WP: Southwest May Adopt Assigned Seats on Flights

[DeepModem Mom]

Southwest May Adopt Assigned Seats on Flights
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 17, 2006; Page D01

Southwest Airlines acknowledged yesterday that it was considering abandoning its free-for-all boarding process and implementing assigned seating....

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Southwest is the nation's only major carrier that does not offer assigned seating. Since the airline's founding 35 years ago, Southwest executives have been against designated seats, saying it would be costly to print boarding passes. The airline had also said the standard system would slow its ability to get flights out on time.

Despite the airline's low fares, some passengers, particularly business travelers, have never embraced the open-seating policy. To get a preferred seat, passengers have to arrive at the airport hours before their flight to be among the first group to board. Or they have to remember to check in for their flight via the Internet at least 24 hours before to earn a spot in that early-boarding group....

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As other airlines have cut costs and ticket prices and as budget carriers such as AirTran Airways and JetBlue Airways have expanded, industry experts said Southwest has lost some of its competitive edge.

"Southwest has to do this to stay competitive," said airline consultant Mike Boyd of the Denver-based Boyd Group. "They're going to be pushed out of markets if they don't."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/16/AR2006051601845.html

[Warpy]

1. Only bad part about flying Southwest is waiting in line to board

but the BS about costly boarding passes is just plain silly. They already issue boarding passes that designate which group of people boards first, assigned randomly.

[Bluebear]

3. 'assigned randomly'

Your post is correct, but the A B and C is very simple. The first 45 who check in get A, the next 45 get B and the remainder get C. All the 'inconvienced' business traveller has to do is check-in online 24 hours in advance to get a good boarding group.

[displacedtexan]

2. Well, that would suck.

We fly pretty regularly, and we always fly Southwest BECAUSE
of their seating system.

If they want to know who we are, there could be a tear off
section on our print outs with contact info, which we could give
to the flight attendant-- with our seat #s on them.

They could email the info to the airline.

[moc]

4. I fly SW all the time. The open seating is not that big of a deal.

At least not for me flying back and forth between Dallas and Houston.

The only time it's a pain is if I'm flying with my kids and they forget to call for early boarding. However, folks usually move and allow us to sit together. I wouldn't want to sit next to my 3yo if I could avoid it! ;-)

[pinkpops]

5. Stay competitive? I though they were the only ones making money

[keopeli]

6. Cattle-Call Airlines Considers Change

I've joked about this airlines since they began.

A typical experience at a Southwest Gate during boarding:

"Welcome to Southwest Airlines. Every with a blue boarding pass on your mark...get set..."

[Freedom_Aflaim]

7. I avoid Sw for that very reason

I don't have time to mess around with such nonsense, and getting stuck in a middle seat makes for a miserable long flight.