I don’t like lining up to board on Southwest Airlines because I don’t really want to board 30 minutes prior to departure, and stand at the gate even earlier than that. But I do like Southwest’s first-come, first-served style of seating. Southwest says I’m in the small minority on this, but hear me out. I’m really going to miss the Southwest Airlines boarding process when they move to assigned seats.
- Great for last minute travelers. If I book tickets on American Airlines, and it’s not months in advance, I usually can’t get the better seats on the plane. They’re already taken – especially if I’m looking for more than one or even three. With Southwest most of the seats are unassigned when I board the aircraft! That means I can switch flights or standby and still get a decent seat.
- Great for families with lap infants. If the flight isn’t full, a couple can squat on a row and nobody will sit next to them by choice. That means they get an open seat without having to buy it.
- Great for those who want to control their own destiny. There’s strategy to seat selection! Are you going to pick a seat that’s least likely to have someone next to you? Or maybe you want to find someone small so your space isn’t encroached upon. Pick someone who doesn’t look super eager to be chatty? The kind of flight you’re going to have is totally under your own control, at least if you can rely on your ability to do quick stereotyping.
Southwest Airlines needs assigned seating. They need to at least assign the premium seats they’re going to be selling, and that’s expected to be about one-third of the cabin. They won’t make money on those seats if they’re just available to all comers.
And assigned seating will put an end to the Jetbridge Jesus wheelchair scammers who take up limited wheelchair service, making it tough for those who really need it to get served promptly.
A friend shares a not-uncommon sight from Puerto Rico:
55 "handicapped" during pre-boarding, including 25 wheel chairs
On his return flight, 15 used wheelchairs to board, only 1 to deboard pic.twitter.com/gHgIsnzsq7
— Bachman (@ElonBachman) February 19, 2023
Another flight on @SouthwestAir, and I’m happy to report being witness to more miracles. These poor souls came seeking a flight, and instead were healed. 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Always grateful for witnessing the miraculous healing power of flight. pic.twitter.com/7TCYn2T6BB
— Dave Ruminates (@dave_ruminates) April 5, 2023
But the way seating works now works for me. I flew Southwest a couple of times this past week. On my first flight I picked an aisle seat about two-thirds of the way to the back. There was already a woman in the window. I worried if I took a seat farther back, the window and middle were still available and a couple traveling together might take it.
I sat down, pulled out my laptop and placed it on my seat back tray. I starting working. I looked straight at the screen, pounding away. People took the middle seat in the row in front of me and behind me. Nobody said ‘excuse me’ and asked me to move. Empty middle secured, no crumpled up tissues required.
On my return flight I had another empty middle seat. This time there were more empty middles to go around. I sat down in a row 17 aisle seat, two rows behind the exit on a Boeing 737 MAX 8. There was already a woman in the window so that was my best strategic play (again, not risking couples traveling together wanting the window and middle next to me in an otherwise-open row).
When you get an empty middle seat next to you on another airline, that’s luck. When it happens on Southwest, it’s strategy. You feel a sense of accomplishment! You’re in greater control of your own destiny.
I do prefer assigned seats when my wife is traveling alone, or with our daughter. I want to know she’s taken care of and don’t want to put her in the position I relish for myself.
Also, I know longer have Southwest status, and she doesn’t have their status. Southwest doesn’t even sell Early Bird check-in on every flight and I’m just not going to be right on the minute with checking in 24 hours out exactly for the best boarding position. I wind up busy with work commitments and just can’t. So there are times where an assigned seat is better for me or for my family. Still, I’m going to miss Southwest’s free-for-all boarding process which gets people on the plane quickly.
Agree, in that exact situation right now for an American flight a full week out and there are no seats to select at any price for coach. Very unusual, so I am waiting for a call back to see if anything can be done before check-in, probably not!
Good riddance to this ridiculous system. Good seats should not be dependent on one’s ability to check in precisely at 24 hours.
Do everything I can to avoid to flying Southwest – terrible airline.
I love love LUV Southwests open seating…I dont know who they spoke with that doesnt agree with me!!
