Seating on Southwest

[Twelvevman]

Wow, I guess people don't understand sarcasm. Of course I would never sit my son away from me. And yes, I have offered up my seat before so parents can sit with their kids.

 

[TNixon123]

Wow, I guess people don't understand sarcasm. Of course I would never sit my son away from me. And yes, I have offered up my seat before so parents can sit with their kids.

Sarcasm sometimes doesn't travel well within forums - I thought your comment was funny though. Mainly because I have a 2 year old and I feel he could probably clear several rows!

What nobody is mentioning is that yes EBCI is great - however many (or everyone) on the plane could theoretically buy it and then your checked in based on the order in which you purchased EBCI. So unless you buy it well in advance of your trip it may or may not do any good.

You could still be the "good parent" and buy EBCI and be faced with a situation where you have to ask people to move to help accomodate you.

My advice - buy EBCI if your flight is several months away still. If your only a few weeks it may not be anything but a waste of money.

 

[DebbieB]

Wow, I guess people don't understand sarcasm. Of course I would never sit my son away from me. And yes, I have offered up my seat before so parents can sit with their kids.

Because we've seen it actually happen.

 

[HoosierDisneyDad]

Wow, I guess people don't understand sarcasm. Of course I would never sit my son away from me. And yes, I have offered up my seat before so parents can sit with their kids.

If only someone would invent a sarcasm detector - or at least a sarcastic emoticon.

 

[DebbieB]

If only someone would invent a sarcasm detector - or at least a sarcastic emoticon.

I use

 

[Jestocost]

Wow, I guess people don't understand sarcasm. Of course I would never sit my son away from me. And yes, I have offered up my seat before so parents can sit with their kids.

Not only does sarcasm not translate well, this also is something that a number of posters have said in all seriousness that they will do and have argued strongly for their position.

 

[Mkrop]

At this point in time too I would make sure it is a true SW flight, not a Airtran flight that you can book through SW. You can not guarantee your seat on these types of flights until the merger occurs.

On a true SW flight, we have never had a problem sitting together purchasing EBCI

We usually sit 3 and 1. DH has moved several times to accomdate families boarding late, but the last couple of times his seat change has been a complete nightmare. The last time the family he was seated among was the loudest most ill behaved family ever, and mom was the worst! I can totally see him now being done with moving his seat. His gentlemanly side will still win over most likely but I can now see him saying no too.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

For those of you doing the "they will move for my kid act". It failed yesterday on my SW flight. Sorry, but no one would move (and the kid was great. I could see him the entire flight. He played well with the mom and older girl in his row. The mom was one of you who tried the "throw a fit and cry method".)

They arrived late and missed the boarding and it was not due to a connection, but "lunch in the airport was slow". Really? Hmmm....

 

[jaykorf001]

I fly Southwest frequently. I highly recommend you purchase the early boarding as I've noticed many others seem to be doing it. I flew by myself recently and decided to save the money as i only needed one seat. I checked in exactly at 24 hours and was at the end of B boarding. By the time everyone did early family boarding and then went down the line there were not a lot of seats together. my husband and I have also noticed that even when we pay for early boarding we can be back a little ways -- meaning lots of people seem to do it. And I can't remember the last time I was on a SW flight that wasn't full.

 

[DebbieB]

I fly Southwest frequently. I highly recommend you purchase the early boarding as I've noticed many others seem to be doing it. I flew by myself recently and decided to save the money as i only needed one seat. I checked in exactly at 24 hours and was at the end of B boarding. By the time everyone did early family boarding and then went down the line there were not a lot of seats together. my husband and I have also noticed that even when we pay for early boarding we can be back a little ways -- meaning lots of people seem to do it. And I can't remember the last time I was on a SW flight that wasn't full.

Problem is people save seats for those in their party who they did not buy EBCI for. Next time watch for empty seats with bags or books on them to see how many.

 

[chasgoose]

Problem is people save seats for those in their party who they did not buy EBCI for. Next time watch for empty seats with bags or books on them to see how many.

Saving seats isn't allowed on Southwest, if you want a seat, take it. FA's should back you up.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Saving seats isn't allowed on Southwest, if you want a seat, take it. FA's should back you up.

And they will just tell the saver "sorry" (I once watched a woman have a screaming fit in tears because her "kids" would have to sit by themselves. Kids stroll on at the end of boarding and the youngest was 30 and they were DRUNK... why should they leave the bar, they thought mom was holding seats! )

But I was B02 yesterday on my flight and there was no saving. By the time I got on, between the through passengers, the A folks and the families etc... there were not a lot of seats left.

