Southwest - WHY no assigned seats?

[Heavy Set]

I am puzzled why Southwest does not have assigned seats YET?

Today I had the very UNFORTUNATE experience of being a PAX on Southwest. I arrived at the ACTUAL gate a full 90 minutes before the depart time and was given a paper ticket with a large "C" on it - I bet "C" stands for "CATTLE." No more plastic seat-assignment cards - now people are given regular paper tickets. When I questioned how this could be that I could have 100+ passengers ALREADY IN FRONT OF ME given that I was 90 minutes early, I was told that Southwest now assigns boarding priorty from the ticket counters as well (the ones with the very, very, very long lines). So, despite being at the gate a full 90 minutes early, I was among the last 20 to board the JUNKIE 737-300. Before actually getting on the plane (I was maybe 20 feet from the entrance), my group of the last 20 passengers was told that all bin space was taken.... What? How is that convenient for me - a paying Southwest passenger with a regular carry-on? I got no reply.... When I finally boarded, I noted that the bins were FULL OF JACKETS instead of bags - in other words, there was indeed ENOUGH space to accomodate regular carry-on bags - the PAX could have placed their ratty jackets on the floor or could have held them.... Instead, I had to be inconvenienced by 25 minutes because I did not show up at the airport 4 HOURS early to get priority boarding... The business passengers behind me were rightly IRATE about the ridiculous inconvenience.... We were puzzled and very upset. I don't recall feeling that way as a PAX on Jetblue or AirTran...

A few questions for Southwest pilots or fans of Southwest:

1. Given that other LCCs like Jetblue and Airtran have ONLINE seating assignment that an elderly, sick 90-year old woman could use, why doesn't Southwest offer that service? (Southwest already produces paper tickets at the gate like Jetblue and Airtran - the software probably wouldn't impact Southwest's bottom line too bad...) Business passengers who maximize their work time and arrive at the airport later than most will be penalized and be forced to sit between two red-neck obese people in the last row. Do your higher-yield business passengers will be happy? What if they had a choice of LCCs on particular routes?

2. Does Southwest care about reducing the seating "anxiety" that many, many passengers feel (they don't have a confirmed seat)? Why not remove the "cattle-car" stigma attached to the Southwest name by assigning seats LIKE EVERY OTHER AIRLINE?

If either AirTran or Jetblue serves the same route as Southwest, I will select them quickly. The Southwest product is CLEARLY INADEQUATE (especially on trans-con flights).

Passengers seem to rave about the Jetblue product with its comfortable leather seats, its incredible live TV and its bins with copious space - enough for both jackets AND carry-on bags.... I have never heard a Southwest passenger rave about the cattle-car routine - have you? It sucks.

So, I have a recommendation for Southwest pilots - please put a suggestion in the suggestion box - spend some money to active online seat assignment to reduce "seat anxiety" and the inevitable FRUSTRATION derived from inadequate bin space.... You can't say "you get what you pay for" because Jetblue and Airtran are AS CHEAP as Southwest and their product is FAR SUPERIOR.... Cattle-car service is old-school and a definite weakness for Southwest. Watch out if other LCCs operate in the same market...

Yeah, it would be great to occupy one of the seats up front, but every other seat on Southwest sucks.......................

My 2 cents.

 

[CODs4ever]

Heavy Set

Unless somebody put a gun to your head, I'm pretty sure you had a choice when flying. Everybody knows SWA has an open-seating policy. It's a key element in their 20-minute turnarounds. I would suggest that if you don't like being stuck in the middle seat, either show up earlier, or fly a different airline. The open seat policy seems to have worked fairly well for nearly 30 years, why fix it if it isn't broken?

 

[CoopDog]

Try www.southwest.com

Before about 50 SWA pilots, poolies, and hopefuls chime in to answer your question on this board, which will inevitably lead to discussions on Delta and Leo, and how UAL sucks, blah, blah blah,....just send 'ole Herb an e-mail, and he might just let you know. If he's too busy, I'm sure someone can help you out.

With that said, get ready for the onslaught here on this board. I'd like to see if you can just hold back and see if somebody here answers your "legitimate" question. This ought to be fairly entertaining for a few minutes.

 

[moneyshooter]

And another thing....

I do everything I can to avoid flying on SWA due to the long lines, cattle calls and the no baggage agreement thing. Just plain lousy product is what I've experienced. I made the mistake of flying on one carrier and making the switch to SWA at LAX. It's bad enough that they make you retrieve your bags, then haul them yourself to another terminal, but they don't even tell you in advance that this is what you will be in for. Add to that a lost bag experience in which they would not deliver the bag to me upon it's arrival the following day ( I was in Monterey and this was from San Jose-thanks a lot). I had a damaged bag on another trip. Finally, I had a change in schedule in which I was told there would be no charge. Upon arrival at the airport, they wanted to charge me 50 bucks or something. Okay, no big deal, whip out the credit card and they told me since the ticket was purchased by the military, I would not be able to pay for it with anything but a military Visa card. I did not have one, and they basically told me I was SOL. I missed my flight while trying to straighten this out. I avoid that airline like the plague. They say it's a people company who happen to carry passengers. I am amazed they are so successful at getting any repeat customers when their product is so junky. Now, I know all the SWA folks here will flame away, but the truth is, no one can dispute that it's a great place to work. I've seen the class act personally at the training building when they hosted the Airinc. convention. Sure makes you think it would be a great place to work. I just wonder why they aren't concerned with their product.

