Southwest to have assigned seating

[Babs Johnson]

It's about time. Those seat savers are really the bottom of the social barrel.

If no butt is in the seat, just sit down. Ignore anyone who claims the seats are saved. Flight attendants won’t stop you. If bags are on the seats, throw them in the aisle.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I would never accuse someone of faking pain at the airport, but it's pretty well known that people request assistance just for the ability to preboard on Southwest. People who would not request it flying the same airports on an airline where your seat is assigned.

I am happy to hear that you do not, however there are many people staring at those of us waiting to preboard. I will still have to preboard regardless of assigned seat as I will hold up the entire line otherwise. It is an uncomfortable situation being accommodated at a busy airport like MCO. People go into a kind of road rage mode in the airport. I see it differently I guess.

 

[dez1978]

I use the hotel shampoo & conditioner. I have curly hair. I pack a 3-oz travel tube of my anti-frizz hair gel stuff. Sometimes I have brought a travel container of shampoo from home. you can also save some room in your quart-sized liquids bag by switching to a powdered toothpaste that one would only use when traveling. the powdered toothpaste wouldn't have to go in the liquids bag (they sell the powdered stuff at Sprouts).

Between a roller carry-on bag and the Nomad Lane bento bag I use (it's a phenomenal bag), I can get a whole week's worth of vacation-wear and stuff and have a little room left over for souvenirs.

The hotel stuff leaves my hair feeling like straw. Like using the Suave stuff lol. I do have little travel size things of my curl creme and mousse. I think its the diffuser that gets me lol.

You were definitely taking a chance doing this.
On my last flight, there was a woman saving 2 seats. A man boarded and asked if the seats were taken. She explained she was saving them for her family.

He actually said “oh well, no saving seats” and sat down. She was furious, tried to get flight attendants to intervene, which was difficult with the stream of people coming onboard. She ended up moving to the back of the plane when her two C group family came on, but they were not all seated together in the end.

Thats what should happen. If sitting together is that important, you gotta get ECBI. Just like every other airline charges to pick seats. Having said that, I will share my one experience with SW and an extra seat. A couple years ago, my then 8 yr old broke his leg and had a full leg cast, up to his groin. After getting approval from his dr to fly, I called SW to see what we needed to do so that he could sit sideways in the seat. We bought and paid for an extra seat. We got to preboard, and SW staff were so kind and amazing with it. We sat in the front row so he'd have the extra room and wouldn't be smacking his leg on the seats. After the 1st person tried to sit in the middle open seat, the flight attendant told her we'd purchased that for medical reasons, and then had me scoot over and put his leg on my lap and stood in the empty space while everyone else boarded so I wouldn't get all the dirty looks.

 

[Babs Johnson]

Sorry…I do this. It’s so expensive to add on early bird for the entire family both ways.

If your saved seat is one that I want, I’m going to sit in it and there’s not a damn thing you’re going to do about it.

 

[Mle8308]

You were definitely taking a chance doing this.
On my last flight, there was a woman saving 2 seats. A man boarded and asked if the seats were taken. She explained she was saving them for her family.

He actually said “oh well, no saving seats” and sat down. She was furious, tried to get flight attendants to intervene, which was difficult with the stream of people coming onboard. She ended up moving to the back of the plane when her two C group family came on, but they were not all seated together in the end.

As how it should be!

 

[Smugpugmug]

I'll be glad to see the seat saving problem go away. Not sure where the acceptable cutoff is - buy one EB and save one seat for a travel partner? Buy one EB and save the 2 seats in the row? Or the situation we had on one flight (and the attendants refused to do anything about it), 2 mothers with EBs saving 6 rows of seats for a sports team of young teenagers traveling. And they didn't go to the back of the plane to save the 6 rows - they opted for the front, and got quite obnoxious about no one sitting in the seats. It shouldn't have been allowed, was absolutely rude, and got the flight off to a really poor start. An extreme example? Not sure......

At least the seat assignments will remove that issue on future flights.

