Flight Review: Southwest 737-700 LA Area to Bay Area

Southwest 737-700 Review:

For my friend’s Spring Break, after much deliberation and seeing airfare prices skyrocket a few weeks before departure, we ended up on settling on a short trip to the Bay Area. Southwest had the cheapest tickets and they were better in comparison to the other carriers that were offering Basic Economy tickets. It’s cool that they allow 2 free checked bags per person, but since it was a short extended long weekend trip, I opted to just have a carry-on bag with me.

Flight Details:

Southwest Flights 3855 and 294
Long Beach (LGB) to San Jose (SJC) and San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX)
Aircrafts: Boeing 737-700
Seats: 10A (Window) and 8C (Aisle)
Dates of Flight: March 2022

Boarding:

As you may know, Southwest has the free for all seating. With no assigned seats, you want to make sure you check in early to get a good boarding position. Or you can pay $15-$30 for early bird check-in and get a better boarding group spot. Southwest offers three boarding groups, in the order of A, B then C, and position of 1-60 within each group.

Early bird check-in for my flights were $15 each, and since it was such a short flight, I decided to take my chances at checking in right at the 24 hour mark and not paying for early bird check-in. On my flight to San Jose which was quite full, I ended up snagging an A60 spot, which got me a row 10 window seat, and on my fight home which was only half full, I got an A30 spot, which got me a row 8 aisle seat.

Southwest’s open seating policy honestly stresses me out when the flight is going to be packed and you are traveling with companions, but it’s quite nice on an emptier flight to just pick a random seat.

The flight to San Jose only had 10 open seats out of the 140 or so capacity, but my flight home to Los Angeles had 70 open seats. I got lucky on both flights with an empty middle seat!

The Flight:

Both of the flights were quite similar, and were operated by a Boeing 737-700. On my flight back to Los Angeles, I got a cool livery, the Nevada One.

My flight to San Jose departed a bit late due to a weight imbalance that led them to burn some fuel on the ground, but they made up the lost time in the air.

The planes were relatively clean, although they did feel a bit outdated. I recently flew on the new 737 MAX 8 that Southwest uses on their Hawaii routes, and that cabin definitely felt nicer. On Southwest, the new MAX 8’s and 737-800’s have 32 inches of pitch, compared to the 31 inches of pitch on the older Southwest 737-700 s. But for such a short flight from LA to the Bay Area, the legroom didn’t bother me too much and the seat was fine.

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In-Flight Entertainment + Service:

Southwest doesn’t offer any in-seat power outlets or USB ports on any of its planes. So, if you’re flying a longer route, make sure that your devices are fully charged and take a portable battery pack to keep all your electronic devices charged up.

Southwest has Wi-Fi, which is a flat $8. They also provide free texting, a pretty solid selection of movies and live TV that you can stream to your device.

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The flight attendants were all friendly. Both flights had a beverage service, and they also gave a snack mix with mini pretzel twists, cheddar cheese squares and ranch bagel chips. On the flight to San Jose, they were out of hot cocoa and tea and were not selling alcohol. But on the flight back to Los Angeles, they did have all the drinks and were selling alcohol.

Pretty much after the beverage service, we already were preparing for the initial descent for landing.

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The Verdict:

Overall, I had a pleasant flight experience on the Southwest 737-700. They offered a nice short flight to get me from the LA Area to the Bay Area. Both flights were on-time and the no nickel-and-diming led to a pleasant experience.

Have you flown on the Southwest 737-700 recently? How was your experience? Comment below!

Safe travels,

Ty

Have any questions? I’ve also started working with a travel agency, Fora Travel, and can assist in booking hotel stays or planning trips. Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!