As many of you know, the question about whether to keep our open seating or to assign seats has been the Southwest question for the past couple of years. Proponents of each process have been very vocal and heartfelt in support of their positions, and my post of last summer generated more than 700 comments (including those on a followup post). To those who weighed in on this issue, thank you, and I assure you that your voices were heard.
After much investigation, which included extensive "real life" testing in San Diego and San Antonio, we are ready to close the book on "the great seating experiment" and announce our decision. (If we had drums, we could have a drum roll at this point, but we don't, so imagine one in your mind.) Southwest has decided to keep open seating, but to adopt a new and improved boarding process. These decisions were based on the input we got from you, our Customers, through this blog, written correspondence, and surveys taken during the tests. While a substantial majority of our Customers prefer the ability to select their own seats onboard the aircraft, many of those folks have told us they don't like our existing boarding procedure that sometimes has Customers doing everything possible to be at the front of their boarding group. Instead, many of you suggested, why not board the aircraft in the numerical order of the boarding pass?
Well, we listened to you! After initial tests in San Diego last fall, we conducted a full-scale evaluation in San Antonio last month, and the responses we received were very favorable. Basically, the new boarding procedure divides the airplane into groups of five Customers, based upon the order in which a Customer checks in. The first Customer gets an A 1 and so on, and they will line up to board in their group of five. (To the extent possible, our gates will be modified with marked columns that reflect these new boarding groups.) Customers will know where their boarding pass aligns in the process as soon as they check in, and this will eliminate the need to "camp out" and hold a spot in the boarding lines. For a full description of the new process and to see the comments, click here to read Susie Boersma's August 23 post.
Our goal is to have the new boarding process up and running systemwide by early November. I am fully aware that this news will excite many and disappoint others. To those of you who are skeptical, I can only ask that you give the new boarding procedures a try. After everyone gets used to it, I bet you will wonder why we didn't think of this years ago!
(Click here to see a video of the new procedures. Also, check out this helpful site.)
Comments
Flying Southwest on Saturday and this help alot to explain the new boarding procedures. Now we know what to expect. Very imformative. THX
Wow - obviously SW is stating their priority since their "Business Select" in on the home page of the website. Why don't you put " New Policies" on the home page as well if they are such a "positive" change???
Darrell SMALL - educate your SMALL brain - you cannot check in online if you have a lap child!!!!!! Sorry - but business travelers don't pay the bills especially when I am a family person AND a business traveler. Southwest should be ashamed of themselves and I hope the next family of screaming children sit right next to someone like Darrell Small - maybe he will even get smacked in the head by a carseat. Travel with a child and then make a comment.
so, if you have an early morning flight, you get to wake up early two days in a row to get a decent set. just checked in at 7 am this morning to find that i'm 40th in line for a seat. now that i know your procedure, i'll be sure to wake up at 5 am next time or fly another airline...
If the first person to check in get "A1" and so forth per the article, why is it that at 8pm last night I printed off my boarding pass, and 12 hours later, my travelling companion printed off hers, and got a sequence 14 lower than mine?
And, I am the one with the rewards account, not her!
IT IS ABOUT TIME SW LET THE "A" GROUP BOARD BEFORE ANYONE ELSE. IF PARENTS WITH TOTS WANT TO BOARD IN THE "A" GROUP... GET UP OFF YOUR ASS, JUST LIKE THE REST OF US HAVE TO, AND CHECK IN!!! I FINALY FEEL LIKE SW HAS STARTED TO SEE THAT IT IS US BUSINESS TRAVELERS, NOT SOME ONCE A YEAR TRAVELER, THAT PAYS THE BILLS FOR SW.
It is shameful that you no longer allow families with small children to pre-board. They really do need more time to get their children and themselves situated. I have also found that pre-boarding families with small children created a "family section" on the airplane, which was nice because you didn't have to worry about your child disturbing those around you since they had kids, too.
I know anyone can print out their boarding pass early and get in Group A, but that means that other Group A passengers will get held up while people try to strap in car seats and get their kids settled. I hope that every family out there who continues to fly Southwest makes sure they get into Group A boarding. And I hope they take their time getting seated and settled, even it means holding up the line. Then we'll see how the other passengers feel about families not being able to pre-board.
I have always been a loyal Southwest customer because I considered it to be a very family friendly airline. Apparently, you have now chosen to cater to the vocal child-hating minority. You have now lost my business. I have let all of my friends and family know about the change in your policy and they have also said they will no longer fly Southwest. This was a terrible move. And I hope you will realize it and rectify the situation soon.
Everyone here who is as incensed as I am please be sure and mail a copy of your comments to Southwest. I haven't found a customer service email address yet, so we'll have to settle for posting here. But don't forget snail mail. If they get enough feedback, it's still possible they will make some concessions.
Southwest Airlines
P.O. Box 36647 - 1CR
Dallas, Texas 75235-1647
Don't let up!
why not assign the number based on when they buy the ticket then there is no line at all and no complaints.
Sorry I hit a wrobg buton on previous transmission
I spent about an hour reading a lot of the comments and came away thinking you just can't please all. Charging more to get an A pass is good for the company but bad for your customers. How many full flights would you have if none of the casual or family travelers did not fly with you due to the CATTLE CALL rules. I have used your airline 4 times in the past 10 months and every time it was a full flight. I do have a problem with the way you seem to treat your customers by the cattle call and even though you may have eliminated the camping system that was humiliating at best you just moved it into camping on the computer to push the button at the exact millisecond or the 24 hour mark. Dont you see that? I know I am wasting my time here but here goes,,, when YOUR CUSTOMER DECIDES TO USE AND PAY YOUR COMPANY TO FLY
When I traveled last month and fell victim to your new no-preboard-families policy (AKA the Southwest hates children policy) I didnÃ