You can make some of the people happy some of the time but you can’t make everyone happy all of the time.
Southwest has always been something of an outlier in the commercial aviation industry. They’ve never charged for a passenger’s first two bags, and they never used an assigned seating process.
I don’t think anyone ever complained about not being charged for checked bags, but people who didn’t understand the airline’s “first to check in gets a better boarding position” system would bristle at it when they checked in 2 hours before the flight and get boarding assignment that was somewhere around C-32.
Then, as the airline introduced Early Bird seating, Business Select fares, and other ways to pay to be seated earlier, people who didn’t want to pay to jockey for a better boarding position were left out in the cold.
*checks into flight exactly 24 hrs before* Southwest: boarding zone Z group 100
— Moises Parra (@moises_parra) February 11, 2021
When you add in “families with young children can board between groups A and B,” there is more angst about who gets to board earlier than others.
Preboarding made the biggest difference
But then, Preboarding became more and more of an issue. From Southwest:
Some Customers with disabilities may preboard at the very beginning of the boarding process prior to general boarding. Preboarding is available for Customers with disabilities who need a specific seat to accommodate a disability, need assistance boarding the aircraft, or need to stow an assistive device.
In more recent years, preboarding started to encompass literally over 10 or 20 passengers on a whole lot of flights. That’s when the real b**ching and moaning started. And they came with stories of Grandma Millicent going on board and saving all of Row 1 and 2 for her family, who were back in C boarding group. And don’t forget the accusations of and debates about who really was disabled (even if others couldn’t see the disability) vs. who was gaming the system in order to get a better boarding position. (Jesus flight?)
Change is in the air
So now Southwest’s days of “no assigned seating” may be coming to a close as the airline struggles to make money. Charging to choose seats is very lucrative and the airline needs money, so…yeah, personally, I get it. From The Washington Post:
In a news release announcing quarterly earnings, a conference call discussing those results and an interview with CNBC, representatives said they were taking a deep look at customer preferences around seating and boarding.
“It’s been several years since we last studied this in-depth, and customer preference and expectations change over time,” said Jordan. “We are also studying the operations and financial benefits of any potential change. Additionally, we are evaluating options to enhance our Customer Experience as we study product preferences and expectations, including onboard seating and our cabin.”
The headlines came fast and furious:
That, of course, made people jump to the possibility of charging for assigned seats. And so, of course, people are all up in arms about this too, because “it was free for all these years and now they’re going to charge us for it!” (even though people complained about all the reasons for getting crappy seats if they kept the “free” route).
And because of the possibility of having to pay for seat assignments, they suddenly don’t seem to notice that family boarding and the preboarding that seemed to cause the most angst will be eliminated, just like they wanted. Even if Grandma Millicent boarded first, she’ll still be in her assigned seat of 26C (or a middle, if she’s chosen not to pay for a seat assignment. Or whatever system they may come up with).
That would be gone, and people wouldn’t care because they may have to pay for seat selection.
And I’m seeing less “well, at least they still won’t charge for checked bags” than you’d think.
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3 comments
Yes the disability fraud has been out of control. Glad that all of a sudden once this is in place there will be 3 wheelchairs instead of 25
It is not complaining when stating an obvious fact. Those who have spoken out about the obvious lying had/have every right to be outraged. It really pisses one off when one pays $70 to upgrade to A-1 thru A-15 and then having to watch perfectly healthy people faking the need to pre board as they get to pre board. I personally think that every pre boarder not in a wheelchair should be made to sit in the rear of the aircraft. First to board, last to deplane.
Well, except when the person who is boarding early has a disability that can’t be seen. And yes, I know there are people who fake it. But you don’t know how many of those “perfectly healthy” people who you think are “faking the need to pre board” are not.
But that doesn’t have anything to do with the people who are upset they may soon have to pay for assigned seating.