Reading that literally - and, really, in this case what other way IS there? - it appears to mean ONE person can save ONE seat for ONE other person.at risk of beating this to death, as i read the email, 'a claimed seat' is off the table
general-boarding Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat.
With this in mind, as long as there is no Safety concern, it would be acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for his/her family member or traveling companion who may be in a later boarding group.
jmho, this will eventually blow up in SWAs face via an altercation; probably complete w/youtube video
Two medical early boards should have ONE companion each.
and I'm just itching to find a seat saver in the exit row. We will plunk right down in any seats that don't already have someone's backside in them. We bought our tickets October 5th and immediately added EBCI so should be in an excellent boarding position.
, it was bent in this exception. The 2 elderly people were shaky, visibly needed all the help they could & im am OK with that (bless their hearts). 
; wanting their entire party to sit nearby & the FAs just kept smiling through it all.
Reading that literally - and, really, in this case what other way IS there? - it appears to mean ONE person can save ONE seat for ONE other person.
quote]
i didn't want to quote myselfkeep reprinting the whole email i received, apparently not clear in the edited version i brought over. Once again, for those who didn't read the whole thread, i'll i'll bring over the full email i posted from page 1? This a true piece of work, fine example of doubletalk, red vs blue
We were saddened to learn of your dissatisfaction. We appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts with us. We feel that Customer feedback only makes us a better airline. Thank you for giving us the privilege to respond to your correspondence.
As you know, all flights on Southwest are "open-seating," and Customers are free to take any available seat onboard the aircraft. In light of this, it is not uncommon for a Customer to want to reserve a seat (or seats) for a friend, family member, or associate who will be boarding behind them. Truthfully, we don’t have a policy either way--for or against--saving seats. In fact, we share our perspective on this issue on southwest.com as follows: "because Southwest Airlines maintains an open-seating policy, general-boarding Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat." With this in mind, as long as there is no Safety concern, it would be acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for his/her family member or traveling companion who may be in a later boarding group. We are aware that the saving of seats is a by-product of our policy, and as long as the boarding process is not delayed, it usually isn’t a significant issue. That said, we are sorry for your frustration and we apologize for any disappointment. Please know that we have tracked the main points of your e-mail via our monthly summary, which is distributed to our Senior Leadership.
Your patronage and friendship mean the world to us. We appreciate your feedback and we hope to have an opportunity to share the skies with you soon.
Sincerely,
Krisanne, Southwest Airlines
Dont get me wrong, i still would pick SWA over AirTran for flights to Florida, unless Airtran is substantially lower in price, just don't appreciated getting snowed by SWA. Man up, make a policy & enforce it; certain better than being so vague imo re EB
) & are willing to pay for it (EB for everybody in our group) or the old system wherein we'd be in the website @ T-24 to check in & hope for the best.
And, I just boarded along with everyone else, its not like they had a line for EB people anyway!
I was thinking there was a special line for EB people and we got to board BEFORE anyone else got to.
I am thinking this Early Boarding thing is a big bunch of crapola...I love SW, and fly them often, but I printed my Boarding Pass about 30 min past 24 hour mark and got A-21! BIG WHOOP!
There are many things I "luv" about Southwest, but their boarding policy is NOT one of them. Count me in the group of folks who would strongly prefer paying my $10 for an assigned seat. And like on AirTran, I'd gladly pay $15 for the exit row.
But as long as Southwest is asking for these problems, I applaud the folks with enough moxie to plunk themselves down in a seat that is "saved" for someone with a higher boarding number. Once hubby and I took two seats in an exit row that were being saved by a pre-boarder (talk about nerve) and FA did advise seat-saver that she couldn't do that. Seat-saver continued to refer to us as "rude" throughout the flight.
While SWA does not have a policy against seat saving, the FA was right in that pre-boarding passengers are not permitted in the exit row. If they are pre-boards they either have children under 5 or need assistance in boarding. Therefore they would be unable to perform the exit row duties.
Good for you for claiming the seatsThe pre-boarders had no right to be in them. You can't have your cake (need assistance) and eat it too (sit in a row where you might be required to provide assistance.
We had a similar situation with a pre-boarded family of three (a mom, dad and a 3 year old). The man was very argumentative, to the point that the FA threatened to remove him from the plane if he didn't calm down.
In my most recent flights on SWA there have actually been FAs standing in the exit rows during pre-board (we are almost always A15, 16 and 17 - at least before the new $10pp policy we were lol)
In two weeks we are flying to Las Vegas from Orlando. We added EBCI to both flights for each of us. I think it is unfair to save seats and I won't be party to it.
