Southwest Airlines ditches open seating

[opus1]

I only flew Southwest once and it was a nightmare, never again.

I flew it once and it was two times too many...

Among other things, the no-seat-assignment thing irritated me. I also hate going to Midway vs. O'Hare. Mileage-wise, Midway is closer to my house but O'Hare has direct access from the expressway(s) so the extra distance isn't an issue.

I never found them to be any cheaper than the other carriers when I had to travel for work; in fact, they were usually more expensive than either United or American, and the few times that Southwest was the cheapest option, I was able to justify booking on another airline either due to Southwest not being a direct flight, or the available flights were inconvenient.

 

[CKN]

There is a current thread on Reddit about this. Several Pre board in wheelchairs flying to Orlando. Plane gets to Orlando-nobody needed wheelchair assistance. This is why they are going to assign seating. Customers pay to Pre board-the cheaters board first.
Of course this reflects problems in society as a whole....

 

[hrv]

I have always had good luck with American Airlines and also Allegiant....Allegiant treats the veterans and active duty very well...

 

[GON]

Did unassigned seating cause fights cause someone wanted the window seat ?

I fly American 90% of the time and I prefer the group 1 - 5 boarding process.

AA is actually a one through nine group boarding process, and if you have no group on your boarding pass one can board with group seven. Pretty sad when a guy can remember that....

 

[4WD]

There is a current thread on Reddit about this. Several Pre board in wheelchairs flying to Orlando. Plane gets to Orlando-nobody needed wheelchair assistance. This is why they are going to assign seating. Customers pay to Pre board-the cheaters board first.
Of course this reflects problems in society as a whole....

Saw a group (Indian) pull this stunt boarding DFW to DOH - once on the plane with lots of bags - they were healed

 

[PontiacHO]

On another note, I have spoken with more than a few SWA pilots over the past month and they mentioned that if the open seating went away, so would a lot of wheelchair attendant jobs.

Why?

They said compared to the other legacy carriers, they’ve noticed on the more “passenger dense” routes, the number of wheelchair passengers boarding early was noticeably higher than other carriers.

Even more interesting was the fact that at the destination, several of those wheelchair passengers who boarded as such suddenly became able to walk right down the aisle and right up through the jetway and into the terminal.

They had a phrase for it but as religious reference is verboten on BITOG, I’ll decline to elaborate.

Not going to comment on the the pros and cons of SWA boarding process but I will comment on the wheelchair people. Yes, some need a wheelchair but most use it as a way to avoid waiting. Watch the wheelchair people at the arrival curb. They jump up and run to great their loved ones. Seen it multiple times on every trip. True handicapped people should speak out.