SWA boarding question

[anonymousegirl]

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.

Is it possible that Grandpa and his group were on the first flight and his family had left the plane to use the toilets or something?

 

[goofy4tink]

Ok, I have gone through SW's site...and nowhere do I see anything about saving seats. It does say that you are free to take any available seat. Now, I suppose that's open to interpretation....if you see a jacket on that middle seat, do you assume it's 'available' or 'taken'?? I say it's taken and no longer available.
No one is going to have any issue if a passenger saves one or two seats, within the row they are actively sitting in. It's only when one or two passengers decide to save multiple seats, in multiple rows, for the same family group that you will see an issue happening.
I have never heard any SW FA say anything about saving seats, other than to make an announcement that the flight is at capacity and there are no emtpy seats available.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Ok, I have gone through SW's site...and nowhere do I see anything about saving seats.

That is because WN has no official policy on saving seats. I have posted this before, but I have seen gate agents on WN's two different reality tv shows tell PAX to save seats for friends/family members.

 

[goofy4tink]

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.

And I will have to agree with that. As I've said..I have no issue with saving a few seats, but certainly not more than two. I would have asked the FA why the heck I bothered paying addtl for EBCI while so many others didn't yet were able to get seats together. Then, a letter would have gone out to the powers that be.
Yes, perhaps Grandpa was just saving the seats for those who got off the plane to use the bathroom, but that's a lot of people getting off the plane. They could have left their own belongings behind, showing that each seat was indeed being used, already, on the previous leg. It would seem that Grandpa was merely saving seats for those who chose to not pay the addtl money for EBCI. And with that many people involved?? It's just plain wrong..and a FA should have said something. That's 3 rows of seats, at least!!!!

 

[kamik86]

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!!!'

See I have done the above to try to get a row without a third person. However if someone asks to sit there I just move over to the middle and they would get an aisle seat (if I'm with my husband) or if its a coworker we aren't going to talk most of the flight anyway and we just let someone have the middle seat. I wouldn't do it with kids or with multiple rows though. Well unless the kids were seasoned fliers that were ok with it anyway.

I'm going to be doing that soon with DH, if work sends me on even one more flight in the next 2 months. I will end up on A list which will give me earlier boarding numbers then him.

 

[DOPEYLUVER]

If saving seats is OK then why can't families board with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc? The seats are going to be held anyway.

Just scratching my head trying to figure it out.

 

[Jestocost]

If saving seats is OK then why can't families board with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc? The seats are going to be held anyway.

Just scratching my head trying to figure it out.

The problem is that SWA has no policy saying that seat saving is OK and no policy saying that it is not OK. So it is not officially endorsed nor is it officially forbidden.

Their policy is that after boarding you can sit in any open seat. You will find that different FAs will use different definitions for "open" seat, however. Some will allow passengers to save seats, some will specifically say if there's not a body in the seat it's an open seat. I've seen FAs let four passengers save the first two entire rows of seats and FAs not allow two passengers to save a single seat in their row.

Basically if someone has a magazine in the seat and you want to sit there, give it a shot and let the FAs sort it out if you are comfortable with that kind of confrontation. They pretty much rely on the fact that most people won't make a scene.

 

[goofy4tink]

Okay then....to me, it's just a case of common courtesy. Not sure why common courtesy has to be made a 'rule' but evidently it does. It's the same thing (almost) as plopping yourself down on an overcrowded bus, and watching that 85 y/o granny sway back and forth as she tries to hang onto the seat so so doesn't fall over!!!
Save the seats in your immediate row, other than that, no.

 

[crashbb]

Okay then....to me, it's just a case of common courtesy. Not sure why common courtesy has to be made a 'rule' but evidently it does. It's the same thing (almost) as plopping yourself down on an overcrowded bus, and watching that 85 y/o granny sway back and forth as she tries to hang onto the seat so so doesn't fall over!!!
Save the seats in your immediate row, other than that, no.

See to me common courtesy is - take you own seat and leave all the other seats to whoever comes first. If you want to sit together and board early, then all pay for EBCI or Business Select or whatever.

Am I going to say anything or try to take the saved seat? No. Will I stew and worry about it? Again, no. But, I do think common courtesy means no saving seats.

 

[goofy4tink]

See to me common courtesy is - take you own seat and leave all the other seats to whoever comes first. If you want to sit together and board early, then all pay for EBCI or Business Select or whatever.

Am I going to say anything or try to take the saved seat? No. Will I stew and worry about it? Again, no. But, I do think common courtesy means no saving seats.

But....lets say I have A19, and dd and dh have A34, A35. I get on, take my seat, and then commence to being rude enough to take the middle and window seats with jackets, while I plop down in the aisle seat. There is plenty of room for those who board after me to find very nice seats. I doubt anyone is going to want to choose those two particular seats. Now, if I were to board much later in the process, then I would probably just head to the back of the plane, and grab our seats there.

