Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Southwest Airlines Reaches Decision on Boarding Process
"To assign, or not to assign," the Southwest Airlines blog reads. "That is the question."I've always been a fan of Southwest for two reasons: they're generally cheaper than other carriers in my neck of the woods, and I enjoy the open seating and boarding process. Why? Because it rewards those that make an effort to get a good seat instead of randomly assigning them. Why should Joe Blow get the emergency exit row? He showed up at the airport late, held up the security line with his 18-hole boots, and made it to the gate in a breathless, mad dash. With Southwest, because I'm dedicated (read: anal) to being a part of the elite "A" group, I'm rewarded with the first pick of seats. I like that.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried as I read Southwest Airline's blog post this morning stating they had reached a decision. Would they adopt the standard assigned-seating boarding process? Would they do away with open seating? The tension was building.
"Southwest has decided to keep open seating, but to adopt a new and improved boarding process," writes Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines CEO. [We wrote about the improved boarding process here.] "These decisions were based on the input we got from you, our Customers, through this blog, written correspondence, and surveys taken during the tests. While a substantial majority of our Customers prefer the ability to select their own seats onboard the aircraft, many of those folks have told us they don't like our existing boarding procedure that sometimes has Customers doing everything possible to be at the front of their boarding group."
This is perfect. No longer do you have the line sitters (okay fine, I admit it -- I was one of them), the people who cut in line (never did that, of course), or the people who stand in the "B" line even though they have a "C" boarding pass, hoping the ticket agent will say, "Oh, sorry you have a 'C' boarding pass... but that's okay, come on through!" Thankfully every time I saw this happened, the agent kindly sent them to the line they belonged in.
Anyway, good job Southwest. To read the details of the new boarding process, visit the Southwest Airlines blog.
Filed under: Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul Sep 19th 2007 3:59PM
That's idiotic. Just let people pick their seats online when they buy their tickets, like Sun Country. It's absolutely insulting to make me show up at the airport even earlier than usual just to get a decent seat. Our lives are full of enough wasted time as it is.
jersu Sep 19th 2007 6:32PM
It is amazing to me, that in this world of automated everything, Southwest cannot figure out how to assign seats. The 24 hour check-in process is flawed. I've been flagged before, because they thought I had tried to buy a "seniors" ticket (I hadn't). Having to clear it up at the airport hours before the flight translates to an automatic "C" boarding pass. I used to put up with this disservice because they had cheap tickets, but today, they are about the same (occasionally more) than the other airlines. I'd rather pay a little extra for an assigned seat and a direct flight.
Justin Glow Sep 19th 2007 6:35PM
jersu, you know you can print your boarding pass online, right? I always print mine the night before, before leaving for the airport the next day. Automatic "A" every time...
Mike Pollack Sep 21st 2007 2:48AM
Southwest is not very good at fixing their mistakes. I've had major issues with poor customer service! Cheap airfares comes out at a price of bad customer service.
Marie Sep 21st 2007 2:04PM
For the person who said that they were flagged as a "senior" it could have been that you were traveling with a senior and the senior fare was put under the wrong person, honest mistake. As for other reasons why you sometimes get flagged, that has nothing to do with the airlines but with TSA, they have a list that gets changed daily and sometimes people are on it and sometimes they're not. If you find out you're on it and you send in all the stuff that they ask you to, you can still be returned to the list in the future. If you've ever been told that you can't use the kiosk or can't check in at home this is the reason why. If you try and check in at home, or the office, and can't then you know that you need a little extra time at the airport to get checked in. If you live or work close enough to the airport then just go in and get checked in the day before.
jersu Sep 21st 2007 5:05PM
yeah ... Marie, you got it. That's exactly what happened. Justin, I tried to do the 24 hour thing but was denied because I was traveling with a Senior, and the automated system gets confused somehow. If it had been a one time thing, I'd think, "whatever", but it has happened a few times (my biz associate is an old guy, and he's the one who purchases the tix). I am just resigned to the fact that I'll always be sitting in a middle seat when I fly SWA.
I'm still trying to figure out why every other airline that operates in the USA has figured out how to do web/consumer assigned seats for their passengers. This was SWA's chance to get it right. As a regular traveler, this factors high in my decision making (when the choice is given to me, and not by old guy boss!)
Michael Sep 21st 2007 6:16PM
I like the existing boarding process because it gets people on board quickly (usually 15 minutes or less). I hope the new process works as well. As for checking in, I have http://www.checkin4me.com do it for me so I don't have to wake up early on Sunday to checkin for all those Monday morning flights.
Mike Sessions Sep 21st 2007 6:18PM
Southwest's seating policy is silly...allow me to pick my own seat...or I fly with someone else...it is that simple.
Charney Sep 21st 2007 6:37PM
Personally, I love the new boarding process. I always get in the 'A' Group, because I use checkin4me.com too. Flying out of San Antonio just last week, I also had a big #7 next to my 'A', which, under the new boarding process, gave me 7th place in line. So the new boarding process actually will SAVE time, because you don't have to get to the airport early just to get a good place in line.
jersu Sep 21st 2007 7:21PM
It really goes to show how flawed the SWA system is, when 3rd party web-bots can be hired to game the system. If SWA set up a system where passengers could select their seat when they buy their ticket (as every other airline has done), this silly game of checking in exactly 24 hours before the flight could certainly be avoided.