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Southwest Trying New Boarding Process

Discussion in 'Getting There & Getting Around' started by runningonthehub, Nov 8, 2018.

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  1. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    lol, there's always the car/bus :thumbsup:
     
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  2. Vegas Insight

    Vegas Insight MIA

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    It sounds like, all things considered, you have a pretty positive attitude about it all, when it would be easy to be bitter and angry, like everyone else. Can't blame you for not being a little irritated when people question your two seats.

    Yes, I exaggerated a bit in my opinions, and tried to make that obvious. I rarely think twice about who is or isn't saving seats, and don't think much about it as I make my way onto the plane. Sitting in row 11 versus row 18 doesn't improve my quality of life. I'm unlikely to even notice you're "saving" a seat, entitled or not. There are always still open rows when my cheap ass gets to board the plane, and that's all I'm looking for, therefore I'm not outraged by those vile seat savers that were 10 positions ahead of me, waiting for someone 10 positions behind me.

    But as I've read here, and come to realize, the phantom passenger game is very real, and people will try to win it. I always assume the flight is full and that there's no way to win the game. (A connection from Phoenix to Vegas this past summer was surprisingly light, and they told us so when we boarded, so that was the one time we assumed we'd have an empty seat in our row, and we did.) My solution now is to have my girlfriend sit by the window, with me in the middle. I'm not an NFL lineman, but I'm not petite. I figure somebody will inevitably sit on the aisle, since we usually don't, so if I'm in the middle, the seat is far less appealing to a guy like me when he has to sit next to a guy like himself. Otherwise my girlfriend seems to end up with a guy like me on both sides of her if she takes the middle seat.
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2018
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  3. jer0978

    jer0978 Tourist

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    I try to avoid Southwest, because an assigned seat is important to me. I'm 6'5" and fluffy. If I can't get an exit row my knees are jammed in the seat in front of me. A 3 hour flight to Vegas feels like about 10 jammed in that tiny space.
     
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  4. VegasGroove

    VegasGroove VIP Whale

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  5. deansrobinson

    deansrobinson VIP Whale

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    I do that! Not strapping in until ordered to by Frau Flugmeister does help the seating process. I can just hop up, assist with your overhead baggage (for those who don't get sufficient upper body workouts to sling your own luggage), and you can snag the center or window. It's the little things...:D
     
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  6. oldbrewzer

    oldbrewzer High-Roller

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    As noted in earlier posts, my biggest frustration is boarders taking forever to get their carry-on in the overhead bin and get out of the aisle. Seriously it's like they don't even realize there is anyone behind them. I don't get mad about it mainly because I rationalize they are infrequent flyers and just don't know any better. I am probably in the minority here, but I don't get too upset about someone saving a seat for another person. We normally board early enough that I just keep moving to the next available open 3-seat row. My wife takes the window and I sit on the aisle. If the flight is not full, she places her purse in the middle seat hoping we end up with the extra room(someone is going to get it so we hope it us). Sometimes it works other times not. If the flight is full we take the same approach except I am scanning every person coming down the aisle and when the right person approaches I offer them the window seat and my wife slides over next to me. You should see the surprised look on these peoples faces when they get the window seat offer in the front 3rd of the plane. The ideal person is small in stature, good hygiene, and dressed nicely. I don't recall that we have ever said no to someone asking for the open seat.
     
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  7. topcard

    topcard Here's to $10 3:2 two-deck, $5 Craps, and $5 UTH!

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    The only thing I don't like about SW is that there's no 'First Class' section.
    It has occurred to me that, whenever I'm going to be flying with a friend, we can chip-in & both buy the middle seat... that would be way cheaper than First Class on any airline, even factoring any drinks we actually have to pay for.

    But @smartone makes an interesting point - IF I do that, am I gonna catch grief for having purchased two seats? IF the flight is actually full, will they force me to give it up?
    It sure seems like, that if I've paid for two seats, I should GET two seats.
    I may look into this for some future flight, as I'm not sure they allow it.
     
