Swa Future - Assigned Seating?

[lowecur]

Spending $5M on a computer upgrade so they could have this option is sending signals that the airline just may have to do it to stay competitive. Good ol Mike Boyd predicted this, just as he has predicted they will order the E-jet. I hope his crystal ball is right again.

imp:

Southwest May Adopt Assigned Seats on Flights


[SIZE=-1]By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 17, 2006; D01
[/SIZE]
Southwest Airlines acknowledged yesterday that it was considering abandoning its free-for-all boarding process and implementing assigned seating.

The nation's largest low-cost carrier said it spent $5 million to enhance its reservation system as part of an internal test to see if it could easily implement assigned seating. The company also is examining how assigned seating would affect its operations.

Southwest officials stressed that the airline has not decided to adopt assigned seating; it is merely aggressively exploring the possibility after complaints from passengers about the current system.

"In order to look at the possibility as to will this work for Southwest Airlines, we needed to bump up the reservation system a little bit," Southwest spokeswoman Beth Hardin said. "We're very much in the investigative mode as of now."

Southwest is the nation's only major carrier that does not offer assigned seating. Since the airline's founding 35 years ago, Southwest executives have been against designated seats, saying it would be costly to print boarding passes. The airline had also said the standard system would slow its ability to get flights out on time.

Despite the airline's low fares, some passengers, particularly business travelers, have never embraced the open-seating policy. To get a preferred seat, passengers have to arrive at the airport hours before their flight to be among the first group to board. Or they have to remember to check in for their flight via the Internet at least 24 hours before to earn a spot in that early-boarding group.

With a herd of passengers stampeding onto the aircraft to find seats, some travelers have likened the airline's boarding process to a cattle call. On regular trips to Cleveland from Baltimore, Chevy Chase construction consultant Robert Salmon said he has often bought more expensive tickets on other carriers, such as Continental Airlines to avoid the risk of getting stuck in a middle seat on Southwest. Salmon says he has paid as much as $15 more each way, even when Southwest had lower price tickets available. "I'm willing to pay for a reserved seat," Salmon said. "I don't consider [Southwest] because they don't reserve seats."

Southwest, the nation's sixth-largest airline, is the No. 1 carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. In the fall, the airline will begin flying out of Washington Dulles International Airport.

As other airlines have cut costs and ticket prices and as budget carriers such as AirTran Airways and JetBlue Airways have expanded, industry experts said Southwest has lost some of its competitive edge.

"Southwest has to do this to stay competitive," said airline consultant Mike Boyd of the Denver-based Boyd Group. "They're going to be pushed out of markets if they don't."

 

[chase]

This issue was addressed the other day to some folks and described the project as simply putting into place within the normal reservation system the "option" to flip the switch on for reserved seating....something that hasn't been available before. SWA wanted to have the option only, not that it is inevitable.

Just like any "revenue enhancements" there are downsides....are there enough folks who prefer the no reserved seating option and would negatively react by not flying SWA that would offset any potential gains by "new" customers who like it? At a recent focus group by some paxs not a single person brought the issue up which was somewhat of a shock to the folks there with all of the "rants'" about no assigned seating.

The switch will be turned on "if" there is $$ to made from it based upon what a significant number of pax are saying.....with their feet. It will be interesting to see if there would be push-back from customers who like it and if turn times would be effected. If customers like it but it takes longer to board airplanes....it will be a non-starter....adding 5 minutes to every turn time would require SWA to purchase 40 more aircraft to fly the current schedule....as they say, time is money!!

This isn't new, SWA has basically said the same thing for years, it was only recently revealed that the IT folks & reservation folks were working on implementing the software changes to make it an "option"....good planners do that....another reason why our 900+ IT folks are making SWA big money with increases in productivity and efficiency. You guys are the best!!!

 

[canyonblue]

Good ol Mike Boyd predicted this, just as he has predicted they will order the E-jet. I hope his crystal ball is right again.

Boyd? Lowecur please. Anyone could see that it would be implemented one day, I don't need Boyd to tell me that. Before 9/11 we used the reusable plastic passes, then the TSA made us start using paper for security reasons. Assigning seats would not be as big a cost at this point, and it would only add more customers. As far as the E-Jet, you can have it.

 

[atafan]

I love the system SWA has now. Plan ahead and get an "A" pass and sit where you want. The same people who complain now will be the same that complain latter because their favorite seat 16A was already taken by someone who planned ahead.

You can pretty much avoid a center seat as long as you have a "B" pass, if you don't or can't plan ahead and get the dreaded "C" pass you would probably not be able to get a better seat even if you had a "reserved" seat. I also find that passengers are more willing to move around to accomodate other passengers when they aren't "assigned" a seat.

Salmon says he has paid as much as $15 more each way, even when Southwest had lower price tickets available. "I'm willing to pay for a reserved seat," Salmon said.

We're talking "BIG Spender", the real cream of the crop.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

Why not just charge extra for an assigned seat, maybe $10-20? WN could simply allow those with assigned seats to head down the jetway right after the pre-boards are done. Best of both worlds that way. Those who value time, convenience, and who don't like standing in the "A" line for an hour could spend the extra bucks. The rest of the folks can stand around just like they've been doing for years. Best part of all is keeping the advertised fares low and not having to increase prices across the board to help pay for the lost productivity due to abandoning cattle car style boarding and seating.

If you are a WN employee and submit the above idea you have to split the reward money with me.

 

[temcgrew]

Before 9/11 we used the reusable plastic passes, then the TSA made us start using paper for security reasons.

Security threat? now that the TSA doesn't consider scissors or knifes security threats, that seems a little silly.

 

[canyonblue]

I also find that passengers are more willing to move around to accommodate other passengers when they aren't "assigned" a seat.

This is very true. When people are occasionally asked to move to accommodate a family, many do without complaint. They don't feel that they "bought" 16A and therefore should not have to give it up.

 

[canyonblue]

Security threat? now that the TSA doesn't consider scissors or knifes security threats, that seems a little silly.

I was talking about the reusable plastic passes we used at the gate. The TSA started requiring that everyone have a boarding pass with their name on it. This required us to print paper boarding passes and the plastic were retired.

 

[ReverseSensing]

We're talking "BIG Spender", the real cream of the crop.

That $15 thing had to have been a typo: "I'd pay up to an extra 50 cents to have my bags travel on the same flight as I do!"

 

[HalinTexas]

Now to train the agents to handle Int'l pax and documentation. That shouldn't take long.