 

[tredding@swa]

Call

customer service @ 214-792-4223. I KNOW they would like to hear from you.... they are well known for FIXING problems and correcting the problem going forward too!

The assigned seating issue is just the way it works.... I would suggest you enroll for "Rapid Rewards" and then use the check-in kiosks at most locations, never a line, prints your boarding card. Lost/damaged bags is a different issue. you should have called them when you had the problem @ SJC.

Sorry to hear that your travel on SWA was unsatisfactory..... better luck next time??

 

[T45Flyer]

Some speculation

Although I do not have the exact answer to your question I present these thoughts:

1. Assigned seating- as CODS4Ever said, if it aint broken then dont fix it! Although you hate the prospect of being stuck in the middle seat (Me To!), a lot of people know the drill and just dont care, they would rather have the quick turnaround and just want to get from point A to B as fast as possible. I cannot tell you how many business travelers fly us EVERYDAY and tell me that they would never fly another airline because we are "always on time and very reliable". (We all know were not always on time, but nice compliment.) Add to the fact that the majority of our flights are short its not a huge inconvience to grab any seat cause you'll be there in a jiffy.

2. Seats and Bin space- All of our interiors are being redone on the Tan and Canyon Blue-Purple color. The seats are all leather and comfortable, also, no more party pits. At my last recurrent training, we were told the company is looking into the inflight entertainment systems, JBLU does have a great idea there. As far as bin space, well its a Boeing and thats all ya get, but as they say "If it not a Boeing, then I ain't going!" Just say no to Frog planes!

3. SWA is a very quick turnaround, now about 25 mins though, and a very high frequency airline. If you miss your flight, just wait 25 mins, there will be another. People love that and our freq flier program is second to none. People get free tickets after just 4 flights and the freebies have no restrictions. (I have been told). You could use 4 round trips from MDW-DTW at $80 round trip and use your freebie on the non stop from MDW-SEA. Our frequent flier programs keep a very loyal customer base. And last but not least some of out flight attendents are fun and make the flight much more enjoyable.

Hope that helps, sorry you had a bad experience.

 

[swaforme]

Heavy,

I feel that you have a legitimate gripe. Having recently gone through recurrent training we were briefed by the company on thoughts of the company and it's future service needs. They are considering both assigned seats and onboard entertainment beyond the talents of our cabin crews. When the time comes that the amount of revenue these features bring the company outwieghs the costs they will be applied.

You need to send your letter where it will do the most good and that would be to Colleen Barrett.

I'm sorry your experience was not a positive one.

Sincerely,
Lazypilot

 

[moneyshooter]

Gentlemen,
Thoughtful replies such as yours make me much more willing to take a chance yet again on SWA. I suppose I'm due for a positive experience with LUV.

 

[Heavy Set]

I too appreciate the professional replies.

I just don't understand why Southwest would put its passengers through that "seat anxiety" as I call it. Turnaround times are important, of course, but AirTran seems to move just as fast using their 717s - and yet they provide assigned seats.... I can reserve my seat online and then I don't have to worry about whether I should arrive at the airport 2 hours early or not... I have flown Jetblue a few times as a PAX and the boarding seemed organized and quick.

We all have bad days as PAX - it's not like flying on the Pan Am Clipper in the past... I just want to know if Southwest would consider changing its boarding policy given that it now uses the same printed, paper tickets that everyone else uses - the infrastructure seems to exist - plus, its very popular website could probably be adjusted to select seats. Doesn't Southwest want to do away with that "Cattle Car" stigma? Jetblue and Airtran and I am sure Song all have assigned seats....

All airlines pad their timetables, so turnaround times don't seem as important if passengers are frustrated with the lame middle-seat in the back row that they were forced to take because they showed up "just" 40 minutes before the flight...

Just letting off some steam... I hope you guys at Southwest can make some "high placed" suggestions because I saw first-hand today that higher-yield business travelers don't appreciate the cattle-car routine... Southwest is the last airline without assigned seating - it is probably time for a change (and it likely won't cost too much given the existing infrastructure)...

 

[enigma]

I too appreciate the professional replies.

I just don't understand why Southwest would put its passengers through that "seat anxiety" as I call it. ..........................




All airlines pad their timetables, so turnaround times don't seem as important if passengers are frustrated with the lame middle-seat in the back row that they were forced to take because they showed up "just" 40 minutes before the flight...

I'm only a SWA wannabee, so this is only my outsider-looking-in opinion. SWA puts its pax thru "seat anxiety" because that's the main reason they are able to board 137 people in less than 15 mins. For comparison, it usually takes 40mins for my LCC carrier to board an MD80. The next time you fly an "assigned seat" carrier, get yourself into group one, and then watch your fellow travelers board. You will see them stand in the aisle with their thumb up and locked as they: fiddle with overhead space, make a cell call, ask the FA's about seating assignements, talk to their kids, etc, etc, etc,. They take their time because they know that their seat is theirs. On SWA the pax get their behind in a seat, right now. No fiddling with the perfect overheadbin arrangement, no playing with their backpack as they block the aisle; because they KNOW that every second they waste is costing them the chance at a decent seat.

Airlines pad their timetables. Yes, but not to affect turn times, they pad so as to look good on the DOT stat sheet. SWA probably pads as well, but padding has nothing to do with turn time. For SWA (once again, opinion only) padding is practiced only to achieve schedule integrity. SWA's "secret" is efficiency, in order to be efficient, they do everything possible to avoid wasted time. Time is money.

regards,
8N