@ Gary — Perfect. NOT. It sucks.
To stop all the false miracles of people being healed after getting the best seats, have only assigned paid seating for ALL pre-boarders. Don’t punished everyone else.
I would have chosen to sit next to you and just squeezed between you and your laptop without waiting for you to move it, all while accidentally dragging my fingers across your keyboard while sliding into the middle, hopefully screwing up whatever you were working on. I always look for people that play stupid little games like that when flying alone on southwest just to guve them a taste of theor own selfishness. If I could muster it up, i would also save up some gas to distribute across you and your seat as I came to join you (hopefully had some beans earlier in the day)
Open seating USED to be just fine until scammers ruined it. Yes, There is the jetway Jesus phenomenon, then there are the seat savers who simply have no shame. And it is so unfair for management not to give flight attendants any guidance with respect to saving is OK or not. I am anxiously awaiting assigned seating.
Someone needs to start a campaign: Ban Jetway Jesus. (In other words, impose criminal penalties for abusing the ADA and ACAA. Such a law would also have helped mitigate the issue of fraudulent mask exemptions during the pandemic, without harming individuals with actual disabilities.)
“Whoever, under the color of the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Air Carrier Access Act, makes a false or fraudulent request for an accommodation, shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than one year, or both; or if the offense was committed during a public health emergency declared pursuant to section 247d of title 42 and the accommodation sought was an exemption from a requirement imposed in connection with the public health emergency, the offender shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.”
In other words… Jetway Jesus would be a misdemeanor. False mask exemptions during a pandemic would be a felony. This would not affect people with legitimate disabilities as an element of the offense (which, as with any other crime, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt) is that the request is false or fraudulent.
Ignore the seat savers. I’m taking it if I want it and it’s empty.
I too will miss the boarding procedure.
In the past many of WN’s flights were “see an airport and land” such as a CRP-HOU-DAL-ABQ-LAS-OAK flight. On all the stops it would be “musical chairs” after a headcount was made to “assure everyone has a seat on the next leg.” (I never really understood how that assurance worked as 65 thru pax are 65 thru pax regardless.). So now the culture of 52 years of musical chairs is ending? Good luck on that “may I see your boarding pass” routine to stay on time. Perhaps assigned seating on the originator flight only as it was with many airlines prior to 1978.
Unfortunately there boarding process , was abused my some. When there are twenty two wheel chairs lined up and they are boarding them and their companions first. However when the plane lands and they are doing the fifty yard dash off the plane, It annoying to have paid for early bird or up grade to to 1-15 and they abuse the system
I too will miss the SWA seating policy when it ends it. The scammer problem could be easily solved if the airline wanted to end the problem. Contrary to your position, Gary, this is not an economic issue. SWA could cover the cost by.a small increase in ticket prices.
>That means I can switch flights or standby and still get a decent seat.
That’s me, almost half the time. I’m not looking forward to a middle seat every time I switch flights.
It comes across as a little puzzling that you defend first come first served then say that you don’t want to be the first come person to be served earlier. Similarly with your wife and you preferring opposite things you want it both ways to all appearances.
I find southwest’s boarding odd for families. I guess my 2 children will be someone else’s problem for the flight if there aren’t open seats together. They are 8 and 11, and don’t qualify for family boarding. I, personally, will probably have a more relaxing flight if the child return ADHD sits with you instead of me.
@Marie, maybe it was me. I’ve avoided Southwest for years because of open seating and all the cheating that goes on because of it and the standing in line forever and, and, and it stinks.
Open seating invites selfishness and disorderly behavior, grabbing any seat you can and even more than one seat. It is surprising to me that some Americans would like this since we are orderly, methodical, and well structured in our daily lives.
@Samus – Couldn’t agree more, but enforcing it so that those who are really disabled don’t have to jump through hoops and become humiliated is a problem.
