Stymied said:

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If they match their competitors, I bet A list will get free access to assigned seats in the premium leg room areas. Can't imagine them not doing that when status on legacy airlines give the same thing.

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So if you get the exact same benefits, why would a customer continue to choose an airline that has less destinations and no real international reach? They will have to have some real good pricing and fee incentives.

Switched to SWA this year even though it is a little further to HOU vs IAH. I got tired of flying the E-175 on united, much prefer the larger 737. Also, at IAH you may push back at the right time for on time departure but you sit there for 20-30 minutes before getting going. SWA and HOU you push back and roll all the way through take off. Plus SWA seems to always try and make up time if they are running behind. United will not even attempt to regain lost time, again probably because IAH is so much more busy than HOU.

I live probably 3 minutes from Love Field in Dallas. So whenever I can I fly Southwest as it is a lot closer, and Love Field is a lot more easier to navigate IMO than DFW.

Just booked a trip to Gulf Shores AL (flying into Pensacola), and Southwest business select was the same price as flying first class on American out of DFW. Chose to fly AA even though DFW is 30 minutes further from my house.

Extra leg room. Not having to stand up for 10-15 minutes waiting for them to start boarding your group. Not having to be the very first person on the plane to get a good seat. All kind of added up for me personally.

Southwest has definitely gotten me out of some jams in the past, and always handled delays/cancellations better than American, but as I've gotten older I try to do anything I can to take stress out of my traveling, and Southwest just seems like a more stressful experience all around.

If they had this policy in place for my recent booking, I would've chosen Southwest so maybe it works for them. Will be interesting to watch them implement for sure.

As a side note, has anyone noticed that flying Southwest out of Florida results in some of the weirdest air passengers of all time? It's unlike anything I've ever seen.

Too much competition in airlines. No company can make any money. Every customer gets crappy service.

Stymied said:

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If they match their competitors, I bet A list will get free access to assigned seats in the premium leg room areas. Can't imagine them not doing that when status on legacy airlines give the same thing.

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Yes plus free drinks on those rows.

A list will probably just get you the ability to pick any seat that's not already taken.

fightingfarmer09 said:

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Stymied said:

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If they match their competitors, I bet A list will get free access to assigned seats in the premium leg room areas. Can't imagine them not doing that when status on legacy airlines give the same thing.

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So if you get the exact same benefits, why would a customer continue to choose an airline that has less destinations and no real international reach? They will have to have some real good pricing and fee incentives.

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Perhaps... I think some might ask the same question around why customers chose SWA before. I'm sure they will differentiate themselves in some way. We will have to see how.

Get the CC and you get all of the perks.

T dizl televizl said:

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I live probably 3 minutes from Love Field in Dallas. So whenever I can I fly Southwest as it is a lot closer, and Love Field is a lot more easier to navigate IMO than DFW.

Just booked a trip to Gulf Shores AL (flying into Pensacola), and Southwest business select was the same price as flying first class on American out of DFW. Chose to fly AA even though DFW is 30 minutes further from my house.

Extra leg room. Not having to stand up for 10-15 minutes waiting for them to start boarding your group. Not having to be the very first person on the plane to get a good seat. All kind of added up for me personally.

Southwest has definitely gotten me out of some jams in the past, and always handled delays/cancellations better than American, but as I've gotten older I try to do anything I can to take stress out of my traveling, and Southwest just seems like a more stressful experience all around.

If they had this policy in place for my recent booking, I would've chosen Southwest so maybe it works for them. Will be interesting to watch them implement for sure.

As a side note, has anyone noticed that flying Southwest out of Florida results in some of the weirdest air passengers of all time? It's unlike anything I've ever seen.

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The panhandle of FL isn't called the Redneck Riviera for no reason!

Seriously, though, that whole area had very limited (and expensive) airline service until SW came in. That made air travel much more accessible for a broader socio-economic class of customers.

SWA out of houston is a no go for me to most places. Only a few direct flights and times are suboptimal. They're still decent getting you out west but that is it.

fightingfarmer09 said:

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AgOutsideAustin said:

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Bummer, will see what A list preferred gets me in the new process. Not expecting much…..

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Exactly. Without open seating they are just another airline.