I would've sat in one of these seats anyway. I genuinely wouldn't have cared what that group thought about it. Southwest doesn't allow for seat saving so any seat that doesn't have a butt on it is fair game to me.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I know people are talking about seat saving but what you will likely see now instead of majority of the seat issues being worked out by passengers and amicably in majority of cases to what you see happen on more airlines where passengers will ask other passengers to swap seats or sit intentionally in someone else's seat. This was avoided with their open seating policy by far. Now someone looks at the seat map and notices they can't get a seat together when purchasing tickets or seat selection or someone waits for the system to assign them one and they aren't seated next to each other and will try their luck by bugging other passengers on the plane.

As is there are a decent amount of complaints on other airlines about this as well as when a passenger has been downgraded due to a seating situation or someone sits in their seat and the FA gets involved and it's not always that the passenger gets their assigned seat back.

 

[Tigger's ally]

We have a friend who works from SWA. He said some of them will heavily enforce "no seat saving" if another passenger is upset about it.

You have been fortunate, because the Flight Attendants WILL tell people they cannot save seats if somebody wants to sit. We have seen it first hand as well with full planes.

I have saved a seat for my wife before, but I don't take the first open row, I head towards the back of the plane. Just common sense.

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

I am glad for this change. I do hope SWA will also address the number of carry-ons some passengers bring. 2 - 3 per person, all in the overhead bins.

I find the numbers of parents with children who are clearly preteens using family boarding is ridiculous. Same thing for the number of wheelchairs lined up and then those same people get off the plane with no problem once we hit our destination and no longer need wheelchair assistance.

Or mom with 2 kids, dad with 1 kid, grandma with 1 kid and grandpa with 1 kid, acting like they are not together. I see it every single time we fly to MCO. Most of these kids are well over 6. I do not wish for a family with littles to be split, but when people pay for EBCI, they get a B number and 40 people from "families" are boarded first, it is just not a good process.

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

I have saved a seat for my wife before, but I don't take the first open row, I head towards the back of the plane. Just common sense.

I have never had an issue with 1 seat. I know people who save 2 rows so their family of 6 can sit together.

 

[LoveToDisney]

I think the family boarding between A and B was the biggest problem once the EBCI started creeping into the Bs. I’ve never wanted seat selection before, but I think I might be ready now.

 

[Mle8308]

I am glad for this change. I do hope SWA will also address the number of carry-ons some passengers bring. 2 - 3 per person, all in the overhead bins.

I find the numbers of parents with children who are clearly preteens using family boarding is ridiculous. Same thing for the number of wheelchairs lined up and then those same people get off the plane with no problem once we hit our destination and no longer need wheelchair assistance.

Or mom with 2 kids, dad with 1 kid, grandma with 1 kid and grandpa with 1 kid, acting like they are not together. I see it every single time we fly to MCO. Most of these kids are well over 6. I do not wish for a family with littles to be split, but when people pay for EBCI, they get a B number and 40 people from "families" are boarded first, it is just not a good process.

I have been saying for years that SW should limit family boarding to the back 10 - 15 rows of the plane, depending on how many people are using it. If they don't want to sit in the back, then either pay for EBCI or board according to their boarding group. I emailed them about it one year after a very frustrating flight from MCO, it's one of the reasons I generally avoid SW to FL unless absolutely necessary. That may change with assigned seats. Never heard back.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

2 - 3 per person, all in the overhead bins.

Well you are allowed a carry on and personal item so that would be 2 per person. That said the personal item is intended to be put under the seat unless you're using it as your carry on (meaning you don't have another item that is considered a carry on). That would be fair game to be put in the overhead bin unless the FAs request otherwise which they do from time to time mostly smaller backpacks or purses and jackets.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I would've sat in one of these seats anyway. I genuinely wouldn't have cared what that group thought about it. Southwest doesn't allow for seat saving so any seat that doesn't have a butt on it is fair game to me.

I know what you're saying, but we thought it wasn't worth the hassle. We were on our way to Disney for a vacation we planned for, we're excited and ready to have fun and relax - the confrontation wasn't worth it. Some times you stand up to people breaking the rules, and sometimes you just shake your head and move on. Less stress that way heading to vacation!

