SWA boarding question

[Missytara]

I travel either solo or with a varying type of group each year.

We do what is best and least stressful on each group and while I try to get the best deal possible, we also make sure we spend that little bit extra to make it a special trip.

To me, if you look at how airlines are structured, you pay "cafeteria style" fees based on the conveniences you wish to have or not. If you do not want to pay, you cede that convenience.

Next year, I am traveling with a bartender at one of my favorite places to eat every night. It is a graduation present for her older daughter and a trip for her younger son. She has said flying would not be feasible and has decided to drive. I am going to miss flying so badly.

But I know that I could make the trip easier if I go with them and we split the driving. I am actually looking forward to it.

You have to decide what is worth it to you.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I pay the $10 for EBCI for every member of my family so they can get on at the same, someone pays for only one person and saves those seats that someone paid an extra $10 for...to me that is seriously cheating the system.

I'm all for saving money, but if sitting together and choosing the best seats is important to me, I should pay it for everyone in my party.

It's not stealing. It's not against WN's policy. You may not like it, but people can save seats.

If sitting together is so important, fly an airline which offers assigned seating. I do.

 

[MichelleVW]

It's not stealing. It's not against WN's policy. You may not like it, but people can save seats.

If sitting together is so important, fly an airline which offers assigned seating. I do.

While "technically" you may be right that it's not against SWA's policy, but it's rude and I will just continue to pay the extra $10 a ticket for everyone in my party.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

While "technically" you may be right that it's not against SWA's policy, but it's rude and I will just continue to pay the extra $10 a ticket for everyone in my party.

Sounds like a good decision for you. Whatever works.

 

[Missytara]

If sitting together is so important, fly an airline which offers assigned seating. I do.

Agreed. That is why I fly an airline where I can choose the services I want and a number one service is choosing a window seat so I do not feel so claustrophobic.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

You can try to save seats.

If someone takes your saved seat SW will not intervene. Business travelers are likely to ignore your saving tactics

 

[aubriee]

You can try to save seats.

If someone takes your saved seat SW will not intervene. Business travelers are likely to ignore your saving tactics

Not just business travelers. I hate flying and also have claustrophobic issues. I usually fly airlines where I can pay for the aisle seat, up close to the front that I need. However, if the price was ever right, I would fly Southwest. Even as a solo traveler I would pay for EBCI in order to have the best chance of getting the seat I need. Once I get on that plane, I'd be sitting in the first aisle seat I came to. Sorry, but paying for EBCI for only one person and then expecting that person to be able to save seats is just wrong, when others that paid for EBCI are getting on behind them. I would have absolutely no problem sitting in some aisle seat someone was trying to save.

 

[kamik86]

For the seat saving thing... it really depends on what your trying to save.

For example if your trying to save two seats in the same row your sitting in if you sit in the aisle seat and take out a book most people won't ask you to move so they can take those seats until the plane starts getting a bit more full. You could probably make it to the end of A before that happens even if your in front. If your further back you have even longer.

If your two people trying to save the middle seat (say they limit to 1 child and parent and you want Dad to sit with you too) your almost always good because people don't start taking the middle seats until the plane is pretty much completely full.

If your trying to save seats not in your row (say 1 person trying to save 3 or more seats... yeah good luck I sure would sit in one of those saved seats and many others will too.

I will be A list by our flight in Dec. due to work travel. This will give me an early number but DH will be further back. However since normally I take the aisle and DH takes either the middle seat or if we can get a whole row the window... I'll save his seat which will be easy to do by simply not sitting in the very front or taking an exit row.

 

[rgf207]

I pay the $10 for EBCI for every member of my family so they can get on at the same, someone pays for only one person and saves those seats that someone paid an extra $10 for...to me that is seriously cheating the system.

I'm all for saving money, but if sitting together and choosing the best seats is important to me, I should pay it for everyone in my party.

If someone is saving seats and you board the plane, by all means take the seat. Saving of seats is not against policy but neither is you choosing to sit in a saved seat.

 

[goofy4tink]

I pay the $10 for EBCI for every member of my family so they can get on at the same, someone pays for only one person and saves those seats that someone paid an extra $10 for...to me that is seriously cheating the system.

I'm all for saving money, but if sitting together and choosing the best seats is important to me, I should pay it for everyone in my party.

Ok, here's the thing....if there are two of us flying, and my dh gets held up (which has happened), I will be saving him a seat. I seriously doubt anyone is going to want that middle seat next to me...besides, I usually head to behiind the wing or the exit row seats. Those with youngsters aren't allowed in the exit row to begin with. And by the time the B group is boarding, there are still plenty of seats together that are available. I really don't think my saving one seat is going to prevent your family from sitting together.
Unless you have a huge group, or you are put into the middle to late C group, you shouldn't have trouble finding seats together. Normal sized families should be fine.

 

[wgeo]

I just had to post about my flight on Saturday, I've never seen anything like it. We had paid EBCI for the 4 of us, and got A36 -39 on our connecting flights. All is good, we get on the plane and over the first half of the plane was "full" people were sitting in each window and aisle seat. That makes sense it was a flight that was bound to have a lot of "through" passengers. I got a little past midway and there was a flight attendant standing in a row and in the row directly NEXT to her was a gentleman, who I'll call Grandpa. Grandpa was standing and had put magazines on 9 SEATS around him. I looked up and said are these saved? And he said Yes, I'm saving all 9 of these for my family. The flight attendant didn't say a word. I couldn't believe it, but if I moved further back in the plane I could see that I could find 4 seats together for my family so I let it go. Well, the rest of his party boarded in the C group and let me tell you there was quite a bit of grumbling, but no one took his saved seats and his family all sat together.

I'm happy that we sat together and that I didn't have to stress about checking in at T24, but I did feel like it wasn't fair to save seats like that.

