Attention Southwest People

[WEDWDW]

Are you paying for a better seat or are you taking the LONG walk?lol

 

[C&Jx2]

I had enough points with my SW CC to book and choose seats on our flights between NY and CA. I probably wouldn't pay cash money though.

 

[lorimt]

DH flies this weekend. Didn’t choose seats originally but the second flight went down in price so I rebooked to choose a seat on the way home but he gets what he gets on the way there.

 

[BrianL]

Personally, I will miss the old boarding style.

 

[georgina]

I preferred the old way also. I have some non-expiring travel credits, and some points that I will use up, then I will focus on JetBlue and American as I have recently gotten credit cards with them and have points and free checked bags with those.

Are you paying for a better seat or are you taking the LONG walk?lol

There is an active, dedicated SW thread on the transportation board.

 

[AZMermaid]

Flying to Long Beach for the DL half on Saturday and I didn’t choose a seat. But I’m flying to San Jose with my daughter for a dance comp in March. I did pay to get a seat there. But really, I’m paying for the ability for same day standby. If you do basic, you have to pay for a full new ticket if you are early enough for the earlier flight. Learned that the hard way! So the seat comes with the flexibility that I sometimes want.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Their various changes have abandoned all the advantages that used to make them better than the competition: no more free bags, no more open seating, and no more jokes. I'm looking to other airlines now.

 

[Christine]

Yeah my husband just booked a flight with them from DC to Sacramento but he booked a seat. We haven't flown SW in awhile as they don't generally work for us; however, they seem just like United know if you buy Basic Economy. No seat when booking although it gets assigned 24 hours before boarding (but you can't even bring a carry on). So SW seems a tad better than that.

I was reading the other day someone reported that with the assigned seats, he finally experienced a flight that wasn't overrun with pre-boards. Sounds like the pre-board stuff got way out of control.

 

[BrianL]

Their various changes have abandoned all the advantages that used to make them better than the competition: no more free bags, no more open seating, and no more jokes. I'm looking to other airlines now.

Everything that made them different is gone or going away. It's sad really.

 

[hardcorestitch]

Apparently someone who flew on the first day of assigned seating taped his experience… one of the notable changes at Chicago Midway is that there are now speakers at the jetbridge blaring music and announcements.

 

[leebee]

I posted this on the dedicated thread, but thought I'd share here, too!



I'll miss open seating, I'd miss free bags if I didn't have the credit card, but mostly I'll miss being able to rebook my ticket to take advantage of sales or changes in my plans. There is a "work around" but it's a PITA and I worry that once SW catches on, it'll be gone. I'll also miss pre-boarding. I have a knee that doesn't bend a full 90 degrees so I need a seat in a certain location to be able to sit during the flight. Between pre-boarding and open seating, I never had to worry. Now, I get to pay extra to guarantee a seat that will accommodate my physical issues.

We have willingly driven the 125+ miles from our home to the airport in Portland, ME, just to fly with Southwest. Not anymore. Once our miles are used up, we'll fly on American or Delta from the airport that is 15 minutes from our home. It's just a shame, because I believe that by becoming more like the legacy carriers, SW is signing its own death warrant. Anyone remember People's Express? Like SW, they'd carved out their own niche in the airline industry. They were doing great, until they decided it was time to become more like the legacies. Now... people don't even remember People's Express. Good luck, Southwest. The LUV is gone.

 

[Magical2017]

We have not flown on SW for a while. I am looking forward to being able to select seats in advance. We are going to get the Companion Pass, but I have no idea how the new system will work. I would probably pay a small fee to select seats if the flight were over 4 hours. DH is tall and prefers the aisle seats.

 

[tvguy]

Everything that made them different is gone or going away. It's sad really.

No question that there are some Southwest regulars who have strong feelings about continuing the cattle call seating. But they spent millions over more than a decade on research and the biggest complain consistently was the lack of assigned seating, to the point it was costing them money.
I will always check their fares and routing, but I started noticing they were NOT the least expensive on my Spring Training trips to Phoenix.

 

[hardcorestitch]

I posted this on the dedicated thread, but thought I'd share here, too!

View attachment 1043294

I'll miss open seating, I'd miss free bags if I didn't have the credit card, but mostly I'll miss being able to rebook my ticket to take advantage of sales or changes in my plans. There is a "work around" but it's a PITA and I worry that once SW catches on, it'll be gone. I'll also miss pre-boarding. I have a knee that doesn't bend a full 90 degrees so I need a seat in a certain location to be able to sit during the flight. Between pre-boarding and open seating, I never had to worry. Now, I get to pay extra to guarantee a seat that will accommodate my physical issues.

