usual checked bag fees. Vaulting poles aren’t allowed on American, but United will take up to two poles in a case for $175—at that point it might be worth just driving.

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Tags: Travel Tips / Tickets / Airfares / Airlines / Delta / United / JetBlue / American Airlines / Continental / US Airways / Southwest Airlines / → All Tags

How To Cancel Your Airline Ticket Within 24 Hours

We’ve all purchased airfare without really thinking, but sometimes the buyer’s remorse is just a little too much. Despite the chance at an incredible fare there’s always something that makes it seem not worth it—like hitting the limit on your credit card. Thankfully there are still a few airlines that allow you to cancel your reservation within 24 hours. We’ve rounded up some of the policies below to ensure that you can fire first and ask questions later.

· Delta
As long as your make your purchase through Delta or Expedia—that means no Orbitz or other booking engines—you can cancel your ticket up to midnight the following day. Just make sure that your trip is originating from the United States, US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, or Canada. You don’t even need to call them, because you can just head to their website and take care of everything.

More ways to get your money back after the break...

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Tags: Southwest Airlines / Airline News / Checked Baggage Fees / Twitter / → All Tags

Southwest Celebrates 1 Million Twitter Followers, Will Keep Bags Flying Free

There's been a lot of action in the Southwest Airlines camp this week, and surprisingly, it's all positive.

First, with the NFL playoffs beginning, Southwest Air's "We Love Bags" ad campaign is on major replay, since they're the official airline sponsors of the NFL. With a message as strong as they've been pumping, you'd then think that folks would get the fact that with Southwest, bags fly free. But no.

And here we find the second news bit of the week for SWA. There were tons of rumors flying around Twitter and Facebook and various blogs yesterday that the airline was considering joining most other airlines in charging for checked bags. As it is now, Southwest and Jetblue are the last major holdouts. Concerned, we contacted our people at Southwest who affirm that "at this moment, Southwest has NO plans to start charging for bags." Well then that's settled.

And for the third announcement...

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Tags: New York City / Southwest Airlines / Beer Travel / Winter Travel / Bryant Park / → All Tags

Slankets, Sliders and Southwest Ale at NYC's Bryant Park

Almost six months ago, Southwest Airlines gave New Yorkers an outright gift: the Southwest Porch, a relaxing, open-air venue in the middle of the city at Bryant Park. During the day, workers from offices in Midtown would sit in the adirondack chairs and on the cushioned lounges to eat their packed lunches, and at night, they can return for a drink and snacks when the bar opens.

The Porch is a pleasant surprise for its lack of pretension and excess of good food choices (being from Top Chef Tom Colicchio' s 'wichcraft chain). We expected it to close down for the winter when the leaves began to fall, but instead the Porch has re-inaugurated itself via a winter menu and introduction of fire pits and slankets, the slankets in celebration of Southwest's recent SkyMall cover.

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Tags: Frequent Flyer Miles / Airline Loyalty Progams / Delta / American Airlines / United / Southwest Airlines / Continental / → All Tags

What Kind Of Crazy Loot Can You Score With Your Frequent-Flyer Miles?

Earlier this year we were attempting to cash in some miles from Midwest Airlines accumulated over a lifetime of visiting Mom and Dad, when we noticed something weird: Along with gift certificates and logowear, we were presented with the option of using our surplus miles to buy Amtrak tickets. Well, that's weird: Why would an airline that still handles a generous amount of short-hop regional flights want to remind us that for short distances we could get a guaranteed outlet and more legroom?

Common wisdom holds that frequent-flyer miles just aren't what they used to be, thanks to high occupancies and rampant blackout dates. Not to mention, if you have trouble committing to one airline you probably have a few thousand miles sitting unused with a variety of different companies, with whom you will never fly enough to get the elusive free ticket. So why not cash them in for something wacky instead? With our guide, you'll never forget that trip to Acapulco so long as you have the electric doggy-door opener you bought with its mileage.

After the jump, we break it down by airline

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Tags: Travel Snapshot / SkyMall / Snuggies / Southwest Airlines / In-Flight Magazines / → All Tags

Southwest Gets Its Own Special Slanket Skymall Cover Starring Santa!

Everyone loves SkyMall, the ridiculous shopper's catalog found on flights around the world. We're not sure anyone would actually buy anything featured on these pages but if you forgot your reading material, SkyMall will keep you highly entertained during take-off and landing. (For an analytical look at the products featured in SkyMall, we highly recommend perusing through Gadling's extensive SkyMall Monday posts.)

