Attention Southwest People

[gottalovepluto]

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.

Bingo. The armadas of wheelchairs were getting out of hand. It was pretty crazy even just walking through an airport if you paid attention to wc use how many more there were at WN gates than all other gates.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

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.

They didn't come to Philly until 2005 ish.

 

[Mle8308]

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.

Love the old Coke/ New Coke comparison! It's perfect.

 

[Mle8308]

No more SW for me. It's JetBlue or Delta. I don't even look at the fares for SW anymore, they lost me. From where I fly, it wasn't really any cheaper, but sometimes more flights. JetBlue seems to have picked up more routes and there is definitely more legroom than SW (even in their cheap seats) plus screens on all flights. Bye SW!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

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.

Actually it didn't hurt Pepsi at all. While Coke was bottled up fighting the cola wars, Pepsi diversified and makes far far more revenue as a company than Coke does. $ 91.85B vs $47.06B Pepsico is now a diversified snack, and drink company. Coca Cola is not.

 

[longboard55]

Not a big SW fan, but will like it better with assigned seats

 

[Sweettears]

Actually it didn't hurt Pepsi at all. While Coke was bottled up fighting the cola wars, Pepsi diversified and makes far far more revenue as a company than Coke does. $ 91.85B vs $47.06B Pepsico is now a diversified snack, and drink company. Coca Cola is not.

Plus doesn’t Pepsi own Taco Bell? Could be wrong on that

 

[hardcorestitch]

Plus doesn’t Pepsi own Taco Bell? Could be wrong on that

It was spun off a la Versant in 1997. It’s not Pepsi owned anymore.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Plus doesn’t Pepsi own Taco Bell? Could be wrong on that

It used to. They spun it, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza hot off into Tricon Global which became Yum Brands. There is a lifetime agreement for Pepsi to supply their drinks.

Back to Southwest. Southwest really ceased being a heavy discount carrier some time ago. And now there will be no more A cattle get into the chute. Moo Moo. No more bags fly free. No more flexible booking policy. Much more restrictions. A new basic non refundable pricing tier. They have added red eye flights so that is a plus.

 

[easyas123]

We fly Southwest a lot out of BWI and will be boarding our first flights since they changed things in about two hours into Fort Myers. We both have Southwest credit card so we get free seats and free bags and don’t feel any great change. I’ll report back!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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.

I won't post the long comment I posted on the dedicated SWA thread but it was pertaining to Elliott Management who is at the the helm of just about all of the last couple years of changes (that is turning the airline into something unrecognizable and by many accounts it's not a good thing at all).

But regarding your comment this is what I said: "People who didn't fly SWA much thought they were getting just an airline now that would do assigned seats, that's only a small part of what has been happening with the company."

*Sidenote wouldn't count on it being a small fee. Also the seats are slightly reduced in pitch compared to previous in order to make Extra Legroom seats possible so keep that in mind, if you're husband is used to the old legroom of SWA he's going to need to get into an Extra Legroom seat (that will give more than previous set ups) as not being in those is less legroom than before.

 

[easyas123]

Flying now. No issues boarding at all. Full flight, little to no confusion which honestly- I was shocked by!
Gate agents reportedly reminded folks of one carry on and one small personal bag that went under the seat in front of you & that was that.
Also made announcements reminding folks that their one carry on should go in the bin above their seat, no where else- don’t put it in a bin up front as you move to the back of the plane.
Reminded folks that fancy packs & purses count as your one small personal item.
Early this AM I had gotten a text saying we had a full flight & those in boarding groups 7 & higher may need to gate check carry ons at no cost. While walking the terminal at BWI we saw one flight announce this with luggage trolley up by gate, however we didn’t see it on our flight. We boarded with group5, we had aisle seats in row 9 and no problem finding spot for our 2 carry ons.
In future I’ll probably just check, it’s free for us- but I’ve been on a personal mission to work on my over packing and was happy to reach our goal of 1 carry ons each for a week away! Plus 1 shared computer bag…I’m getting there I still probably overpacked.
very un scientific in nature my observation is there were more carry ons in general, don’t know if coincidence or due to folks looking to avoid bag fees.
All in all it was a very smooth process and all the passengers seemed to be game and aware. I’ll say the SW gate agents & flight attendants made things very clear and concise and repeated new instructions several times so no one should have been in the dark about how they should board.