Seating on Southwest

[Bob NC]

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.

Every single post on this thread is referencing Southwest Airlines, what the heck is up with WN?

 

[KrazeeK120]

Every single post on this thread is referencing Southwest Airlines, what the heck is up with WN?

WN is the International Air Transport Association's code for Southwest. Each airline is assigned a 2-character code by IATA. I don't know why Southwest's is WN, however.

 

[airplanegod]

A little history lesson for you all. WN is Southwest's International Air Transport Association (IATA) code. SW was taken by Air Nambia, so Southwest (For reasons I don't know) stuck with WN. NOW, Southwest's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) code is SWA. Kind of like Jetblue's IATA code is B6 because JB was taken by a helicopter company up in British Columbia, but their ICAO code is JBU.

 

[anonymousegirl]

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??

When my husband and I fly southwest, he takes his preferred aisle and I take my preferred window, leaving the middle empty (no book, jacket, etc). If someone trys to take the seat, my husband moves over and that lucky person gets the aisle. About half the time, we end up with an empty seat between us.

 

[Bob NC]

A little history lesson for you all. WN is Southwest's International Air Transport Association (IATA) code. SW was taken by Air Nambia, so Southwest (For reasons I don't know) stuck with WN. NOW, Southwest's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) code is SWA. Kind of like Jetblue's IATA code is B6 because JB was taken by a helicopter company up in British Columbia, but their ICAO code is JBU.

Good history lesson.

Southwest Airlines has the IATA code of WN.

I wonder if the people who always refer to Southwest as WN would text a friend to pick them up at the airport and say, "Hey, my flight lands at 4:30, meet me at the WN baggage check, thanks"

 

[goofy4tink]

I do understand the why of WN. My issue is that this airline is commonly referred to as SW, at least here on these boards. It is confusing to posters to see WN come up in the middle of a thread. They start to wonder if there is another airline out there. I have received many pm's regarding this....it would just be easier for everyone if we just used SW. I doubt SW/WN is going to much care.

 

[seashell724]

I'm not from the US but have flown within often and I got TOTALLY confused.

 

[kaytieeldr]

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.

In fairness, production of new episodes of Airline halted some time before EBCI went into effect.

Southwest doesn't have a policy for or against saving seats. Given their boarding procedures and EBCI, it would be great if they had a set policy. Reports have been mixed. Sometimes the Flight Attendants won't get involved; sometimes they won't stop passengers from saving seats at first, but if someone [not in that party] wants that seat, the FA won't support saving it.

I wonder if the people who always refer to Southwest as WN would text a friend to pick them up at the airport and say, "Hey, my flight lands at 4:30, meet me at the WN baggage check, thanks"

Nah, probably more likely, "pick me up outside terminal C", or "meet me at door 10".

 

[emilymad]

Definitely buy the EB. We fly from Philly to Orlando and even with EB we have gotten numbers in the late B's. There are only two of us so we have never had a problem getting seats together but it has been close.

We have also been on flights were they didn't do family boarding because there were too many families. I would hate to count on that but end up with a C boarding pass.

We have also been on many flights were people wouldn't move to let people sit together. We never move. Everyone has the opportunity to purchase EB and show up to the gate on time. Not my problem if someone else took their chances.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've given my opinion on this before...but will again (as if anyone really cares about my opinion!)
If I have paid extra for EBCI, then I am not giving up my seat to someone that didn't plan ahead. Those that buy EBCI usually find the seating they need. Unless you have a group of 6 or more, you should be able to find seats that enable everyone to be seated next to someone in your group.
I still don't understand why people insist on asking others to give up the seat they specifically chose. I chose that seat for a reason. There may be many reasons that people take the seats they take. It just isn't fair for a late boarder to get on the plane and then start asking people to move so that their family can sit together.
And it isn't fair for some in the group to pay for EBCI and then save multiple seats for those, in their group that didn't pay addtl, boarding later in the process.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Just pay the extra money for early boarding. That's what we do and it works find.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[gmeh1]

I've given my opinion on this before...but will again (as if anyone really cares about my opinion!)
If I have paid extra for EBCI, then I am not giving up my seat to someone that didn't plan ahead. Those that buy EBCI usually find the seating they need. Unless you have a group of 6 or more, you should be able to find seats that enable everyone to be seated next to someone in your group.
I still don't understand why people insist on asking others to give up the seat they specifically chose. I chose that seat for a reason. There may be many reasons that people take the seats they take. It just isn't fair for a late boarder to get on the plane and then start asking people to move so that their family can sit together.
And it isn't fair for some in the group to pay for EBCI and then save multiple seats for those, in their group that didn't pay addtl, boarding later in the process.

