Southwest airlines to introduce assigned seatings good or bad?

[QuarterMillionMan]

I say good and I'm willing to pay extra for my seat. Their early bird fee used to be $10 (not sure how much it is now) but even after paying the fee there was no guarantee of getting an "A" boarding pass and usually it would be "B." So yes mark me down as this is a good thing.

[disneysteve]

The lack of assigned seating is the #1 reason we have never flown with Southwest so I see this as a great move. It gives us one more airline to consider using in the future.

[ua_guy]

Used to fly southwest when I was a lot younger. It was kind of novel, the flight attendants were always punchy, you never knew what seat you'd get. That didn't really matter when you could save $20+ choosing Southwest over another carrier. Air travel was still fun at that age, and flying discount carriers and odd routes to save money still seemed...worth it.

I haven't flown Southwest in years, but, if they're changing up their seating rodeo, it *might* be worth giving them a shot on, say, a short leg to California. Like a 90 minute flight to the Bay Area. But why, when there's Alaska

[myrdale]

I've had very limited experience flying and have never flown with Southwest.

I believe all of my experiences have been with Delta, and in 2017 at least I was able to pick the seat I wanted. That this isn't standard across all air lines is surprising to me. Heck I can't even go to the movies with out being forced to pick the seat I want.

Ultimately, if I understand you correctly, it sounds like a good thing.

[srblanco7]

[QUOTE=disneysteve;n747702]The lack of assigned seating is the #1 reason we have never flown with Southwest so I see this as a great move. It gives us one more airline to consider using in the future.[/QUOTE
Same. Not worth it to me to save a few dollars and risk ending up with a lousy seat or being separated from my family.

[kork13]

Yeah, I was never a huge fan of the whole open seating thing ... So I kinda say good riddance to it.

I like flying Southwest just fine, and when it was the cheapest (non-Frontier or Spirit) option, I'd happily use them. However, the last 5-10 years or so, they've kinda lost their place as a mid-discount airline. Sure, they have some decent special deals ($100 one-way flight to random places), but those deals rarely worked for my needs.

[disneysteve]

Yeah, I was never a huge fan of the whole open seating thing ... So I kinda say good riddance to it.

I like flying Southwest just fine, and when it was the cheapest (non-Frontier or Spirit) option, I'd happily use them. However, the last 5-10 years or so, they've kinda lost their place as a mid-discount airline. Sure, they have some decent special deals ($100 one-way flight to random places), but those deals rarely worked for my needs.

I just booked flights for my wife and daughter to Nashville. Frontier was $24. I don’t know how much Southwest would have been but it wouldn’t have beaten that.

[kork13]

I just booked flights for my wife and daughter to Nashville. Frontier was $24. I don’t know how much Southwest would have been but it wouldn’t have beaten that.

Yeah, DW & I have just had too many bad experiences on both Frontier & Spirit to use them. Frontier especially is blacklisted in my family.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I wish Frontier had a bigger footprint at LAX. Spirit has a bigger footprint at LAX. I'm aware that the base fare is low and then everything else is nickeled and dimed but I'm fine with it and know that I just have to factor in all the various upcharges. Alaska also has a good amount of flights out of LAX.

[disneysteve]

Yeah, DW & I have just had too many bad experiences on both Frontier & Spirit to use them. Frontier especially is blacklisted in my family.

We’ve had nothing but great experiences with both, especially Spirit which we’ve used numerous times. They are my preferred airline whenever possible.

[bjl584]

I haven't flown in a while, but I remember the Southwest first come first serve seating.
It wasn't that big a deal to me, so either way is fine.

[Like2Plan]

I guess I am in the minority on this one. DH and I are in the 20% (according to the company's survey's) that prefer open seating. I will miss it. I am a little nervous as to how this will shake out with the assigned seating. For the 80% that said they prefer assigned seating--my thought is be careful what you asked for because it sounds like they are going to tweak a few more things, too.

SWA is supposed to have the most seat pitch (ie more leg room on normal seats.) for economy seats than most other airlines. 32-33in. for a SWA economy seat.

https://www.seatguru.com/charts/shorthaul_economy.php

What I read was they are thinking about reducing the seat pitch on the economy seats in order to put in a "business class" section with more leg room. Hurray for you if you are able to book the seats with more leg room, but what I worry about is what if you have a last minute booking (or have to make a last minute change) and all the optimum seats are booked, etc. You will have to take a seat that has less leg room than they do today.

I've also read that you will have to pay extra to get an advanced seat assignment of your choice. If you don't pay for a seating assignment--you will receive seat assignments like an hour or two prior to departure (I assume this will be like open seating only--but, with less choice). Also, I think folks will be less willing to move for last minute requests such as families with kids. Right now, families with small children are boarded between A and B boarding groups. If there are families that are running late due to connections, the flight attendants will save some seats towards the back. Except for through passengers, the flight attendants currently have the entire seat inventory from which to chose. If that fails (like the flight attendants are unaware of a last minute family group), they will ask for volunteers (usually offering free drinks for the volunteer). Asking someone to move after they have paid for a specific seat assignment might be a sticky point.

I wonder if the survey they sent out asked--would you rather pay more and have less leg room in order to receive an advance seat assignment?

A recent experience on a legacy airline (no status) --booking a last minute ticket on a regular economy fare that permitted advanced seat assignments (not the basic economy). The only seats that were left were middle seats.

I will admit that Southwest's boarding used to be pretty chaotic--but that is not the case anymore. You have a specific boarding position down to the number. If you fly on the legacies--they call a boarding group and the whole group tries to board at once-it is chaos at the gate.. I will be sad to see poles with the numbers go away.

[disneysteve]

I've also read that you will have to pay extra to get an advanced seat assignment of your choice.

You mean just like on every other airline? Yes, I imagine that is how it will work.

I wonder if the survey they sent out asked--would you rather pay more and have less leg room in order to receive an advance seat assignment?

I didn't get the survey but YES, ABSOLUTELY YES. I would much rather have less leg room and an assigned seat. I'll take a smaller aisle seat over a larger middle or window seat any day.

[Like2Plan]

You mean just like on every other airline? Yes, I imagine that is how it will work.

I guess that is my point--there will be less to distinguish SWA from any other airline including the pricing advantage.

I didn't get the survey but YES, ABSOLUTELY YES. I would much rather have less leg room and an assigned seat. I'll take a smaller aisle seat over a larger middle or window seat any day.

Interesting. Any amount less? DH and I took a discount charter flight before (going to Europe) and we will never do that again. Any assigned seat-- even if the only assigned seats are middle seats?

[disneysteve]

I guess that is my point--there will be less to distinguish SWA from any other airline including the pricing advantage.

Their own studies showed that 80% of their current customers would prefer assigned seats. Even more importantly, 80% of customers who choose to fly with other airlines listed the lack of assigned seating as the number one reason they avoided Southwest. Yes it distinguished them from others, but not in a good way.

Interesting. Any amount less? DH and I took a discount charter flight before (going to Europe) and we will never do that again. Any assigned seat-- even if the only assigned seats are middle seats?

It would depend on the flight time and if I was traveling alone. For a few hours by myself I'll take a middle seat if I absolutely have to. If I'm flying with my wife and/or daughter, not a chance. If the only available seats were all middle seats, I'd find another flight because that would mean we'd be split up (and both stuck in middle seats). I just booked DW and DD to fly to Nashville next month. Both ways I got them aisle seats across from each other. They are toward the back so they were cheaper but that's far better than the alternatives.