Amazing – for over 40 years Southwest’s boarding procedure has been accepted – now, with the ever increasing number of whiners, snowflakes and liberals, Southwest is making changes to pacify these cry babies. After this stupidity takes effect, the cry babies will find something else to whine about, after all, that is the liberal mantra…
Southwest created the Jetway Jesus nightmare all on it’s own. Once they decided to have the so called “Ambulatory Pre Board Customers” go down the jetway first, all bets were off. People only had to designate when they booked their flight that they needed a wheelchair, they did not have to use one, and there they go ahead of even those who truly did not have the ability to walk the jet bridge much less go deep into the aircraft. And the pre board crowds grew bigger. Not only did the pre board line grow but so did the whiners. I personally love the no seat assignment style that Southwest has had for over 53 years. And I have never had a problem finding a suitable seat until they began the process of telling Customers that they can board first if they can walk down the jetway. As for standing in line to board, I have never flown another carrier that I have not had to stand in line. I have, however, paid for a preferred seat and found they gave that seat away because I was on a connecting flight, same carrier, and the inbound was delayed which they knew, and knew it had arrived. No thanks on assigned seats.
Yes Gary you are part of a SMALL minority. I live in CA so its hard to avoid SW but I do my best.
David R. Miller – perhaps you should take a break from posting here and go worry about pet-eating immigrants and other MAGA stupidity.
Uh, let’s not forget the presence Elliott Management has had on the C-suite at WN. Their stock (LUV) has underperformed over 48% for the last 5 years. Next thing to go will be the 2 free checked bags if EM can exert their will. The curative powers of flight to help the those in need will be greatly diminished.
@ David R Miller — Why are you so angry and hateful? What does liberal or conservative have to do with assigned airline seats?
First, I think it’s ironic that @David R Miller is easily the biggest whiner here. Here’s a tissue, David.
Next, some thoughts with evidence:
I won’t miss open boarding. I’ve seen pre-boarding allowances and seat saving abused so many times. On my last flight out of LGB, the flight was boarding from both the front and back doors. The flight was already delayed. They released families to pre-board and then released the B group after. The families boarded from the ramp in the front (I was just ahead of them in the last of the A group) where a couple of A group men towards the front of the plane decided it was a great time to stand in the aisle and go through EVERYTHING in their backpacks in the bins above preventing others from getting down the aisle to find seats. Meanwhile, the B boarding group was released and rushed to the stairs at the back and filled up the seats. Once the families got through the front of plane barricades, there was chaos. There were no seats left together for parents to sit with their children. A single mom with three young children had no space to sit anywhere close to each other. She was in tears. It was a mess, and everyone (the families as well as the people who had to move to accommodate them) were upset. It held up the flight even longer. I am so glad we’ll have assigned seating. It used to be great, but increased abuse by people who think they are the exception to the rules coupled with an increase in full flights, it just doesn’t work like it used to.
Southwest is horrible! Lining up like cattle while some a-hole from boarding group B tries to sidle in with the A group. Totally nauseating group of low life losers to say nothing of the wheelchair brigade & seat savers! Southwest has a certain class of travelers & I don’t want to be near them! Actually keep them all on Southwest & don’t infiltrate the other airlines where you can select your seat & the cost involved.
Southwest is horrible! Lining up like cattle while some a-hole from boarding group B tries to sidle in with the A group. Totally nauseating group of low life losers to say nothing of the wheelchair brigade & seat savers! Southwest has a certain class of travelers & I don’t want to be near them! Actually keep them all on Southwest & don’t infiltrate the other airlines where you can select your seat & the cost involved.
I just paid $25 to SWA for “early boarding” on AUS-SAN flight. My “early boarding” position A-53! If it’s not a thru flight from HOU then for $25 I’m guaranteed a window or aisle seat. However, since I used miles late last night the open seating is to my advantage.
As a larger person (a COS in Southwest terminology), open boarding was perfect. Who would want to sit next to me? You have a whole plane of seats you can choose from. Not saying it’s perfect, but at least with the open seating policy, I feel like there is a little bit of dignity without draining my bank account on a second seat for someone who isn’t flying with me.
Usually, if I am flying Southwest I am only own, so I have liked it It is true that the bulkhead seats are not as available now as they used to be when everyone passed them by, but I’ve snagged exit row seats more than once recently. I hate to see it go. I may think differently if I were with someone else, however.
