One of my coworkers came into the office yesterday complaining about Southwest, and his major issue was with the way that seats are assigned – or rather, that they aren’t.
I know this is lauded as one of SWA innovations, but what does it gain them?
I don’t know. . .why did your coworker not like it? I don’t fly much, but I can see where I might like to be able to choose where I sit, instead of being stuck between a couple of people I’d rather not be stuck with. Now, if I were going with someone, and we showed up late and couldn’t get seats together, that would suck. But that situation’s a lot like showing up at a movie late–too bad, don’t be so late ya slacker. Also, you may be able to negotiate a singleton or two into moving so you and your partner can sit together.
A lot less paperwork – or computer time, as the case may be.
Let’s say you make a ticket reservation on a “regular” airline. The computer then displays a diagram of the airplane, with seats available and seats already reserved. You make your pick, and the computer then marks that seat as taken.
Now let’s say you’re making a reservation for four people. Of course, you want four seats together. Depending on the plane that could be two seats each in two rows, three across and one extra or four across on a widebody. Chances are you’ll be in conversation with the ticket agent for several minutes. If it’s impossible to get four seats together, you’ll try to do it again when you check in, and take up the gate agent’s time. And, occasionally, airlines change the type of plane used on a route, which means everyone on the flight has to get new seat assignments.
Multiply that process by 100 passengers per plane and thousands of flights per day, and you understand that a tremendous amount of resources are tied up in telling you where you can sit on a flight that may not be departing for months.
On Southwest, that step is completely eliminated. If you want a good seat, check in early enough to get in the “A” section.
When I went to NYC via Amtrak, my friend and I got there TWO hours earlier and then after being among the first in line, the guy from Amtrak comes and says…“People with children can board first.” Thus all the best seats were taken and we had to sit apart in crummy seats for 20 some hours. I don’t use Amtrak anymore. But that is another story.
One of Southwest’s valuable assets is the ability to turn a plane around (get people off at the gate, clean the plane, load the next group of flyers, and push back from the gate) quickly. One way they do this is by not assigning seats. They have found that people are able to load into a plane much more quickly if they are not made to search for a particular seat. (They also make their flight attendants clean the cabin, and do other things to speed the turn around). When they started out, their turn around time beat the average by a mile. Lately they’ve been having some issues, I think largely due to the new security rules. But, in answer to the OP, it’s to get folks seated more quickly.
What do they gain? Lawsuits.
Eeny, meenie, minie, moe,
Say those words and you’ll give a black person a seizure.
Southwest really is the Greyhound of the skies. It’s a cheap, budget airline, and their pricing reflects what they save as per what kunilou mentioned. But you get Greyhound style service, and it caters perfectly to people who want the absolute cheapest airfare and are willing to compromise for it.
For example, just checked prices: Northwest roundtrip on August 16 returning August 23 (typical schedule if it were a tourist) from DTW (Detroit) to MDW (Chicago Midway): $117. Southwest same itinerary: $92, a $25 savings.
Now for a 45 minute flight, I personally may risk the Greyhound seating to save $50 (bringing my wife, too). But on a longer trip, it’s definitely worth the extra cash to guarantee that I’ll have the closest seat to the front of the plane available (since I make reservations ahead of time) --or-- an escape row seat if it’s not a “more legroom in coach flight” (since there is more legroom in those rows.
The advantage is by purchasing tickets ahead of time and picking your seats, you don’t have to show up early to the airport to get the first boarding pass to get onto the plane. Plane boarding is faster, since boarding progesses from the back of the plane (after first class, that is) and not everyone is fighting to sit in the frontmost seats. You’re with other people that didn’t pick the absolute lowest airfare possible.
On the other hand, if you’re buying last-minute tickets, there’s not really much of a difference between the two!
I used to work for a company that insisted on the absolute cheapest tickets, and regularly flew on Southwest. I vowed never to use them with my own money, unless it were a puddle jump like the DTW-MDW example I used above.
Despite what shelbo mentioned while I wrote that, my experience is I’d always gotten to my seat faster when it wasn’t a free-for-all. I don’t know the effect on turn around times, but all I care about is accomodating myself in my seat!
No, you’ll give those two black women a seizure. Despite what you may have heard, we’re not all idiots.
I’ve enjoyed Southwest when I’ve flown it. Get on, find a seat. If the flight isn’t crowded, I get the whole row to myself. Bliss!
It also has to do with simplifying the check-in process at the gate.