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  8. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    They will let you keep the second seat. of course, if they are overbooked, I assume (but do not know for certain) that you could trade that second seat for whatever compensation they are offering
     
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  9. SH0CK

    SH0CK Stylin' and Profilin' Quasi Tech Admin

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  10. mjames1229

    mjames1229 # of visits includes only trips w/ hotel stays

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    Back when I was "of size" I would buy the extra seat for every flight. Of course some people looked sideways about pre-boarding, but I was never really challenged about the empty seat. When someone would check if the seat was open, a quick show of the RESERVED sign was all it took. Only one did somebody not understand (or not care?) but the FA was quick to notice and explained it to the guy... I am sure they were alerted either on a list, or when I pre-boarded as the FA was quick to assist.

    Most importantly to me, of course, is that there was NEVER a hassle in getting the cost refunded, even when the flight was otherwise sold out.
     
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  11. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    HA! I've actually had several people who sit in the aisle seat say, "hey, I'm gonna look into that when I fly long trips." No, they absolutely won't ask you to give it up. The couple times I voluntarily did that, I could see they'd made a mistake and it was a short flight Oakland to Reno and the flyer was a smallish individual already on a full plane. I've actually seen SWA boot deadheads on-board or move them to the crappy jump-seat in the cockpit as well to make room for an oversold situation, but seat(s) are yours.
     
  12. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    Yep... this has gotten worse of late, because SWA has greatly reduced the size and visibility of the words SEAT RESRVED on the card. It used to be in large bold letter and was very visible. About a year ago, the card now prints out and basically looks like any other boarding card. It does state Seat Reserved, but it's now in the same size and font of lettering that all the other information on it is. Not sure why they did that.
     
  13. Johnzimbo

    Johnzimbo VIP Whale

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    I used to do this too but one time I saw a young kid grab my bag by mistake. He was too far up for me to yell so I had to run into the terminal and luckily he hadn't gone far. He was shocked when I told him he had my bag, and he and his buddy had to wait for everyone to deplane before he could go back and get the correct bag.
     
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  14. Vegasman

    Vegasman Low-Roller

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    I agree. I would also add one other point. Drop the arrogant attitudes, please.:wink2:
     
  15. grockford

    grockford Low-Roller

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    Due to the fact that I am getting ready to board a plane to Vegas and i will not be at work for the next four days means I am so euphoric, i could care less if I encounter seat savers, screaming toddlers, slow boarders, smelly people or rude people. I am so happy boarding that plane, i feel like high fiving them all. On the way back from Vegas, I am too tired to care.
     
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  16. HuskerBB

    HuskerBB VIP Whale

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    Not sure why this would be surprising. From my personal experience I have always thought boarding was clearly faster on SW using their A-B-C system than boarding a plane with assigned seats. Not sure why that is - but that has always been my impression.
     
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  17. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    Hmmm .....

    Now that I think about it, for many years, IIRC, Southwest used to state that the "Boarding Tiime" was 20 minutes before the official departure time. Now it seems like it's always 30 minutes prior.

    Am I correct on this? Is this constant across all airports that Southwest serves?
     
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  18. Travel Fanatic

    Travel Fanatic The Arbiter of Taste Caviar Kid

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    You are correct. SW starts boarding 30 minutes before scheduled departure at every airport I have been to. I don't even remember when it was 20 minutes.

    FWIW, most other airlines I fly start boarding 40 minutes before takeoff
     
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  19. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    LOL, not that long ago I was flying Untied out of Newark and I noticed that the boarding time on my boarding pass was before the time that the incoming flight was supposed to arrive. :)
     
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  20. hotreds

    hotreds Illegitimi non carborundum!

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    SW has the best flights from BWI to LAS- non stop. I really don't like their boarding system, although I am a big guy and use the third seat option so I get on early. Nonetheless, I do get some angry looks from people walking by, and even from FAs on occasion.But SW does have a bug about "individual space" and mine occupies more than just my seat. A few times Delta First Class has been close to the three seat option, and we've taken that. It's a bit of a pain to change planes, but the service really is nice, they treat you like economy USED to be treated! The only non-stop from Delta is an overnighter- and that is pointless to pay first class for. I also noticed that often the wheelchair people traveling SW are mean and belligerent.( I have a cane and they're always telling me to get behind them!)

    The best flight I ever took was when I flew FC and those passengers turned left at the plane entry door, the others turned right. So, you didn't have dozens of people whacking you with their carry-ons as the walked past you!
     
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