Families will miss it the most, but that’s the American way: gouge families or make them roll the dice. Personally we’ll probably continue to dare them to sit us apart. As a southwest outstation in Seattle, or even in Oakland, we’ve always had no trouble snagging good seats without early bird. Doesn’t seem like there are as many disabled out here or maybe the fares are just higher (and no through traffic really helps). Seat assignments are one thing I hate to spend any time thinking about and therefore have always loved southwest. If no one ever paid for seat assignments they’d have to fit us all on the plane somehow.
Hate the free for all system. My closest airport is BWI and 75% of flights out of there are on Southwest. I never fly without being able to book my seat in advance and I don’t mind paying a few dollars more for it. More often than not, I end up flying out of PHL or DCA as they can accommodate me. IAD is not an option as I believe it’s the worst airport anywhere. I’m very much looking forward to the change and being able to grab a quick Uber to and from BWI. They should have done this years ago. I would have booked a ton more of flights with them.
Actually David Miller the liberal “mantra” is about supporting all Americans, as the Kamala Harris campaign so aptly promotes, America is a great country and certainly being American isn’t defined by divisive rants saying Americans of different ethnicities or perspectives are the enemy. They are not, they are fellow Americans, whether it be a MAGA fireman that would enter a burning house to save you or the liberal activist trying to help people that didn’t get a fair chance in life.
They are all part of the greatest country on the planet. I understand conservatives concerns and point of view, I just don’t get how they can continue to support a person that has been proven to be so fundamentally dishonest, manipulative, self centered to the extreme that has time and time again malaigned our military and ignored the Constitution to try and gain power for the “Trump Brand”…at least with Harris/Walz it feels like we finally have competent adults back that could potentially halt the destructive partisanship that has caused so much damage to our country. But whoever gets elected, we are still a country of a lot of good people that live their lives without rancor or hatred towards others.
Although I did hear that those Jetway Jesus folks are flying around the country killing and eating cats…..
An idea about “Jetway Jesus” – all those who board via wheelchair are identified to the flight attendants. At the destination, these same people are required to be the last to exit and do it in a wheelchair. Airlines with assigned seating board wheelchairs first and disembark last.
Southwest, the airline for scammers. I’m a business traveler and make my plans. I will only fly SW to Vegas because I have no choice. Nowhere else. I have no time to sit, phone in hand, 24 hours before my flight just to beat out my neighbor. I have no interest in watching a line of wheelchairs occupied by more scammers trying to beat out honest flyers. And I have no use for the tired attempt at humor when I’d really rather not be on an airplane.
I’m glad Southwest is trying to become a real airline, although I have my doubts.
@David R. Miller – 40 years ago, Southwest’s average flight was about an hour. If that’s all they flew, you can make the case that assigned seating or extra legroom don’t really matter.
We have Southwest now flying transcons, with passengers potentially flyig East Coast to Hawaii (2 x 6 hour flights), with a measurable bookaway factor to airlines who do offer assigned seating. What’s more, economic prosperity has built up people with more money, that paying more for extra legroom is a thing. This isn’t 20 years ago when UA just gave away E+ to Elites and didn’t even try to monetize it. Today most of the biggest carriers have an E+ or similar offering with many customers willing to pay for it.
While I recognize this is a right-wing travel blog that attracts foaming at the mouth MAGAs like yourself, blaming “liberal snowflakes” isn’t quite accurate. If you want to make this political, it may very well be the well-to-do liberals in Democrat-run cities with extra money in their pockets willing to pay a bit extra for a better experience are the ones driving this change.
I’m a 50 year Southwest flyer… having flown on both business and pleasure to all but a small handful of Southwest locations. In fact, I was one of the first Rapid Rewards A-List members, with the cast pewter ID tag Southwest issued some 20+ years ago. (Bet y’all never saw one of those!)
Whether the FA’s on the flight were creating a contest for a keyfob with built in flashlight (which I won, BTW), or asking all passengers to turn on their cell phone flashlights to give a birthday wish a 95 yo, Southwest personnel have lit up our lives, both figuratively and literally.
