Assigned seating, ugh give me swa anyday!

[pinkerbell]

After about 6 or 7 yrs of only flying swa I was booked on a few US Air flights for work travel. I was surprised to see how downhill the entire process had gone. Boarding took much longer, boarding from the front to the back seemed silly. On (I think) every one of 4 flights, people sat in the wrong seats , then couldn't move so asked others to change, some agreed until we got in the air and then chaos followed. some delyaed takeoff trying to get family seated next to each other, it was CRAZY!
the numbers don't go that high and it the alphabet people! how can you sit on the WRONG side of the plane???? And didn't they realize when we were told the flight were FULL, that they would be putting someone out of thier seat??? Of course what amazed me the most was the drunk lady who was physically and verbally abusive to her husband the entire time and then they insisted they wanted to sit next to each other
when I finally sat down on the last flight the guy sitting across from me said I was his 3rd neighbor

So people can trash the SWA approach all they want, but in my experience, the boarding has been MUCH fatser, we usually take off on time (or make up time) and land closer to if not earlier than the schedules time.

so if you have reservations about flying SWA, reconsider..

 

[LidoDeck]

My ever growing frustration with Southwest peaked with the implementation of RR2 a year ago. I've been using up my rapid rewards tickets, but have not booked a paid flight with Southwest since then.

I have flown Delta, JetBlue, USAirways and Airtran in the last year. The boarding systems all stink. Given that I don't have any priority with any of my trial airlines, I get lousy boarding passes. BUT I have a seat assignment. It's my seat - always book an aisle - and I bring a carry-on that fits under my seat. (One exception was a Delta flight where they complimentary checked my carry-on at the gate because the flight was full).

Given the choice, I'll take seat assignments.

 

[Lisa71]

We fly SWA a lot, and while it does go quickly, it is not perfect and I hate the cattle call of you are A 32, stand here...the reason we are not flying them to MCO is that they do not do ME and don't have a direct non-stop from LAX. We have little ones, and don't want to run to another gate like we have in the past. I am a big fan of SWA, but I like knowing we are all together on our United flight.

 

[tjmw2727]

We fly SWA a lot, and while it does go quickly, it is not perfect and I hate the cattle call of you are A 32, stand here...the reason we are not flying them to MCO is that they do not do ME and don't have a direct non-stop from LAX. We have little ones, and don't want to run to another gate like we have in the past. I am a big fan of SWA, but I like knowing we are all together on our United flight.

Just to clariify anyone can use DME regardless of the airline, in fact you don't even have to fly to MCO to use it. eta - you can only use it from MCO but you don't have to fly prior to using it!

On the outbound, participating airlines offer the option to check your bags and get your boarding passes at the resort and FWIW SWA does participate.

A word of warning, just because you choose seat ahead of time doesn't guarantee that won't change. Check your flights often as even a time change by a few minutes can result in the computer re-assiging seats.

 

[DonnaL]

As the above poster stated, anyone staying onsite can use DME...it is not only certain airlines, however, DME is ONLY at MCO so you DO need to fly into MCO in order to utilize DME and/or yellow tag baggage services to WDW. And, for the above poster who stated SWA does not participate .....also not factual....as stated above anyone on any airline which flies into MCO and who is staying onsite at WDW can use DME. If you were referring to RAC (Resort Airline Check-in) which means getting boarding passes/bag check-in at your resort before you leave for the airport....yes, SWA also does participate in RAC and has for quite some time...initially, SWA was not a RAC participant so I'm thinking either you last were at WDW when that was the case or whomever told you was last there before SWA became a participant.

 

[tjmw2727]

As the above poster stated, anyone staying onsite can use DME...it is not only certain airlines, however, DME is ONLY at MCO so you DO need to fly into MCO in order to utilize DME and/or yellow tag baggage services to WDW. And, for the above poster who stated SWA does not participate .....also not factual....as stated above anyone on any airline which flies into MCO and who is staying onsite at WDW can use DME. If you were referring to RAC (Resort Airline Check-in) which means getting boarding passes/bag check-in at your resort before you leave for the airport....yes, SWA also does participate in RAC and has for quite some time...initially, SWA was not a RAC participant so I'm thinking either you last were at WDW when that was the case or whomever told you was last there before SWA became a participant.

To further clarify (as I did in my post edit)

Yes, DME only operates out of MCO but you do not have to fly to use it!

As long as you are a registered guest at a WDW resort on the day you want transport and have an advance reservation you can use DME to and from MCO.

 

[DonnaL]

Absolutely you DON't need to fly the SAME day you use DME to or from the airport.....we've flown in late in evening, stayed at MCO Hyatt and head out on a DME bus to WDW in the early A.M. and vice versa......stayed at WDW until 9 p.m. or so, collect our bags from bell services, catch our DME bus back to MCO and take an early A.M. flight home. They do ask for your flight info, but, the two times we've done it I was honest with DME scheduling people and told them we were staying the night at the airport.......not a problem.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Sorry, but I'll take an airline with assigned seating any day over WN's crazy free for all, especially on my regular airline, United, with Economy Plus seats. I fly fairly often and have not experienced the OP's chaotic boarding, even on US Airways.

Haven't you noticed the several threads weekly here regarding worries about getting seats on WN? Seating questions about other airlines don't come close.

 

[MAYNARDS99]

Lost...I think there is concern regarding Southwest's boarding and seating policy because it is so different compared to the legacy carriers. Many guests flying to MCO are INfrequent flyers and don't have the experience flyers such as you do.

For what it's worth, Southwest does have a wonderful program on their website called Boarding School. It describes how the process works. People unfamiliar with Southwest would do themselves a favor by going thru that school.

BTW I prefer Southwest because their boarding process is different, and the fares tend to be less expensive.

 

[tjmw2727]

My point was you don't need to fly at all, same day, day prior, week prior! You can arrive at MCO via any means and still use DME.

They really don't care how you get to MCO and you can book DME without flight info. So back to my original point "participating airline" dosen't apply at all with regard to DME.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Haven't you noticed the several threads weekly here regarding worries about getting seats on WN? Seating questions about other airlines don't come close.

I've seen just as many "they changed my seats when they changed my flights time and now we're not together" and "will they seat us together if we don't pay for seating assignment" threads as I do threads about getting seats together on SWA. Both have their pros and cons and both have people who love or hate them.

 

[The Mayor]

I flew Useless Air last week and their boarding was a cluster you know what!!! On my flight out of Boston it took 40 minutes to get everyone boarded and on the way back about 30 minutes. I never have that issue with SWA and prefer their boarding system over any of the other airlines.