End of Middle Seat Blocking on SW - December 1

Safe to say that if you paid for flights with points that the email is meaningless? I'll just hold on to all of my flights after December 1st until the time comes. Maybe things will change again.

 

At the very least they could resume coffee/soft drink service. Not sure how that's any riskier than handing out ice water.

 

Yup! I thought the same thing when I received that email earlier today. My December flights to/from AZ were purchased with points.

 

Don't you already get a refund for cancelling a flight with points? Or do they not refund the $5.60 fees, is that what you're talking about??

 

Yes, they already refund the points. With points you have an option when you cancel to hold the $5.60 for future use or have it refunded.

 

Just so people know what we're talking about...don't really want to open up a can of worms.

The guidelines assume no masks.

The previous guideline was that 15 consecutive minutes in close proximity to someone who was contagious was considered high risk.

The new guideline is a cumulative 15 minutes within a 24 hour period.

There are a lot of moving parts and variables. The new guideline is based on a study of a prison guard who only had short exposures, but lots of them, they were able to trace all of them from surveillance videos. It's not a 100% guarantee that's how he got it, etc. etc.

I've always been operating under the assumption that cumulative short exposures over the course of a relatively short period is bad, so it didn't really change the way I've been approaching things.

 

Flew with American 4 times last week (flights were stuffed to the gills) but while they didn't come around with the drink cart asking everyone if they wanted anything you were able to just hit the service button and they would come and give you water/soda/juice for free. So sorta like drink service except the alcohol... luckily i always come prepared so it couldn't have worked out better lol.

 

I got the same email from Southwest for my January flight. I just had to cancel my October trip so I'm really looking forward to January. The flight was so cheap from Dallas though, I decided to just buy a second seat. It was only 5300 miles roundtrip, so I will gladly pay that for just a bit more peace of mind and a guaranteed empty seat.

- Linda in TX

 

Flew SW to Vegas, United back. SW was a much better experience. Even if their flight was completely full, would definitely pick SWA. I had to confront the couple behind me on the United flight who did not wear their mask between boarding and take off, with several United airlines attendants ignoring during the pre-flight process.

SWA attendants were vigilant in terms of announcements and enforcement, the flight was 2/3 full, and everyone on board was respectful and from what I witnessed compliant. I'm so grateful SWA is coming to O'Hare next year, may never fly United again. I guess you get what you pay for ($129 SWA Flight, $37 United Flight).

For in flight service, it was water and two snack bags on SWA, a premade snack pack of water plus two snack bags on United, with a pop or coffee service. United ran out of Ginger Ale after reaching me in the fifth row of service, so I didn't eat or drink anything, 3 hours no big deal.

 

I just canceled my flight for Feb and paid with miles. I had to fill out the form that was in the email. Tried to do it at the website, wouldn't take.

 

That's an interesting idea and I've thought about that myself. I've wondered how it works in practice. For example, suppose that the plane is full and a person has two seats. If a couple wants to sit next to that person, does the couple get a snotty attitude when they are told that the person has two seats? Hopefully, you can hold up both boarding passes and that will take care of it without needing a Flight Attendant to intervene.

 

I have seen it in practice and never observed any issues. The person's barding ass a little +1 on it so the attendant know the passenger bought two seats. Sometimes the attendant puts down a little "reserved" placard and sometimes not. But I have never sene any incident or issue arise as a result

 

Southwest's Customer of Size program allows customers to purchase a second seat (and get priority boarding). When the customer checks in, they get a placard to put on the tray of the empty seat while the plane is boarding. My wife and I have done this for years, and we never get any snotty looks or comments. Customers don't always understand, but saying "we paid for this seat" has always worked.

After the flight, the cost of Customer of Size seats is refunded. They say the refund is based on availability (meaning that if they were full or had to bump people that they won't refund) but we've never not gotten our full refund.

 

1. I dont really see how someone masked next to you increases risk anymore than 1-2 feet behind you. Maybe fewer breathers in the cabin helps. So this was mostly a comfort thing for me.


2. Beat me to this strategy:

I'm considering this if flight looks fairly empty.... so good odds of getting refund . I needed this policy back in 2008ish.... and it worked both ways. Outbound the blocked second seat adjacent mine was only one unsold entire plane.... return was light load. I got full refunds both ways.

Also considering if fares very low... $98 roundtrip is not uncommon from Bay Area.... far-advance booking... if I think flight will be packed.... it'd be worth an extra $50 each way.

3. Lastly... I'm starting to see some movement back to pre-covid schedules.... SWA was down to 3 direct nonstop daily in my market... back up to 4-5 now. Hope this trend continues

 

More research coming out about the relative safety of properly ventilated and cleaner airplanes, and people in masks. But with gamblers here isn't less in this regard more, even if only a potentially finite improvement? What if X numbers were taken off the roulette wheel but the payouts remained the same, that's a good thing, right?

Soooo agree on the comfort aspect.

 

I flew Delta today and it was a shit show. People sitting wherever they wanted and no social distancing.

 

Part of it is duration. And what risk level you put yourself in.

Before my trip last month, I researched the ventilation thing and got comfortable with it.

On a hop from LAX to LAS, I'd probably be comfortable in a main cabin seat if the middle seat was empty. Less so with someone sitting right next to me.

But 5.5 - 6 hours, no way I'm even sitting in main cabin.

And I suspect mask compliance on planes is going to go to shit in about a week.

 

Looking forward to November!

2021

Hopefully.

 

My flight is 4 hours each way. Had to cancel my trip.
Southwest canceled all direct flights, including mine, and offered connecting flights they packed everyone in on.
I called to see how full the flights were as of now, and they said 2 seats open, and 4 seats open.

I chose to cancel. A packed plane for 4 hours is not comfortable for me. I am very disappointed. But guess at this point,
they are trying to make up money, but it was too much for me personally.

There are no direct flights on delta where I am, so guess Im one of the ones who are sadly, going to have to wait.
I do see a few direct flights on Southwest in late Dec, but they are 295-650 each way.

My fear is if I book in Jan, they will just cancel the flights again, and try to pack us on connecting flights again and its
just too much for me to do.

Guess for alot of us, it's having to wait and see.

 

It doesn't hurt to hunt around. I have been on a handful of flights since the pandemic. Some have been full to the gills others have been empty. If you see an empty flight 2-3 weeks out. Chances are it will be relatively empty when you take it.