The Worst thing that ever happened at Southwest was when G. Kelly ruined the original Rapid Rewards program (8 round trips or 16 segments for a FREE Ticket anywhere….). The Second Worst thing G.Kelly did was to distribute $5 Billion to shareholders rather than taking care of the badly needed infrastructure. Many of us called for his head at the time, and the results have been absolutely devastating. I was able to send my kids to & from college and all over the US with the tickets I garnered using that program.
And now, apparently buckling under pressure, Southwest is going to make one of the coolest things about the airline (boarding program), into just another meee tooo POS boarding op that you can get on Delta or any other POS airline.
At Southwest everyone felt they were equal passengers, but now, with the advent of a major change, and the creation of a financially oriented pecking order, we won’t be able to sign in and grab that boarding spot we wanted.
Someone once said, “All good things come to an end,” and they were right, G. Kelly and the GD bean counters are in the process of ruining the friendliest and most enjoyable passenger experience in modern aviation.
My advice is if you have to pick a middle seat as that is all that’s left, ALWAYS choose one next to a scammer. And then make their life uncomfortable. The seat may suck, but you get the fun and satisfaction of screwing with a jerk.
Oh no. Cretins won’t be able to do things like take their stinky ass socks off, put the foot across the rest of the row and pick at their feet.
No more the one person buying speedy boarding then putting, literal, donuts across two entire rows.
Oh the, total lack of, humanity. However will such selfish and non aware morons be able to find ever more grotesque ways to assign themselves full belief that nobody matters apart from them and their arrogant pursuit of ‘ Me 1st, the rest can go to hell’.
As a longtime Southwest flyer and 6 year companion pass holder I too will miss the old boarding process. I flew much international on NWA or DAL also TWA before AA killed them. For domestic travel SWA had lots of options to get where i was going and always a plus no dreaded Turboprops. When I flew Southwest I always felt it was better to get to the airport with a good number to try and get a favorite seat rather than knowing a month in advance that I was in 23B like Mr. Delta would tell me. There were time when after purchasing a Business Select ticket with position 1 I would board and wander back to row 21 or 22 and take a aisle seat. Other times if I had a tight connection it was 2 C or D. I never really liked row one as you had to stare at the bulkhead the whole trip plus there was no undersea storage. This new program along with this semi hostile takeover attempt by Mr. Hedge Fund will destroy the heart and soul of the only airline that was really different. Southwest passengers always seemed to be a more civil lot than the traditional big Legacy airline passengers. The flight attendants would proclaim that “Every seat on the aircraft is First Class”. I believe that was closer to the truth than most other airline slogans. I realize that the world has changed to an entitled and easily offended place which may make the old process that we grew up with outmoded but I’m also kind of glad that Herb and especially Coleen are not here to see their LUV child destroyed.
Nice love letter to the past of America’s Team Airline in Southwest Airlines.
I’m for assigned seating because I always want a window seat. Sometimes I get really lucky towards the front of the 737, sometimes not. One time I volunteered to sit in the back knowing I’d get some space because well I’m a nice guy. But a full flight can mess up any strategy.
Finally, I have a bad back so I like to preboard. Too many times crouched over to let passengers go thru as a courtesy plus I can take photos of the cabin before passengers well, get in the way. But this Jetbridge Jesus stuff amazes me, LOL.
@Dale And if the passenger insists on walking themselves off, ban them for life. The Air Carrier Access Act does not cover individuals without disabilities who falsely claim to have one.
Kudos to TOM KREINER and Mark O’Connell for their kind thoughts and words for Southwest Airlines. The Airline had a plan that worked very well until an elitist program was created. That was the start of the end of a very good thing. The Corporate Raider, Elliott Management does not care who or what it destroys in pursuit of the Dollars for Stockholders. Sad that Companies and People without conscience can put the lives of 60,000 plus people on the line for pure greed.
As Mark O’Connell stated, we can be thankful Herb and Colleen were not here to witness this. However, it is pretty certain they would not have wanted to tangle with Herb.