Just my opinion.

 

[FourBees]

That is totally unexceptable. The airline stewardess should have spoke up. I can see saving seats a few maybe if everyone in your party had EBCI and you were split up but I don't agree with one person buying it to save seats for everyone else in their party especially nine. I would let Southwest know this.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

That is totally unexceptable [sic].The airline stewardess should have spoke up. I can see saving seats a few maybe if everyone in your party had EBCI and you were split up but I don't agree with one person buying it to save seats for everyone else in their party especially nine. I would let Southwest know this.

They are called flight attendants.

The time to speak up was when the poster boarded the plane and saw someone saving nine seats. There is nothing WN can do about it now. They don't have an official policy prohibiting seat saving.

 

[wgeo]

They are called flight attendants.

The time to speak up was when the poster boarded the plane and saw someone saving nine seats. There is nothing WN can do about it now. They don't have an official policy prohibiting seat saving.

I figured that since the Flight Attendant was practically right next to the guy when said it and since she didn't even blink when he said it, that saying anything to here wouldn't get me anywhere. Also, I tend to avoid conflict and since I could see that if I moved further back I would be able to sit together I just moved along. It just struck me as not right.

 

[crashbb]

If you search, people have posted email responses from SW in which SW have stated that they have no policy against someone saving seats. So, there was no policy for the FA to enforce. On the other hand, there was also no policy preventing the OP from removing a magazine and sitting in one of the seats. I'm not suggesting that the OP should have, but "grandpa" wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

 

[goofy4tink]

I've posted this before, but it bears repeating....
There was the SW flight a few years ago....I got an A17 spot, dd had A18. We boarded, took our seats, toward the front of the plane, about 3 rows back. There had been a few medical preboards... so the first rows on each side were taken, as well as the second row. So, we hopped into the third..middle seat and window seat.
Well...we sat and watched as passengers filed in, taking their seats. There had to be about 5 rows with two people in each row...middle seat was always open. I did find it odd that there were so many 'solo' travelers, especially since there were kids sitting by themselves. So, fast forward to the C group boarding. There were people milling around, trying to find seats together. Well, that wasn't happening, so they started taking empty middle seats.
The FA came over the speakers saying...'This flight is fully booked. We are at capacity. There will be no empty seats on this flight..so if you are trying to save a seat, understand that that seat will be taken by someone you don't know!!!'
Well...you should have seen the folks in those 5 rows around me scurry!!! They had been hoping to have those 'saved' middle seats remain empty, that way they could have the row to themselves!!! That family now started rearranging their seats all around us. By the time they were done, there were one or two rows empty!!! Those late boarding C people lucked out in a big way...some of them were actually able to find seats together, even though there were among the last to board!!!
But I have to tell you, it was hysterical to see those kids yelling for their parents..'Mom, what do we do now??? I don't want to sit next to someone I don't know!!!!! Moooommmm!!!'

There can be reasons for saving a seat or two. I know that there was one time that, in the interest of gathering info, I booked EBCI for myself and my dd, but not for dh. Dd and I got spots fairly close to the front of the A group...maybe high 20's/low 30's. Dh got in the mid B30's!! Dd and I boarded and took the window and aisle seats. When dh got on, he took the aisle, and I moved to the middle.
There are even times when one person in a group arrives late to the gate...for whatever reason..and they did buy EBCI. But they are now back with the high B's...so it's not going to be a huge deal if someone in their group saves them a seat.

 

[mrsstats]

Seat saving has always been a pet peeve of mine. You will always find people who only think of themselves. And yes, SWA does not have a policy for this. I have sent them emails in the past. I also would not confront anyone. Who wants to be stuck on a plane with people who are now angry at you for taking "their" seat.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Seat saving has always been a pet peeve of mine. You will always find people who only think of themselves. And yes, SWA does not have a policy for this. I have sent them emails in the past. I also would not confront anyone. Who wants to be stuck on a plane with people who are now angry at you for taking "their" seat.

You are right. You can't win in this type of situation. I'm sure Southwest FAs are sick of dealing with this issue, which is probably why the FA didn't want to get involved with this. Even if WN had a seat saving policy, I don't think it would solve the problem. People would still save seats.

 

[goofy4tink]

Seat saving has always been a pet peeve of mine. You will always find people who only think of themselves. And yes, SWA does not have a policy for this. I have sent them emails in the past. I also would not confront anyone. Who wants to be stuck on a plane with people who are now angry at you for taking "their" seat.

Okay, I have to ask. If you have paid for EBCI, you are most likely not going to have any issue finding that all important aisle seat. But, it may not be in the exact row you want. So, no, you aren't going to get the aisle seat in row 2. But, there are plenty of other ones open.
I just can't understand the outrage over not getting the exact seat you want. If I choose to save one seat, or perhaps two, it's really not taking anything away from you. If I plop myself down in Row 3, seat C, then I'm not saving that desirable aisle seat. I am, basically, saving the middle seat. I do put a coat or a book on seat A. So, if you want that specific seat 3A, then I guess you might be irritated. But, I just don't see seat saving happening all that much..maybe just a seat or two, in the same row, but seldom multiple seats in multiple rows.

 

[bumbershoot]

I figured that since the Flight Attendant was practically right next to the guy when said it and since she didn't even blink when he said it, that saying anything to here wouldn't get me anywhere. Also, I tend to avoid conflict and since I could see that if I moved further back I would be able to sit together I just moved along. It just struck me as not right.

If you had said something, if you had really wanted THOSE seats, if you had spoken up then the FA probably would have let the guy know that it wasn't OK.

Since you didn't, then it was apparently OK with you, so why would the FA say anything? I'm sure she would have helped IF there had been a problem, but your actions showed that there was no problem.