Southwest Rumor Mill is ramping up

[kittylady1972]

Did anyone read or hear about the latest "scam" people are trying to pull on SWA? They book a paid ticket and the free companion pass if they qualify, then last minute they cancel the "paid" ticket. They were saying, due to the fact that the "free" companion is usually already on the plane and could be in ANY seat, they have to remove EVERYBODY from the plane, check all of the tickets to find the "free" person and remove them, and then board everybody again.

What. A. Nightmare.

That's certainly one argument for moving to assigned seats for sure.

 

[EACarlson]

Did anyone read or hear about the latest "scam" people are trying to pull on SWA? They book a paid ticket and the free companion pass if they qualify, then last minute they cancel the "paid" ticket. They were saying, due to the fact that the "free" companion is usually already on the plane and could be in ANY seat, they have to remove EVERYBODY from the plane, check all of the tickets to find the "free" person and remove them, and then board everybody again.

What. A. Nightmare.

That's certainly one argument for moving to assigned seats for sure.

This should be caught long before take off and federal regulations prevent them from flying. Once the ticket is cancelled, both the CP holder and the companion are removed from the flight manifest. The FA's make a manual headcount to verify the number on the plane matches the final manifest. If the numbers don't match, you can't take off because you don't know who is on the plane.
A better IT department should also be able to flag when a boarding pass is scanned at T-30 to T-10 and is not on the final manifest. Call them out, ban both the companion and the CP holder from flying SW again and this is no longer an issue. The first I heard of it, it was a full flight and the system put a standby passenger on the flight once the companion was removed from the manifest. That passenger had no seat. Very easy to ban that passenger and whomever's companion pass they were flying on, especially since that passenger should have been in jail.

 

[SteveMouse]

The second seat is usually issued as a standardized derivative of the person's name.

It would be very easy for SW to not board anyone with solely the standardized derivative name ticket. An IT change could easily automate the process, if the function isn't already there.

 

[kittylady1972]

There are many ways this could be automated or the process changed for sure. We will see what happens I guess.

It did highlight how important airline seat assignments can be though, not just for this reason but I'm sure there are others.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

There are many ways this could be automated or the process changed for sure. We will see what happens I guess.

It did highlight how important airline seat assignments can be though, not just for this reason but I'm sure there are others.

I really don't think this is a new situation, nor do I think seat assignments help or hinder this particular (probably rare) situation. If the person enters the plane with their CP boarding pass, they will find them if it's flagged by the original purchaser cancelling. At the very least, the person will likely be charged for the flight as it's tied to the original purchaser.