Kathy

With the success of Jet Blue, Air Tran and National Airlines (along with other up and coming discount no frills airlines) that have low fares are making money, expanding their route system and HAVE ASSIGNED SEATS, Southwest Airlines must now assign seats.

I love Southwest Airlines except for that issue of no assigned seats. I hate wait in that line that starts to form 2 hours before the flight, so I can get a window seat. A number of times it took me so long to get to the front of the line after going to security I got number 112 and sat in the middle for the long flight to Oakland from the east coast. (I had arrived at the airport 2 hours before the flight!).

Yes, Southwest Airlines, other no frills airlines have shown that you can have friendly service, low fares, make money but still have assigned seats. Time to change Southwest!

Jim

Southwest always make a profit. By any standard, they are the most successful US airline and many carriers (the ones you mentioned, among them) emulate SW in many ways. So why change? I'd love assigned seats but as a Southwest shareholder I say "don't fix it if it's not broken." If you want an assigned seat, fly United. Just don't mess with success.

Phil

Southwest, to stay profitable has to change with the times. Jet Blue is the up and coming Southwest (but with leather assigned seats and TV and every seatback). They will leave Southwest in the dust is SW does not move to assigned seats!

WN

Phil, people have been saying FOR YEARS that Southwest is history. I once chatted with a pilot for Pan Am (remember them?) who told me an airline with no assigned seats has no future. Eastern, Republic, Pan Am, Braniff, etc. all had assigned seats.

It's not that big of a deal. I usually get a window or aisle even if I'm in the last boarding group and I fly SW weekly. I have dozens of choices from LAX and choose Southwest.

Sue

I think Kathy is really Vance, our resident Southwest hater. Every few weeks a "Southwest will be crushed!" post appears. The last one talked about the mass chaos extra security would cause, yet it was barely a blip. If we're reduced to talking about assigned seats, then Southwest has survived the storm quite well.

Larry

I disagree, a high number on a boarding pass on Southwest means a hellish trip in the middle sat sitting next to two fat blue collar types. (the typical Southwest passenger)

Kathy

Even if they do not start assigning seats Southwest MAY continue to make a profit, but why not change with the times, Jet Blue has, and is the number one new airline!

peterp

You guys hop on over to Jet Blue then and free up the Southwest space for the rest of us.

Kathy you can't line up two hours in advance. Lining up for seat assignment has never phased me any more than lining up to check in for a flight at the gate has, and if you must have a window seat, you can't be much of a frequent flyer.

Those who claim no food service are dead wrong. Long hauls do have it. They are on time. They have a great safety record. They are friendly and best of all, their fares are rock bottom. What's the big deal about the lines and assigned seats? How many times have you booked online with other flights only to arrive at the airport and find you did not, in fact, have a seat assignment, though you'd been all through that in booking. Sheesh it's not big deal, but as I said above, move over and leave your space for us!

xxx3

I agree with peterp, WN and Jim. If you need assigned seats, then fly on an airline that offers them. The rest of us will continue to keep Southwest one of the few profitable airlines.

I suspect that different routes have different clientele. On the Providence/West Palm Beach route, people don't line up two hours in advance and "fat blue collar types" certainly aren't the typical passenger.

Eric

I agree it is time for Southwest to start assigning seats. The line for seat assignments starts moving one hour before the flight is scheduled to leave but people start waiting in line as much as two hours before the gate opens so they will get a low numbered boarding pass and thus get on the plane early and get a good seat. This causes chaos in the terminals that were not designed for all these long lines.

Ethan

Southwest is the Greyhound Bus of airtravel!

steve

Kathy - Better not ever fly Ryanair in Europe

Paige

Even with assigned seats, those who book last get stuck in the middle seats. No one has mentioned this in ths thread but Southwest web site is by far the easiest to use. You enter a destination and can see all of the flights, days, times and cost on the same screen. You don't have to enter a day and time to fly and then try to screw around with it to get a better fare like some airline web sites.

Carrie

YES,YES....what's wrong with making a good airline even better by assigning seats? I generally make reservations far in advance and it really irks me that I have to arrive so early in order to avoid a center seat or way in the rear of the plane. What's worse is that there is no overhead storage left so I have to check my carry on at the last minute. By assigning seats, it will only make SW more desireable. This seems to be the one complaint with SW that you hear over and over. I've had this happen when I had made a reservation 4 months early....if you make a last minute reservation then you're just happy to be on the plane and it's understandable that you might end up with a less than desireable seat. Is anyone with SW listening to what we the customers say....??

Au

Carrie, THEN DON'T BOOK SOUTHWEST!

Southwest is very clear in all of their print and internet advertising. They don't assign seats. Period. If you find this annoying, don't fly them. Case closed. I'm sure Southwest has analyzed this time and time again and since they have among the highest load factors in the industry, it obviously isn't a big deal to most people. The whiners can have United, Delta and the others that are losing billions at taxpayer expense.

Debbie

I used to work for Southwest. The "no assigned seating" mantra is part of the corporate culture. Won't happen, at least not soon. They've even made it through the security changes by simply matching boarding cards (the plastic ones) with the paper ones that have your name/boarding card on it.

Also, don't expect Southwest to fly international flights or anything other than 737s.

jill

Debbie,
Perhaps you can enlighten me. I agree with all the other points as to 737's, short hauls, no food etc. but just not sure why assigning seats would have any affect on their profitability one way or another?? I do like SW and would like them even more if they did assign seats. How would this make customers angry? What am I not getting here? Jill

Anna

I've only flown SW once (1 way) but the boarding experience was less than desireable. It was more like "herding cattle". I live in Alabany,NY and SW hasn't flown in here for too long so apparently they just hadn't got their boarding act together yet. The employees were all very nice but yikes do they need to improve their boarding process. It would be nice if they gave assigned seats and the passengers could board by rows...starting with the rear of the plane. It would make the SW employees job much easier too. Not sure if this is just how Albany does it or it's like this with all SW flights??

gina

Way past time in my opinion!

xxx3

Assigning seats takes time and effort, both while booking and while boarding, and therefore would increase labor costs and boarding times for each flight. The boarding process works smoothly in cities where they're well-established.

Please, leave well-enough alone for those of us who have no argument with this system, and those of you who MUST have a window seat have plenty of other airlines to choose from.