We have willingly driven the 125+ miles from our home to the airport in Portland, ME, just to fly with Southwest. Not anymore. Once our miles are used up, we'll fly on American or Delta from the airport that is 15 minutes from our home. It's just a shame, because I believe that by becoming more like the legacy carriers, SW is signing its own death warrant. Anyone remember People's Express? Like SW, they'd carved out their own niche in the airline industry. They were doing great, until they decided it was time to become more like the legacies. Now... people don't even remember People's Express. Good luck, Southwest. The LUV is gone.

If you thought “bags fly FEE” isn’t bad enough… this era is even worse.

 

[tvguy]

I posted this on the dedicated thread, but thought I'd share here, too!

View attachment 1043294

I'll miss open seating, I'd miss free bags if I didn't have the credit card, but mostly I'll miss being able to rebook my ticket to take advantage of sales or changes in my plans. There is a "work around" but it's a PITA and I worry that once SW catches on, it'll be gone. I'll also miss pre-boarding. I have a knee that doesn't bend a full 90 degrees so I need a seat in a certain location to be able to sit during the flight. Between pre-boarding and open seating, I never had to worry. Now, I get to pay extra to guarantee a seat that will accommodate my physical issues.

We have willingly driven the 125+ miles from our home to the airport in Portland, ME, just to fly with Southwest. Not anymore. Once our miles are used up, we'll fly on American or Delta from the airport that is 15 minutes from our home. It's just a shame, because I believe that by becoming more like the legacy carriers, SW is signing its own death warrant. Anyone remember People's Express? Like SW, they'd carved out their own niche in the airline industry. They were doing great, until they decided it was time to become more like the legacies. Now... people don't even remember People's Express. Good luck, Southwest. The LUV is gone.

You realize that New Coke was a huge win for Coke? When all the fuss over New Coke settled down. Coke was selling MORE product and making MORE money that before. And it REALLY hurt Pepsi, which was number two selling soft drink at the time. It has since fallen to number three behind Dr. Pepper.

 

[HokieRaven5]

Their previous method was the most efficient of boarding methods based on majority of studies of flight boarding patterns.

New method will help increase profits, but be less efficient

 

[BrianL]

You realize that New Coke was a huge win for Coke? When all the fuss over New Coke settled down. Coke was selling MORE product and making MORE money that before. And it REALLY hurt Pepsi, which was number two selling soft drink at the time. It has since fallen to number three behind Dr. Pepper.

And if Southwest goes back to what made them Southwest, then they could see the same bump. I really miss the Southwest who's founder/CEO arm wrestled another CEO over an advertising slogan. They just had a different way about them. I get the seating is really a matter of preference and didn't work for everybody, but with all the other changes that are making them just like any other nickel & dime you airline, it stings.

 

[WDW_fan_in_TX]

I have flown American twice since 2013 (one to Disney in 2013 and once to Nashville in 2024). But the other 14 times we've flown since then have been on Southwest. Love Field is about 25-30 minutes from our house, but we've done that because it's always been cheaper.

However, DFW is about 10 minutes from our house. We're going to start comparing flights between AA and SW. If AA is cheaper, we'll go that route. That said, we will pay to pick seats, even though I absolutely hate it. We don't have to pay to pick our seats on AA because we're members or whatever it's called. So we'll fly whichever is cheaper.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

No question that there are some Southwest regulars who have strong feelings about continuing the cattle call seating. But they spent millions over more than a decade on research and the biggest complain consistently was the lack of assigned seating, to the point it was costing them money.
I will always check their fares and routing, but I started noticing they were NOT the least expensive on my Spring Training trips to Phoenix.

I never really felt it was a cattle call. It seemed a very organized way to line up. After covid, SW drastically cut back their non-stop flights from Philly so we usually fly American these days. Their boarding is a mess. People all hover near the line up area, so much so that you can't tell if people are in line or just standing there. So I have to keep asking, "Are you in line?" or risk just cutting in front and ticking people off. At least with SW, people generally did an ok job with taking their correct place in the line.

 

[Skippy918]

I never really felt it was a cattle call. It seemed a very organized way to line up. After covid, SW drastically cut back their non-stop flights from Philly so we usually fly American these days. Their boarding is a mess. People all hover near the line up area, so much so that you can't tell if people are in line or just standing there. So I have to keep asking, "Are you in line?" or risk just cutting in front and ticking people off. At least with SW, people generally did an ok job with taking their correct place in the line.

It was a cattle call prior to online check in, so early 00s. Back then you lined up as soon as you got to the gate.