I fly SWA exclusively when possible for work. This is a terrible change.

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Agreed.

If you wait until you get to the airport to check in to a Southwest flight there's a pretty good chance they overbooked and you got booted. The open seating sucks

What happens to a-list?

Troglodyte said:

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What happens to a-list?

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As others have said, it will look like the other majors perks for frequent travelers. So go benchmark what UA, AA, and DL do and you will figure out pretty quick what WN will end up doing.

Mixed feelings on this, but mostly positive.

I'm Alist Preferred, Companion Pass, and live 15 minutes from DAL. I travel about 50 RT per year, most of which are business. Our early, in late, and most of my flights are direct to the major metros of AZ, TX, and FL, with occasional LA, NV, and NY.

I love the convenience of knowing that I am on my couch 45 minutes from the time my wheels hit the ground. Or I can leave my house an hour from take off and walk right up to boarding. I do hate gate lice, I do hate certain people that are on every flight. But at my status level, it so out-weighs AA. Even when traveling with the 3 of us, I board usually A16-20, wife boards at family boarding with kid, and we sit row 9 (1, 9, 17 for those of you who like drinks).

TLDR, having status because you fly a bunch with SWA makes a difference. I hope this continues with the changes b/c my companion pass runs through 2025, and we're pretty committed to them for that long if not more.

YouBet said:

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Baby Billy said:

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If you wait until you get to the airport to check in to a Southwest flight there's a pretty good chance they overbooked and you got booted. The open seating sucks

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SWA doesn't overbook and hasn't in many years.

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Ha. My first hand experience 3 months ago tells me otherwise. And then before that 2 years prior.

They absolutely overbook

YouBet said:

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Baby Billy said:

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If you wait until you get to the airport to check in to a Southwest flight there's a pretty good chance they overbooked and you got booted. The open seating sucks

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SWA doesn't overbook and hasn't in many years.

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We had the flights booked for 6 months. I forgot to check in the day prior. Me, wife and daughter show up 2 hours prior and check in at kiosk. We get to gate and they tell us they're overbooked by 6 people and we were some of the last to check in. A family of 4 took their voucher offer but that was it. Wife and daughter got on the plane, I didn't and came the next day.

Probably a technicality, but it seems like I've been on several SWA the past couple of years that are offering vouchers to take the next flight.

What's the difference between this and over booking?

My money would be due to trying to recover from late connections and cancellations. So not intentionally overbooked at the outset, but "day of" issue recovery attempts

Edit - stymied beat me to it

Right. Pay for early bird or set a 24 hour alarm. I'm generally consistently pleasantly surprised at my options once I get on the plane relative to my #, as long as I did the above. There are usually enough people in A and B still taking middle seats to sit together that it leaves good options for a long time

GasAg90 said:

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Baby Billy said:

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If you wait until you get to the airport to check in to a Southwest flight there's a pretty good chance they overbooked and you got booted. The open seating sucks

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You can check in 24 hours in advance*. You know this, so I am guessing you like to complain about things that you can actually control. The internet was invented for you.

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you assume this person has an internet connection.

Baby Billy said:

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If you wait until you get to the airport to check in to a Southwest flight there's a pretty good chance they overbooked and you got booted. The open seating sucks

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Unless you are business select, why would you ever do this?

If you know Southwest and their process, you probably wouldn't wait that long.

I also would imagine that some of this might be in Southwest's logic. As they compete for people that are not regular Southwest flyers, doing things different than nearly every other airline can really put a bad taste in your mouth.

This decision has huge implications internally at SWA and externally for customers. As well as and pros and cons. Others have listed scenarios on here where moving to assigned seating is going to actually reduce the flexibility of flying SWA in certain scenarios. It's not all great moving to assigned seats although it will assuage many people's complaints.

An old coworker of mine who flew 220ish times a year for a decade has flown every single airline and SWA was at the bottom of his list. Had very few positive things to say about them.

I fly on average every other week. SWA is the bottom of my list. Had to fly to St Louis last week which is a SWA hub. Could fly SWA direct or delta connecting and chose the latter. Can't stand SWA. At least this is an attempt to move in the right direction.

It's Air Walmart.