Not pre-board. They had already done all that. There were five people in front of me, with masses of people just to the side of us. When they called A 1-30, some of those masses joined the front of the line, and they were allowed through ahead of us.
At the end of the day, I got what I wanted when I booked the flight: early access so I got overhead storage and aisle seating close to the front (I had a tight connection), but that was still just not right. The line busters got the same without paying for the privilege.
It just rubbed me wrong. I didnât say anything, the world kept turning, but it made an impression. Iâd rather just get assigned seating, though that doesnât always eliminate that sense of urgency at boarding. I think the overhead space issue is what drives that kind of behavior.
Iâve never seen that happen on SW and Iâd also be annoyed if that happened. I thought part of the positive effect of (so far) free checked bags was also supposed to be easier overhead bin space.
But with you on pre assigned seating. Iâd rather know exactly what Iâm paying for (and of course standard seats are usually free to book on normal fares on other airlines anyway).
That seems to be less common these days. The typical base economy fare these days does not include a pre assigned seat â you need to pay extra for that (or buy a more premium economy ticket).
For years they said âTransfarencyâ and it was.
No more.
I wonder if same day stand by will stay or with A List I can confirm same day.
Just yesterday I flew BNA to LAS. My flight was at 5p. I chose it because it was $180 one way. The others over $300.
But midnight yesterday I went on the app, they had 8 seats open, and I was able to change/confirm the new flight which was at noon.
That was a relatively newer change I hope does not go away.
I was C47 because of the late change but as A list got to board right after the As. Another nice perk. I sat in an aisle, row 8. So same as normal (I only do aisles).
In fairness to Elliott Capital, the stock has languished. But thatâs in part due to huge labor costs in the industry and Boeing issues - they canât get them new planes fast enough.
So from a making a buck POV, itâs a smart move even if management had to sell their souls.
But when they sell off the stock, I have a feeling the company will be reeling long term. Rudderless.
The other thing about airlines is competition mushrooms. New ones are on the Horizon - Breeze, Avelo, and more.
Itâs never endingâŠ.the new entries. So everyone has to innovate.
But, from a customer point of view, mostly racing to the Frontier / Spirit level. New (and sometimes old) airlines may try product differentiation, but that usually goes away after a while.
âBasicâ generally does not include seats but something akin to âmainâ or âeconomyâ (terms change depending on airline) cabin does - which is why I said ânormalâ fare. I would never personally buy the basic fares - way too restrictive, imo those are competing with the spirits of this world, not the southwests.
There will always be fliers who look for the cheapest possible option, and those who are willing to pay more - whether a little bit more for ensuring seat allocation, cabin baggage and/or some refund flexibility etc, or a lot more for business/first. Even Southwest already had different fare classes despite at a glance looking like one size fits all on its planes.
What used to be the cheap economy fare on airlines like AA, DL, and UA is now a premium economy fare. Not too much different in concept from the new cheap economy fare plus extra fees to get back the features that used to be included.
We used to fly SW all the time when we lived in OH. Always made me a little nervous when our D was small that I was going to forget to check in exactly 24 hours in advance and that we werenât going to be able to sit together. I think itâs less stressful to have assigned seats.
Of course, then people complain that the airline changed their pre-assigned seats âfor no reasonâ (probably substitution of a different aircraft, or flight cancelled and getting rebooked to a different flight) resulting in the group getting scattered middles.
In what must be somewhere in the hundreds of flights Iâve done, I can recall maybe 3 or 4 times when our seats were reassigned. When it was family travel we were reassigned to sit together again. So I just donât see that as a major risk personally.
Family boarding applies when the kids are small⊠and it applies even when you buy a ticket at the last minute, or change flights. In the past this worked better for me than on some airlines with assigned seating, where seats were not available to sit together by the time I was buying the ticket.
Yeah, but airlines often have an age limit on âsmallâ of somewhere between 3-5 years of age, and you donât want a 6 or 8 or even 10 yo sitting on their own between strangers.
Yes, itâs between A and B groups. SW does this for families with children age 6 or younger, which is more generous than some other airlines (possibly because of the open seating policy?) Though note as example âJetBlue guarantees that children 13 years old and under will be seated next to at least one adult on the same reservation, even on Blue Basic faresâ. So it really helps to understand the policies on the airlines youâre flying .
Southwest family boarding is officially 6 and under. When my kids were age 7-10, I would go up and ask the gate agent before boarding if we should board with family boarding. They invariably said yes.
Normally they call A-list just before family boarding. But yes, both of those are after A boarding passes and before B boarding passes.
Explains the grumbling i heard flying SW last weekend (about the small children not being small). Didnât care much because our A-lister was saving us seats.
Generally there are only a few families in line for family boarding on any particular flight. If people are grumbling about a couple of families with 7-10 year old kids getting to board the plane⊠well, I donât know what to say.
Hmmmm really depends when and where youâre flying. SW to Hawaii in vacation season? PLENTY of families.
Re grumbling, youâre going to get that any time someone looks like theyâre gaming the system when other people are in their place. See comment from someone up thread about the people cutting in line in front of A6. Again, all issues that are really only âissuesâ because of open seating.
You donât see it as an issue when you try to buy a ticket for a mostly full flight with assigned seating on another airline, and you canât get a ticket next to your child? This happened to my husband + daughter on a flight to Japan⊠a pretty long flightâŠ