 

[jaykorf001]

And they will just tell the saver "sorry" (I once watched a woman have a screaming fit in tears because her "kids" would have to sit by themselves. Kids stroll on at the end of boarding and the youngest was 30 and they were DRUNK... why should they leave the bar, they thought mom was holding seats! )

But I was B02 yesterday on my flight and there was no saving. By the time I got on, between the through passengers, the A folks and the families etc... there were not a lot of seats left.

This is what I've noticed as well (perhaps I didn't articulate well). Even if you check in right at 24 hours you could be screwed due to family boarding and early boarding. OP, get the early boarding and get it early.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Saving seats isn't allowed on Southwest, if you want a seat, take it. FA's should back you up.

Not quite correct. WN has no official policy regarding seat saving.

 

[goofy4tink]

Wow, I guess people don't understand sarcasm. Of course I would never sit my son away from me. A yes, I have offered up my seat before so parents can sit with their kids.

I am probably one of the most sarcastic people you will meet. But..here, on the DIS boards, I try to avoid it. People don't always 'get it' and you can come across in a manner that is completely opposite of what you intended. There is even a catagory in the 'points' system for sarcasm!!!

Saving seats isn't allowed on Southwest, if you want a seat, take it. FA's should back you up.

Nope, FAs seldom actively do anything about seat savers. And that's too bad. People pay for EBCI, then save multiple seats, thus preventing others that have also paid for EBCI from getting seats together. And that hardly seems fair when that group is made up of people that all paid the EBCI fee!!
I have been on SW flights where the FAs did announce that it was a full flight and there would be no empty seats. Then you should see the commotion of passengers rearranging themselves. They would put stuff in middle seats so as to have an empty seat between them...so they could spread out. But the thought of a stranger sitting there horrified them, so they then scrambled to make sure everyone was sitting next to a family member. Can you imagine the surprise of those C group boarders that got nice aisle seats??

 

[Bob NC]

Not quite correct. WN has no official policy regarding seat saving.

I don't know why but I can't help rolling my eyes and chuckling when I see these posts.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I am probably one of the most sarcastic people you will meet. But..here, on the DIS boards, I try to avoid it. People don't always 'get it' and you can come across in a manner that is completely opposite of what you intended. There is even a catagory in the 'points' system for sarcasm!!!


Nope, FAs seldom actively do anything about seat savers. And that's too bad. People pay for EBCI, then save multiple seats, thus preventing others that have also paid for EBCI from getting seats together. And that hardly seems fair when that group is made up of people that all paid the EBCI fee!!
I have been on SW flights where the FAs did announce that it was a full flight and there would be no empty seats. Then you should see the commotion of passengers rearranging themselves. They would put stuff in middle seats so as to have an empty seat between them...so they could spread out. But the thought of a stranger sitting there horrified them, so they then scrambled to make sure everyone was sitting next to a family member. Can you imagine the surprise of those C group boarders that got nice aisle seats??

Sorry...this is off topic...but what is the "points" system?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I don't know why but I can't help rolling my eyes and chuckling when I see these posts.

I don't know either, since there isn't anything funny about providing factual answers to questions.

WN doesn't have a seat saving policy and in fact, I have seen gate agents tell boarding PAX to save seats for late members of their party on the tv show Airline. You might have an FA help you get a seat someone is saving, but I can assure you, they do not want to get involved. Plus, who wants to start an argument while boarding? If someone is saving one or two seats, move along. Or don't fly WN; I very, very rarely do.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Sorry...this is off topic...but what is the "points" system?

I assume this refers to points you accrue when your posts are reported to moderators for violating board policy.

 

[goofy4tink]

Sorry...this is off topic...but what is the "points" system?

No problem. If you go to the area that consists of board policies, you will find guidelines for posting. There are certain things we ask that you not do....being nasty/sarcastic, attacking other posters, political or religious postings, etc. Moderators can then either give out 'points' which will make it impossible for the poster to post anything for a certain amount of time, or they can give a warning out, with no points.
Now, for example, the post just before this one was pretty rude and uncalled for. It is from a first time poster but I imagine it's someone who wants to fly under the radar so registered a new screen name so they could post that comment. They were given points for being rude, and their post was deleted. Those points will remain in place for 20 days..if I remember correctly. If a moderator or webmaster sees repeating posts of a nasty nature, by the same poster, they will be banned from posting under that screen name.

Hope that helps. We try to keep these boards helpful and polite.

I have to agree about the whole SW vs WN argument though. The vast majority of people know it as SW...so tend to get confused with the WN. I would respectfully request that we just use SW, but since this is America, I can't shoot those that disagree!!!