Give it to me straight - forgot to check in on SW

[skelooch]

You're missing the point, perhaps we're not explaining it properly.

An airline isn't "stupid" when they follow a practice they found assists them in running a profitable business.

Historically the lack of assigned seats got passengers to the gate early, contributing to fast turnaround.

SW tested assigned seats and found their core passengers prefer the present system.

Assigned seats are complicated. An airline has to decide how many seats to block out for their elite fliers. How many seats to block out for gate assignment. Do they let a couple book an aisle and window seat, hoping for an empty middle seat. An increasing number of airlines are charging for assigned seats. Passengers who don't pay are worse off then a SW passengers. A lot of threads are from passengers who don't want to pay for an assigned seat but still think the airline should sit their family together.

I agree most DIS don't care if an airline is profitable. You said SWs boarding process is so stupid that a dictionary should use it to define the word stupid.
You don't have to like SWs boarding. You don't have to fly SW. A profitable airline is rare. Certainly not stupid.

I don't think too much of Spirit. Charge for checked luggage. Charge for carryon bags. They will be charging for bags over 40 lbs,industry standard is 50 lbs. Get those passengers who don't read the fine print. I don't think Spirit is stupid. They found a model that works for them.

I appreciate your thoughts on SW reasons for doing what they do, I just don't think it works as well as some of the other airlines.

Let's just agree to disagree, and move on, I think we just about beat it to death.

 

[DebbieB]

I appreciate your thoughts on SW reasons for doing what they do, I just don't think it works as well as some of the other airlines.

Let's just agree to disagree, and move on, I think we just about beat it to death.

You see so many posts on this board where people say their assigned seats on other airlines were changed and they are no longer sitting together. They call the airline and they say there's nothing they can do, they will have to wait until they get to the airport, or the gate or last resort on the plane itself.

On SW, as long as you get your boarding pass @ 24 hours, you should not have a problem getting seats together. Plus I think people are more willing to switch when they don't have an assigned seat.

 

[Lewisc]

I appreciate your thoughts on SW reasons for doing what they do, I just don't think it works as well as some of the other airlines.

Let's just agree to disagree, and move on, I think we just about beat it to death.

The point is SW is profitable. SW has done the research. Tested different boarding systems. Your opinion isn't based on any facts.

You said:

most of the leisure travelers here on the boards are not checking the balance sheet of the airline they are booking with, but simply trying to get from point A to point B as cheaply as possible, myself included.

Airlines are starting to learn they can't appeal to every customer. Profitable airlines are letting airlines like Spirit book customers who don't care about "amenities".

 

[dudspizza]

ultimately, consumers have a choice. If they don't like an airlines policies, they can choose another airline......

 

[Lewisc]

ultimately, consumers have a choice. If they don't like an airlines policies, they can choose another airline......

+1 A smart business knows they can't have policies that appeal to all potential customers. A smart business accepts the fact that some customers will select a competitor.

 

[dudspizza]

+1 A smart business knows they can't have policies that appeal to all potential customers. A smart business accepts the fact that some customers will select a competitor.

I just had an experience that can correlate to this.

I purchased my daughters letter jacket from a local business. They made a mistake on the graduation year and told me it was going to take another 3 weeks to get the correct year on the jacket. So, I called one of the competitors and was honest with them and said I bought the jacket at one of their competitors, but would they be able to fix the issue..... I was speaking to the owner and she went into a long, helpful explanation of how to approach getting this remedied with the store I bought it from. She said she could fix it for me, but it would be easiest to get it done where I bought it. Her advice helped me get the jacket issue fixed in less than a week and now my daughter has her coveted letter jacket.

Moral of the story. The owner of the other company was so nice (when she didn't have to be) that I will be taking my daughters letter jacket in to them any time an additional bar, patch, or emblem needs to be purchased and sewn on. They earned my business by not selling me something....

Duds