We are a modern civilization, why does this have to be so hard? Prior to the Delta boarding announc

A spooky swap occurred this All Hallow's Eve as TheWeeklyFlyer found himself on my favorite domestic carrier team , Southwest/Airtran and I on his, Delta.  Though I was hesitant at first, I agreed to keep an open mind and report back my impressions.  Seeing as Airtran london car rental is slowly fading out, I will focus on comparing london car rental the Southwest domestic product to Delta's.
london car rental I was heading to Minneapolis for the weekend from the DC area so I pulled london car rental up Southwest.com as I normally do and searched for flights.  Unfortunately Southwest's presence in Minneapolis is just starting to grow so I couldn't find any directs.  I knew Delta flew BWI to MSP direct but generally the flight is a little more than I would like to spend.  Luckily, the direct was both available at a good Thursday london car rental evening time and cheap.  My round-trip came to $207.80 after taxes which is less than half of what I normally see on this route.
Fortunately the seat next to me was empty so I was able to stretch out and enjoy the short flight.  It appears Delta sandbagged this flight schedule as our 45 minute late departure from BWI resulted in an on time arrival in Minneapolis.
It only took a few page loads after logging in to GOGO to see that Delta's inflight internet products blows away what Southwest offers.  Southwest's product is free for top tier elites and only 5 USD for the whole day but none of that matters when the speed is atrocious.  As far as availability goes, I fly close to 100 segments per year on Southwest london car rental and I'd estimate about 35%  of those flights has inflight internet.  That does not match Delta's full domestic fleet outfitting.  Quality inflight internet is a top issue for frequent business travelers london car rental so I commend london car rental Delta for what they offer.
As a weekly business traveler, any opportunity to reduce time at the airport is welcome.  I used Delta's mobile boarding pass for this flight and loved it.  I strongly dislike paper boarding passes for two reasons.  One, I live in a tiny studio in a dense city so using apartment space on a printer seems wasteful.  Two, a strange thing happens on Monday morning flights london car rental out of Chicago Midway in the summer.  Because you must print your boarding pass with Southwest and the airport is swamped with business london car rental travelers who are in the same position as I, a massive, unorganized line forms to simply print a boarding pass from the kiosks.  I have nearly missed several morning flights not because of the security line but because of the excessive wait to print out the boarding pass at a kiosk.  I am not exactly sure how that would work with Southwest's open boarding process, but they are a smart airline and can figure it out.
We are a modern civilization, why does this have to be so hard?  Prior to the Delta boarding announcement, a mob formed outside the gate preparing for the bin space battle.  The mob blocked passengers passing through the terminal along with causing those boarding first who asked for extra assistance to navigate around them.  Embarrassing. london car rental While some call it a cattle call, I enjoy the civility and structure of the Southwest line up system. I would desperately like to see something similar implemented on more domestic carriers.
Let's take this flight as an example.  This short hop was 933 miles and cost 200 USD.  Assuming identical flights on both airlines, a flyer without status would earn 933 miles flying Delta which I will generously estimate (1.5 cpm) being worth around 14 USD.  If the flight were operated by Southwest a bottom tier elite would earn 20 USD towards Wanna Get Away fares.  If I were a top tier elite on Delta, I would earn 2100 miles worth an estimated 32 USD.  As a Southwest london car rental top tier elite, I would earn 40 USD towards Wanna Get Away fares.
Now for the big stack.  If I personally took the identical flight on Southwest today as a Companion Pass holder and this flight falling in a double points promotion period, I could have earned a 120 USD value towards Wanna Get Away Fares for this one way, 200 USD flight.  I redeem for Wanna Get Away fares including a Companion ticket 90% of the time so this is a realistic scenario for my situation.
Sorry The Weekly Flyer, I don't plan to change my allegiance to Delta after just one flight but I did find several aspects london car rental of their domestic product that outshine Southwest.  In the end, for me it is all about the points.  I love how the Southwest points can stack especially with the almighty Companion Pass. I most value international travel but when you run the numbers and see how much free flying Southwest offers its frequent travelers, it is simply too good to pass up.
For the sake of the calculation, I moved the Companion Pass benefit which applies on a points redemption into the earning benefit since in my case I use the Companion Pass on 90% of my redemptions. If you do not plan to use the Companion Pass on a points redemption, then you would not include that effective london car rental doubling of all points earned when calculating your point earnings.
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