But..in theory?? It just doesn't make sense to have to save seats for anyone. Yes, I'm sure there are extenuating circumstances that will occur, but not everyday. I do have an issue with someone who buys EBCI for just one person in their group of 8, and then that one person goes about saving 7 addtl seats. I can well imagine how annoying it would be to pay for EBCI and then find that you had to walk past multiple saved seats in order to find seats together for your family.

Now, the thing that I have found amusing on SW flights?? Those that board early and take front of the plane seats, and the overhead bin spaces. Okay..no problem. But, I have seen people getting on, and saving seats, early in the boarding process, and then when the rest of their group boards??? No overhead space is available for them!!! They have to walk way to the rear of the plane to find any spaces!! It's actually kind of funny. And of course part of that is due to those who board in the B group and grab spaces as close to the front as they can get for their bags.

I suppose that, technically, saving any number of seats is wrong. But I have no issue with saving the seats in my immediate row...and that will never be more than two seats. Like I said, unless the flight is now almost done boarding, the vast majority of passengers are going to walk right by me and take seats that allow them to sit with their group.

 

[Princess on the Run]

I seriously don't understand all the drama about SWA seating. It's no different than a movie theater or bus. You get there and sit somewhere. Does it make or break your trip if you are in row 8 versus row 14? Do you really WANT to take the seat someone was saving for their loved one just to gratify yourself that you were right and now you're spending the flight keeping family members apart and knowing the person next to you thinks you're a jerk? Do you want to make someone put their 3 year old next to you for an entire flight because you paid $10 more to board 4 minutes earlier? It's not that hard. Movie theaters don't have assigned seats and people have been figuring those out for ages. Just get on, sit somewhere and get to where you are going. I fly a fair amount for both business and personal (almost always SWA) and I never knew there was such drama over this until reading DIS. If you really want a seat and it's open, take it. But know everyone around you thinks you're a jerk if you take one that was being saved for someone else. If you're fine with that, then no big deal. If you feel like you want to save seats, do it but know someone might come along and take them and you may not be able to stop them. It is what it is. If you are that nervous about it, don't fly SWA.

 

[Princess on the Run]

Now, the thing that I have found amusing on SW flights?? Those that board early and take front of the plane seats, and the overhead bin spaces. Okay..no problem. But, I have seen people getting on, and saving seats, early in the boarding process, and then when the rest of their group boards??? No overhead space is available for them!!! They have to walk way to the rear of the plane to find any spaces!! It's actually kind of funny. And of course part of that is due to those who board in the B group and grab spaces as close to the front as they can get for their bags.

I giggle a little when I see this too.

 

[ccgirl]

See to me common courtesy is - take you own seat and leave all the other seats to whoever comes first. If you want to sit together and board early, then all pay for EBCI or Business Select or whatever.

Am I going to say anything or try to take the saved seat? No. Will I stew and worry about it? Again, no. But, I do think common courtesy means no saving seats.

Exactly. Just like one person in a party getting in line for a ride at WDW while other famiy members go on another ride or get something to eat then join them.

But....lets say I have A19, and dd and dh have A34, A35. I get on, take my seat, and then commence to being rude enough to take the middle and window seats with jackets, while I plop down in the aisle seat. There is plenty of room for those who board after me to find very nice seats. I doubt anyone is going to want to choose those two particular seats. Now, if I were to board much later in the process, then I would probably just head to the back of the plane, and grab our seats there.

But..in theory?? It just doesn't make sense to have to save seats for anyone. Yes, I'm sure there are extenuating circumstances that will occur, but not everyday. I do have an issue with someone who buys EBCI for just one person in their group of 8, and then that one person goes about saving 7 addtl seats. I can well imagine how annoying it would be to pay for EBCI and then find that you had to walk past multiple saved seats in order to find seats together for your family.

Now, the thing that I have found amusing on SW flights?? Those that board early and take front of the plane seats, and the overhead bin spaces. Okay..no problem. But, I have seen people getting on, and saving seats, early in the boarding process, and then when the rest of their group boards??? No overhead space is available for them!!! They have to walk way to the rear of the plane to find any spaces!! It's actually kind of funny. And of course part of that is due to those who board in the B group and grab spaces as close to the front as they can get for their bags.

I suppose that, technically, saving any number of seats is wrong. But I have no issue with saving the seats in my immediate row...and that will never be more than two seats. Like I said, unless the flight is now almost done boarding, the vast majority of passengers are going to walk right by me and take seats that allow them to sit with their group.

In that case, I would board with the later numbers. I travel frequently on SWA and have heard announcements that passengers are welcome to move back in the boarding order to board with the rest of their party but you cannot move up. This just adds to the "me" mentality I have seen increasing as of late. Yes, you can do that but what if 10 other people do it too? It really holds up the boarding process.

I filled out a survey and suggested EBCI should be for an entire party. The boarding on the last flight I was on was absolutely ridiculous. I never knew a bathroom could fit that many people.

 

[dsneprincess]

Exactly. Just like one person in a party getting in line for a ride at WDW while other famiy members go on another ride or get something to eat then join them.

Snickering......I thought we all KNEW this was ok, not only by the sheer amount of people who do it, but by all the time saving tips that tell us to!!