SWA backing off from cattle call seating?

[Pinnie]

Originally posted by antmaril
I just wanted to mention that I traveled on SWA from Chicago to Detroit on Thursday. I arrived THREE HOURS prior to the flight time and received a "B" boarding pass. I was very surprised that three hours wasn't early enough to get an "A" boarding pass.

Keep in mind that Chicago is a hub and a lot of people fly in there, and change planes. They get their boarding passes on their first leg. For instance, when I fly from MCO to DTW and change planes at MDW, I get my boarding pass for the MDW to DTW pass when I check in at MCO.

3 Hours early? You could have DROVE to Detroit in that time!

pinnie

 

[antmaril]

Pinnie:

Thank you for that explanation. I didn't really think of that. Duh!!

I wondered how all these people had A Boarding passes and we were the first ones at the gate. LOL

We were hoping to get on an earlier flight to Detroit, but SWA wanted $56 each to put us on the earlier flight, so we decided to wait.

Thanks for the info!

 

[inkkognito]

That's another thing that has so far kept me from flying Southwest. On ATA, it doesn't cost anything to go standby. I've only used their policy three times (got on two out of the three flights) and it was so nice to have that option.
Barb

 

[coinkc]

I don't mind SWA's seating policy because at least we have a chance to sit near the front. It seems that whenever seats are assigned we always end up way in the back. Even this past year when we flew an airline that allowed you to choose your seats when you booked, they still changed ours and my daughter and I ended up seperated (she was 7 by the way!). At least with no assigned seats, everybody has the same chance to sit where they want...it is up to them how they go about getting it.

 

[Pinnie]

Originally posted by inkkognito
That's another thing that has so far kept me from flying Southwest. On ATA, it doesn't cost anything to go standby. I've only used their policy three times (got on two out of the three flights) and it was so nice to have that option.
Barb

Hmmm, isn't ATA the airline that filed Chapter 11 this past week? Those "perks" cost money! SWA is still one of the only airlines that consistantly makes money and has an awesome ontime record!


pinnie

 

[inkkognito]

Good point!
The hurricanes and fuel prices had a lot to do with it, but I wish they had raised their prices a little. I would have paid a little more to fly ATA vs. SWA due to the perks.
Barb

 

[NotUrsula]

SWA does charge for earlier standby, but IME, they will let you go standby on later flights at no charge (if you miss your original flight.) They also will waive standby fees if there is a looming weather crisis, of course.

Add to that they don't charge any penalties for cancelling or changing flights, I think it's a fair enough deal.

I tend to like the present seating structure except when I'm travelling with a child. In that case, I wouldn't mind paying a fee to get a preboard pass. (Not for me, you understand; I could happily let someone else entertain my kid on flights. It's the other passengers I'm thinking of.)

 

[SStJean]

Originally posted by NotUrsula
SWA does charge for earlier standby, but IME, they will let you go standby on later flights at no charge (if you miss your original flight.) They also will waive standby fees if there is a looming weather crisis, of course.

A few years back my wife and I were returning from a Disney Cruise. We arrived a the airport early for our flight. When we checked in, we were told that an earlier flight to PVD was leaving in a 1/2 hour and still had available seating. We were offered seats on that flight, which we happily took, without charge. YMMV, but it does happen at times.

Steve

 

[Captain Blue Sky]

For SWA to make assigned seating a reality, they will need to upgrade their reservation system that currently does not have the ability to make seating assignments...

This is a very costly addition to their fixed costs, as the development, beta testing, and implementation mean a significant paradigm shift for SWA...

Someone mentioned 20 minute gate times in previous posts. I'm not sure what is meant by that, as every airline will release seats 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure if the customer is not present in the gate at that time for boarding...

Consequently, I really think it is the cost of design and implementation of their reservation system which is the major stumbling block.

In all my years of flying I have only flown SWA once, and was very unhappy with the competitive I'm-gonna-get-that-seat-before-you-do attitude of their customers...

And yes, SWA has announced they might be interested in some of ATA's 737-800s but so far negotiations are not progressing unless one side or the other budges...

 

[NotUrsula]

The 20-minute gate time referred to is the turnaround goal used at SWA. Their goal is that when a plane makes a stop on a route, the elapsed time from when the cabin door opens until it closes for pushback is 20 minutes.

They do manage to meet that goal for the majority of their flights.
Usually when they miss the goal it is in situations where they need to wait for passengers coming off another SWA flight that was delayed for some reason. Not long ago, I had this happen at MDW; our 50 minute flight to STL loaded up in 10 minutes, but they could not close boarding b/c they were waiting for 40 passengers off a flight from BWI that had been delayed for weather. They got in 30 minutes late. We left the gate 5 minutes short of our original departure time, & we landed 35 minutes late in STL. The flight we were on was continuing to MCO; for jollies, I checked when I got home; it was only 40 minutes late arriving there, so they made up most of the loss in the turnaround time at the gate in STL.