Well said and I totally agree!!

 

[aubriee]

I've given my opinion on this before...but will again (as if anyone really cares about my opinion!)
If I have paid extra for EBCI, then I am not giving up my seat to someone that didn't plan ahead. Those that buy EBCI usually find the seating they need. Unless you have a group of 6 or more, you should be able to find seats that enable everyone to be seated next to someone in your group.
I still don't understand why people insist on asking others to give up the seat they specifically chose. I chose that seat for a reason. There may be many reasons that people take the seats they take. It just isn't fair for a late boarder to get on the plane and then start asking people to move so that their family can sit together.
And it isn't fair for some in the group to pay for EBCI and then save multiple seats for those, in their group that didn't pay addtl, boarding later in the process.

So well said! For some reason alot of parents have the attitude that just because they have a kid, everyone else should just bow down and give them whatever they want. That kid is their responsibility, not anyone else's. They need to do what they need to in order to sit next to that kid, not expect people who paid for their seat (or a better boarding position) to bend over backwards to accommodate them.

Before Southwest purchased Air Tran and Air Tran got pulled out of DFW, I used to fly Air Tran from DFW to MCO 5-6 times a year. Due to claustrophobic issues, I do not do middle or window seats and will not sit in the back of a plane. I always book fairly early and make sure I can choose an aisle seat as close to the front as possible. If an aisle seat close to the front was not available, I did not book that flight. Yeah, sometimes, I paid more than I probably had to, but that was the choice I made, in order to get the seat I needed. On Air Tran you could purchase your seat, so I always made sure to purchase one of those more expensive $12.00 or $15.00 seats, close to the front. I also arrive early at the airport and always sit close to the boarding desk. There was not one single trip that I didn't hear some parent ranting and raving about how no they didn't purchase their seats, because they had children and didn't dream Air Tran would separate them from their kid. They just assumed that since they had kids that they would have to be seated together and now they expected Air Tran to move people around for them. Every single time, the GA response was the same, "We didn't separate you from your child. You had the opportunity to purchase seats together but chose not to." I can't count the number of times I've read threads here on the Dis from parents who say they have no intention of purchasing their seats and will just throw a hissy fit until the airlines moves people around so they can sit with their kids. Sorry, but I have no sympathy for them. They had the same opportunity to purchase seats that I did and were just too cheap to do so, so planned on using the kid card to get free seats. Because I know I need to be in an aisle seat close to the front and that Southwest does not allow you to prepurchase your seat, I know I will never fly them. Even with EBCI there would be no way I could guarantee I would get the seat I need. However, if for some unknown reason I did happen to fly them, you better believe I would be purchasing EBCI for both legs of the trip (even if I was flying solo) and that I would be taking the first aisle seat I came to. No way would I be moving either. Other people would have had the same opportunity to purchase EBCI that I did.

 

[Disneylover99]

I've given my opinion on this before...but will again (as if anyone really cares about my opinion!)
If I have paid extra for EBCI, then I am not giving up my seat to someone that didn't plan ahead. Those that buy EBCI usually find the seating they need. Unless you have a group of 6 or more, you should be able to find seats that enable everyone to be seated next to someone in your group.
I still don't understand why people insist on asking others to give up the seat they specifically chose. I chose that seat for a reason. There may be many reasons that people take the seats they take. It just isn't fair for a late boarder to get on the plane and then start asking people to move so that their family can sit together.
And it isn't fair for some in the group to pay for EBCI and then save multiple seats for those, in their group that didn't pay addtl, boarding later in the process.