Here’s an example of Southwest’s customer service and why they have a good “ontime” record:
Some years back, Southwest had some mechanical problems with an airplane. There were two more flights out that night. That left them with two options:
Assign the plane to the first flight. This would get that one out a half-hour late and probably cancel the second, but would serve the people who had shown up on time and were waiting.
Assign the plane to the second flight. This would cancel the first and send the 2nd out on time. It would mean the people already there waiting would be stuck overnight and the people who hadn’t even gotten to the airport yet would be taken care of.
They chose option 2, because it showed as an ontime and a cancel rather than a late flight and a cancel, thus screwing the passengers and making their stats look better.
Yes, they’re a cattle-call airline, but only when it serves them well. If that happened with Greyhound busses, you can bet the people scheduled for the first bus would have gone out!
Some airlines won’t reserve exit row seats, but the forward bulkhead seats aren’t always exit row, depending on the type of aircraft.
For airlines that won’t reserve exit row seats, I just try and go online as soon as they will let you get a boarding pass and then grab the exit row seat. If it shows unavailable online, phone calls to the airline have been successful about 50% of the time in getting me the exit row.
Mr. Wombat - Well, my brother flew a major and got caught in that horrendous snow storm, what, two years ago? He and hundreds of people were stuck in the Denver airport for three frickin’ DAYS.
When the airport finally re-opened and they were obstensibly able to fly back out and get home, did they use the planes there as a priority to get people home? Did they even make those stranded passengers a priority?
Nope. The counter gals told my brother the first flight they could get him on was in a week.
Airlines suck, sure. But IMO SWA suckage is significantly less.
As a chronically early person, I’ve enjoyed flying SW - 5-6 years ago, I flew a lot because I was in FL and my husband was in MD. I had the JAX-BWI schedule memorized! And I got several free flights because of all the trips I made.
I don’t think I ever had a C pass, and only occasionally got a B. I usually got just the seat I wanted - on the aisle near the front. I’d think differently if I was inclined to wait till the last second.
Why impossible? Under the old A,B, C system perhaps, since you’d wind up behind your letter. You don’t have to be in line under the new system until they actually call your section. If you want to be the very last person on the plane I can see your problem. but good luck finding a space in the overhead bins on a normal airline.
On my last flight I volunteered to be bumped, and waited around to see is I was needed. They didn’t bother telling me that I wasn’t until my section had already gone, but I went to the head of the line with my A28 number and got let in, and still got a good seat.
Or if you don’t rate. I sometimes do grant reviews for NSF, and I have to go through the gummint travel service since they pay my ticket. I only am allowed to travel on United, and I always get a crappy seat, no matter how long ahead of time I book. I always did better when I used my company travel agency - I’m sure the deals big companies have with airlines include decent seats. Anyone know for sure?
so is the turn around time. I flew from Austin to Oakland with stops in El Paso and LA, staying on the same plane, and I saw them do this from the inside. They were awesomely fast. (And I could use the john with no one else on the plane.)
There were still a few people with carry-ons the size of semis though; habit I guess. Southwest did lose my bag once, on the way home, at least, and they were not the top in terms of efficiency.
I’ve never flown South West, but if I’m understanding these posts correctly you just pick a seat when you get on the plane. I keep imagining everyone clogging up the front of the plane trying to get a front seat, making it slower to board the entire plane. Is this not the case?
I like SWA, but haven’t flown with them in a long while. I like their system just fine. Get on, see an empty seat, plop down. I don’t care much where I sit, although I’ll take a window if there’s an option. My favorite things about SWA are the friendly, efficient employees and the super fast turnaround time. Seriously, Whole Foods and Southwest Airlines are enough to make me question the role of labor unions in the modern economy.
So how is that less work/hassle than checking in 24 hours in advance?
On Southwest flights, I can usually find an excellent seat if I’m in the A group. And I haven’t done much flying, but I don’t know of another airline that has a seat with no other seat in front of it, for the emergency exit row. That’s the seat I usually try to sit in. To be clear, I don’t mean the bulkhead seats, although those are usually fairly roomy for an average-sized person.
I find it very interesting that other tall people would prefer to reserve an emergency exit row seat on a different airline. I have had very little success with that approach; the agents always tell me they are taken. And it’s fairly obvious that I could use the extra room (I’m 6’11"). I would much rather do a little work (check in online exactly 24 hours in advance, stand around to be the first A boarder), then face the crapshoot that is seating assignments on other airlines.
Not everyone can board at once. Passengers are given a group letter (A, B or C) and a number (one through sixty). Southwest boards passengers in order by group number and letter, so that the passenger with number A1 boards first, followed by the rest of A2-A30. They then board A31-60, followed by B1-B30, B31-60, C1-C30 and finally C31-60. I think there is an allowance for pre-boarding of families with small children and those who need extra time to get seated, but can’t remember how that works.
Practically speaking the first fifteen slots are reserved for the frequent fliers. I’ve gotten as high as number A18 by getting on the computer the day before and pressing the button for online check-in exactly 24 hours in advance.
As others said this system allows Southwest to board the plane quickly. It’s more profitable for the airline to minimize the amount of time the plane spends on the ground and maximize the amount of time it spends in flight. (BTW, another way Southwest maximizes profits is by flying only Boeing 737 planes. This allows their mechanics and pilots to get really familiar with the hardware and minimizes the amount of parts they need to stockpile.)
It works in part because they don’t let everyone on at once. Certain people, such as a the disabled, get to board first. Then the rest go in batches (the A, B, and C group).
Not everyone wants the same seat. As already mentioned, some people want the aisle because they’re tall/big, others because they want it to be easy to get up and pee. Me, I have a extended-range bladder, I like to look out, and I’m small so I take the window.
I’ve never seen a real problem when flying Southwest. The flight and gate attendants are also about for crowd control which helps to nip problems in the bud.
Let’s remember that Southwest could be considered a pretty remarkable company. I think it’s only done as well as it has because of Herb Kelleher. He was a very unusual guy, and I think he exerted a powerful influence on the corporate culture. Unlike many in his position, he used his power for good instead of evil. Southwest ended up not needing unions because of him, IMHO.
Probably not going to be the case at 99% of other companies, in which case a union may be necessary to preserve the rights of workers.
I retract some of my above post because I didn’t mean to imply Southwest doesn’t have unions. It does. But I seem to recall they didn’t have as many union problems as other airlines.
I didn’t mind it when I traveled alone a lot, but now that I have two little ones, I don’t care for it. They used to let the families with small children board first, but last time we flew SW, we boarded at the beginning of the B group. We couldn’t find seats together, so had to start asking people to move, or else have a 3 year old sitting away from either parent. That doesn’t work well for either my little guy or the people next to him.
Southwest is pretty much out of the question now that I live in a smaller market. We’ve only got two flights out per day, and Southwest doesn’t do connections with other carriers.
I fly SW almost exclusively. I love the boarding system - I can check in from my phone using the mobile site from almost anywhere, pick the seat I want and we get off the ground more quickly.
I can check a bag without paying extra. I have never had a poor customer service experience on SW - something I can’t say for any other airline. I recently had to fly American for work because I was going to a non-SW destination and I’d forgotten just how surly employees of other airlines could be.
When we flew SW last month, they were pre-boarding people with small kids. Up to age 5, I believe. They did, however, require that you have gone to the counter ahead of time and gotten a special pre-boarding pass to do that.
I’ve flown Southwest quite a bit. Put me down firmly as “Yes, I do like their no-seat-assignment policy.” They’re probably my preferred airline inside the US.