Yet while we're accustomed to seeing ridiculous things inside the pages of SkyMall, we were shocked to find Southwest Airlines on the COVER of a SkyMall magazine. Even worse, everyone pictured in the Southwest cabin is wearing Slankets. Yes, slankets! But that's not all. Guess who's handing out the slankets? SANTA. Southwest + Slankets + Santa = Serendipitous SkyMall Silliness. And in our opinion, the best in-flight magazine cover of the year.

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Tags: Air Fare Sales / Southwest Airlines / Cheap Tickets / → All Tags

Fly on Southwest for $25 (or The Price of a Second Checked Bag on a Different Airline)

Yesterday, we bemoaned that airfares were getting more expensive but if you can hop in on this new sale from Southwest, you can fly short distances starting at $25 each way.

The sale starts today and ends at 11:59PST on October 29th and is good for travel between Dec. 2, 2009 and Dec. 16, 2009, or travel between Jan. 5, 2010, and Feb. 10, 2010. And the prices are easy to remember as everything is increments of 25. Flights up to 375 miles start at $25 one-way. Between 375 and 549 miles, fares are $50 one-way. Between 550 and 999 miles, fares are $75 one-way. Flights longer than a 1,000 miles will be the more expensive of the group, starting at about $100 per ticket.

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Tags: Green Travel / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / Airlines / Technology / → All Tags

Southwest Adds A 'Green Plane' To Their Fleet As An Eco Test Lab

During yesterday's big news day down at Southwest Airlines' headquarters in Dallas, much more was revealed beyond the ten new routes for 2010, including the reveal of Southwest's new "Green Plane."

Aside from the snazzy new recycling logo added to the usual Southwest heart on the plane, the 737-700 is outfitted with a range of eco-products being tested out by Southwest, since the Green Plane serves as more than just a machine flying passengers place to place, but also as a test lab. It will still be flying it's regular route as flight WN222 between Chicago-Midway and Boston-Logan, so Midwest and Beantown travelers should keep an eye out, although it'll still rotate throughout the system.

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Tags: New Routes / Southwest Airlines / Airline News / Airlines / Florida Travel / → All Tags

Southwest Announces 10 Hot New Routes For 2010

While we are all whittling down the last few hours of the work day, Southwest Airlines is throwing a full-blown airline party down at their headquarters in Dallas for their annual Media Day. For those who aren't airline dorks, that means that the low-cost carrier invites members of the press down to Texas to show off new innovations and annouce new routes in person, versus the usual Twitter blast.

Today's news is sure a doozy too: aside from their new "green plane" (more on that tomorrow), Southwest has announced a full 10 new routes beginning in 2010. 10 for 1010; that's cute. Let's break them down, shall we?

Where you'll be flying Southwest to next year, after the jump.

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Tags: Prime-Plane-Spotting-Map / Plane Spotting / San Diego Travel / San Diego / SAN / Southwest Airlines / → All Tags

Plane-Spotting In San Diego Could Become A Literal Kiss-And-Fly

Plane spotting everything from legacy carriers to LCCs isn't all that difficult outside of San Diego International Airport with the hilly terrain, but there's one specific spot that lines up so well with the end of one of the runways that we simply must tell you about it. It's a parking garage.

Specifically, it's Aladdin's Parking Garage, at Kettner Boulevard and West Laurel Street, and it's a multi-level airport parking structure situated so perfectly for watching the activity on the runways at the airport. That said, the parking garage doesn't particularly like their reputation as a prime plane spotting location, and there are signs warning of "no loitering." But until they put up signs that warn "no making out," we'll keep coming back for a little literal Kiss-and-Fly.

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Tags: Airfare Sales / Southwest Airlines / Travel Deals / → All Tags

Southwest's Airfare Sale Will Fly You To Fall Foliage For $59

Oh autumn leaves, how we love thee. We love thee so much that the simple fact that Southwest Airlines used fall colors to illustrate their airfare sale made us perk up. A $59 one-way flight also helps get our attention too, and SWA is offering such deals on routes like Phoenix to San Diego and Chicago to Columbus, OH.

To score the low prices, you must book by October 13 and travel by February 11, 2010. There are black-out days however: Fridays and Sundays, so if you're willing to fly on a Saturday and return later during the week, then you are in a perfect position to reap the benefits of the fall sale.

In particular, we've got our eyes on their two direct routes from New York-LaGuardia to Baltimore for $59 and Chicago for $109. It's still a fresh route and Southwest is still excited about it, and the enthusiasm is rubbing off on us. Time to dream about fall foliage in Maryland and Illinois...

Related Stories:
· Southwest Special Offers [Southwest]
· Southwest Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Southwest]