It is an open secret that all airlines routinely overbook most flights. Since more tickets are being sold than there are seats, it is obviously impossible to assign seats to all passengers in advance. Also, a certain number of seats are always left unassigned until close to departure so that they may be assigned to full-fare or other “premium” passengers.
When a passenger without a seat assignment arrives at the gate, they may be assigned a seat if there are still unassigned seats available. However, if all seats are already assigned then they will have to wait until the seats currently assigned to no-show passengers are released. This may be as little as a few minutes before departure.
In order to accomplish this, the airline assigning seats needs at least two people working the gate; one at the counter to assign seats at the last minute and one at the gate to collect boarding passes. By not assigning seats Southwest is able to reduce the number of people they have at the gate by one.
Also, the fact that some seats are only assigned at the gate means that there are a certain number of passengers who do not board the aircraft until the last moment. The time taken to get these passengers on board, get their carry-on luggage stored and for them to take their seats increases the time the aircraft remains at the gate. Southwest can take advantage of this to turn their aircraft around faster.
There are other advantages and disadvantages as well, but these are a few.
In addition to the factors that shelbo mentioned, Southwest’s boarding procedure gives people an incentive to show up at the gate early and stay in the area. Probably cuts way down on the last-minute arrivals.
I guess I’m the minority here, but I really like being able to just buy a ticket online, save a bunch of money, and get to choose where I want to sit.
I don’t see people scrambling to fill the front seats (although I do like being in front of the wing), I’ve been able to hold seats for tardy co-travelers without any issue, and I generally get to the gate in plenty of time to get in the first boarding group.
On the other hand, I don’t like haggling with a person on the phone trying to get “just the right seat” assigned to me, having your party broken up due to not all buying tickets at the same time and not getting adjacent seats assigned, and the above mentioned getting stuck between two people that you have no desire to be stuck between.
While it doesn’t happen all the time, a few times I’ve seen people I know at the gate and we were able to hang out on the plane.
See an interesting looking person and sit by them.
Have a pack of screaming infants behind you, get up and find a better seat (if the flight’s not full).
I’ve found that one of the rear-facing seats on the front row is usually available even if you’re one of the last to board. For some reason, many people avoid them. Me, I love them. I mean, I don’t care whether I sit backwards or forwards, but it’s really nice to be one of the first that gets to leave when the plane lands.
Time is quite literally money in aviation. I fly Southwest a lot, and my guess is that almost everything they do is in the interest of saving time. Simplifying a process certainly saves time.
My experience, from long ago I admit, is that young people get the good seats and old people get the bad seats. Southwest just doesn’t have to mess with seating, as said above.
But now I’m rich, so I reserve a good seat, and smirk when a young couple flying standby has to sit apart.
Peace,
mangeorge
I don’t understand why I so often see people bash Southwest. They won a whole slew of customer satisfaction awards in the 1990s, and I’ve never had a bad experience in the 30+ times I’ve flown on them.
If anyone could find contemporary cites for airline passenger satisfaction, I’d be interested to see them. I searched a bit but wasn’t able to find anything that didn’t cost money. (So I don’t know how Southwest has ranked in the last few years.)
neuroman, I try not to bash anything I haven’t tried personally (dang, I’m going to have to try homosexuality to not make a liar of myself). I’m sure that the people that appreciate Southwest and are happy with Southwest continue to fly Southwest and give Southwest good marks. They obviously please someone with their strategy.
As I’ve said, I used to fly Southwest a heck of lot because of the company I worked for. I’d never had a truly bad experience per se, other than the horrible, horrible seating system. I can’t say they’re a crappy airline compared to the rest, and maybe the Greyhound comment wasn’t fair – I’ll tell you that other than their superior seating systems, American, Continental, and Northwest have become much more Greyhound-like since 11-9.
I like to go to the back and sit next to a window. I don’t go all the way to the back (the lavatory does have a smell, sometimes…), but close. I figure that gives me the best chance of not having to sit next to someone else. Then I put up the arm rest and have a more comfortable seat! It usually works well.
I don’t care about getting off the plane first, and my shoulders are wider than the seats, so sitting next to someone means I’m always contorting myself so that I don’t invade their space.
The other airlines board the back first, so you would think that those planes would board faster. I guess the other factors are more important…
I’m going to WAG a lot of it is trying to find YOUR seat. You have to shuffle along, studying all the labels to find the right row, then get in your seats. Whereas on a SouthWest, you look around and say “Oh, there’s a nice one” and then go straight to it.