News and notes from around the interweb:
- The thing about seat fees is that they may cost Southwest just as much in legal fees and settlement costs as they make in the class action that will surely follow. And it is a strong case, even with federal pre-emption. They’re literally selling window seats without windows.
There’s a class action against United for selling window seats without windows, and a class action at Delta. So unquestionably Southwest was aware of the problem, and that they’re selling something to customers that they aren’t delivering. All they needed to do was update the seat maps to show what was actually being sold. But they were in such a rush to ram this through that they didn’t bother.
Hey @SouthwestAir if you're gonna charge extra for a "window" seat maybe make sure it has a window? pic.twitter.com/6GJBotrAMN
— Siebe41 (@SiebeUS) February 15, 2026
- Honolulu hotels are betting each visitor will spend $760 per day
- From Hyatt to Holiday Inn, America’s free hotel breakfast is facing a K-shaped economic threat
- Mastercard World Legend is offering one year of Soho House Soho Friends benefits. There’s reported success with Citi Strata Elite but maybe not Bilt Palladium.
- Charlotte E is pretty miserable. (The rest of the airport is bad, too.)
- American Express Platinum $200 Airline Incidental Reimbursement – No Longer Works On United Travel Bank
SW has descended to the low levels of the other major airlines, the right hand knows not what the left hand is doing and vice versa.
At least Herb Kelleher didn’t live long enough to witness his wonderful airline’s collapse
Good things just don’t last in the USA any longer
CLT E Terminal is one of the most miserable I’ve ever been in, and is the worst in an airport where there’s massive competition. I just wasn’t expecting it to be this bad when I switched airlines to AA and had to do transfers to RJs at CLT. And as for the tragics who need a window seat and a view, boo hoo. Take a Greyhound if you need to see the outside.
Why on earth would anyone willingly fly this airline?
Leave it to Bob Jordan to hastily roll out a 50 year change in seating policy without doing mock-ups and test groups with its top fliers. Of course Gary is still trying to figure out who SWA’s 1 million milers are, so it makes sense that he botched the seat assignment exercise…
Expired. Terms from:
https://www.mastercard.com/ca/en/personal/find-a-card/credit-card/world-legend.html
“1. Offer must be redeemed on or prior to December 31, 2025, at 21:00 GMT, subject to early termination. You are eligible to receive a complimentary 12-month Soho Friends account when the account is either activated for the first time or renewed with your eligible US- issued World Legend Mastercard during the offer period. To redeem this offer, visit http://www.sohohouse.com/soho-friends-mastercard and click the “Join Now” link. On the “Get started” screen, either sign in or create an email account. On the next screen, complete your details. You must select “United States” as your country to redeem the offer. (If you select a country other than the United States, you will not receive the offer.) On the payment information screen, you must enter your eligible, enrolled U.S.-issued Mastercard consumer or small business credit card and press “Save” to save your eligible Mastercard details. The total to be paid will be updated to $0 if you have saved an eligible Mastercard as your payment card. Finally, click “Join Soho Friends”. Mobile wallet purchases are excluded from offer eligibility. Soho House reserves the right to cancel, change or suspend this offer at any time without notice. By redeeming this offer, you agree to the Soho Friends terms. You may cancel your Soho Friends account at any time by emailing membership@sohohouse.com. Additional terms and restrictions apply. Please visit http://www.sohohouse.com/soho-friends-mastercard. ↩”
Incidentally, the signup description above is incorrect. “Save” never appears.
The same reason I willingly fly any other airline: Schedule and Price.
@Denver Refugee – …which SWA is not competitive on, IME.
Can confirm. I’m A List (for now) and while it was free, my wife was quite disappointed that our “premium” seat did not have a window. That was especially true since she sometimes get nausea in the air and seeing the horizon helps.
Poor form, Southwest.
@jamesb2147 – Price, you’re probably right. But they’re one of the big hub carriers at DEN so they often “win” on the scheduling side of the equation.
These days, due to said scheduling I often run into cases where I fly out on one airline and return on another. I have a flight coming up where I’m returning on Southwest for the first time since the seating policy change, so I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet…
I am cancelling my Southwest Credit Card. Why would I want to accrue miles on an airline I won’t fly anymore. Jackasses all around
I canceled my card after I used up my remaining flight credits. Won’t miss this nonsense anymore.
Anyone can use numerous tools to see which row on a 737 has no window. No, I really wonder which airline will be the first to charge extra for a seat with window to interfere with IFE viewing or glare on your computer screen
@Denver Refugee — @jamesb2147 is mostly correct. WN used to be a deal, offering nonstops between secondary airports. No more. They’re as expensive as the big-3, if not more, and you’ll find yourself connecting in STL, MDW, HOU, or DAL for everything. In NYC, they’re only at LGA these days. I’m struggling to find a use for my $500 Chase credit.
You’re right, E in Charlotte IS miserable. At least new lounges are on the way… at exactly the wrong end of the airport to address this.
$760 a day? That’s only line jumper, park hopping tickets for 2 at Universal Orlando.
I always choose a “window seat” whether there is a window or not! I don’t like the annoyance of passengers & crew moving up & down the aisle, passing food & drinks over me to the next person, AND it has the advantage of having a cabin wall to lean my head on while I sleep.
@David Dallas — Really? PB? Eww.
I rejoice in the SW destruction. In their good days flyers would save seats for family and friends , defeating the whole premise of paying extra for early boarding or by chance being rewarded with a A group seat. This happened on every SW flight and I flew them over 100 times until I left them for good about 6 years ago. Their employees never corrected this problem. Good ridence!
I agree that American corporations have lost their way. When corporations ditched customer service and customer satisfaction can be debated, the fact that nearly every single American corporation has done so is a fact that can not be disputed. No, American corporations, like Southwest Airlines, have been on the decline for decades. None of them actually care about their customers, or their employees, and it shows! Many American corporations have outsourced their “customer service” representatives to third world countries because they could not care less about customer service. No, American corporations care only about two things, how much money their CEO’s can gouge and how much money they can make for their share holders. I have news for American corporations, we the American people have noticed that you could not care any less than you already do about your customer, and we are no longer giving you our hard earned money.