 

[Sparrow'sLady]

Well you are allowed a carry on and personal item so that would be 2 per person. That said the personal item is intended to be put under the seat unless you're using it as your carry on (meaning you don't have another item that is considered a carry on). That would be fair game to be put in the overhead bin unless the FAs request otherwise which they do from time to time mostly smaller backpacks or purses and jackets.

Right, one under the seat. Not 3 in the overhead bin as I have seen many do. A roller bag with a large briefcase on it plus another carry bag, like a computer backpack - all 3 in the overhead bin. That is just selfishness.

 

[Genie+]

It’s on these airlines to restore order. Human nature is to be expected. It’s the airline’s responsibility to manage a system that works. Between gate lice, crowding overhead bins, reserving seats that others paid extra for priority… this stuff started sprouting after the over-optimization of every detail. Baggage fees, seat fees, boarding order fees, of course some people will try circumventing it by method over wallet. I can’t blame them. It’s the airline that needs to keep things functioning properly.

 

[Brian Noble]

what you see happen on more airlines where passengers will ask other passengers to swap seats or sit intentionally in someone else's seat.

I passed 1M miles on Delta this summer, so I've flown a fair bit. I've seen these things so rarely that I can probably count them on one hand.

Almost all of those were a pair who booked A/C (or D/F), hoping that B (E) would remain open. When someone shows up in that middle seat, they offered to swap the aisle or window with them. I've never met someone who really wanted that middle seat, so it was smiles all around.

And even that hardly ever happens these days, because Delta has gotten so very good at filling the plane.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Right, one under the seat. Not 3 in the overhead bin as I have seen many do. A roller bag with a large briefcase on it plus another carry bag, like a computer backpack - all 3 in the overhead bin. That is just selfishness.

Well that is actually an issue with allowing 3 items past the gate. If they were caught at the gate then their carry on (in your scenario roller bag or another carry on bag) would be gate checked. TBH I haven't seen your scenario occur. At most it's a shopping bag or a purse which still exceeds the 1 personal item and 1 carry on rule but isn't as egregious as what you described. That falls on gate agents. SWA has in recent months been even telling people the small travel neck pillows need to be put in bags which didn't count towards your personal item before.

But I don't think that would solve your complaint in that someone is putting both their personal item and their carry on in the overhead bin. However, that is allowable by airlines. When FAs anticipate there being a space issues they will generally announce as the boarding is going on multiple times that people start with personal items under the seats or small backpacks and can move to overhead bins if there's space. I agree with it's fair and considerate to put your personal item under your seat first when you have both a carry on and a personal item and I would agree if most did that you'd have less issues after the fact of trying to juggle things around or gate check people's bags purely due to someone having two large enough items up in the overhead bin. It slows down boarding when people decide upon themselves to just put everything above in the overhead bins rather than wait and see if there's space once boarding is completely to do so.

 

[sam_gordon]

I passed 1M miles on Delta this summer, so I've flown a fair bit. I've seen these things so rarely that I can probably count them on one hand.

Almost all of those were a pair who booked A/C (or D/F), hoping that B (E) would remain open. When someone shows up in that middle seat, they offered to swap the aisle or window with them. I've never met someone who really wanted that middle seat, so it was smiles all around.

And even that hardly ever happens these days, because Delta has gotten so very good at filling the plane.

On our flight two weeks ago, we tried the A/C & D/F trick for a couple of rows. DD & DSiL got to their row and the guy who was supposed to be in the middle seat was sitting in the window acting like he was asleep. DD just sucked it up and they sat middle/window. Not me. I would have said something.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It’s on these airlines to restore order. Human nature is to be expected. It’s the airline’s responsibility to manage a system that works. Between gate lice, crowding overhead bins, reserving seats that others paid extra for priority… this stuff started sprouting after the over-optimization of every detail. Baggage fees, seat fees, boarding order fees, of course some people will try circumventing it by method over wallet. I can’t blame them. It’s the airline that needs to keep things functioning properly.

That's one of the reasons I'm not so keen on this adjustment even knowing it was likely to happen. It overcomplicates a system that was largely simple enough creating more opportunities for friction among passengers.