I thought I would add to the body of knowledge by describing my son’s recent experience flying with his cello to an audition.
He somehow managed to get through HS and undergrad without ever having to fly! He just got back from a trip from Detroit to Houston to audition at Rice. He flew SW airlines mainly because I had read on previous threads on CC that SW was cello friendly. When he purchased his tickets he inquired about purchasing early boarding and was told that wasn’t necessary as he would be assigned to early boarding by virtue of having his cello with him. His early boarding pass was stamped as “disabled passenger”. I’m happy to report that everything went very smoothly in both directions and he said everyone was very helpful and friendly. There were no direct flights from detroit to houston, but one thing he did was book a flight that made a stop but didn’t change planes so that he only had to go through the boarding process once in each direction. He said next time he flies he is going to create a bingo card with all the remarks he kept getting about his cello- things like “is that a guitar?” “Is there a body in there?”
Thanks to those who previously recommended SW on this forum. Good luck and happy traveling to all this audition season!
Southwest IS great.Unlike some other airlines!
http://www.slippedisc.com/2016/01/buying-a-cello-seat-you-may-pay-6-times-the-cost/
Customer service is not all that complicated. Just do it.
Norman Lebrecht has been posting several cello/passenger nightmare stories this week. You should forward your story and give SW a plug. 
http://www.slippedisc.com/2016/01/its-getting-worse-airline-made-me-leave-my-cello-behind/
Norman Lebrecht has been posting cello horror stories all week----you should forward him yours and give SW a plug!
http://www.slippedisc.com/2016/01/its-getting-worse-airline-made-me-leave-my-cello-behind/
I’m glad you had a good experience with SW. We have had excellent experiences flying with the orchestral bass on SW.
But can’t they label it something other than Disabled Passenger. I hate to think a cello has the same level of priority as a person with a disability.
I agree, it does seem like they could come up with something more appropriate, though technically they didn’t label the cello as disabled, but my son. I guess they do that just to justify allowing him early boarding though you would think there could be another category.