As someone who used to take two WN flights a week, I dislike these changes, and I predict they won’t last, if they ever take effect at all.<p>The CEO’s “research” appears shambolic and dumbs down what engenders such loyalty to Southwest. Next thing you’ll know they’ll add 777’s, ERJ’s, and A320’s to the bestiary, because it’s also what the other airlines do. Southwest became the leader because they led and went their own way instead of followed.<p>At the end of the day, 90% of Southwest fliers choose Southwest because of price and availability. Embiggening the boarding process with boarding zones won’t sell more seats, particularly middle seats.<p>The 10% of business travelers who choose Southwest crave its no-fuss “Greyhound of the skies” approach, and these will be the most turned off.<p>CEO pay is like telling your driver to redline the engine all he wants. He’ll outperform the competition (with significant personal upside) until he blows the engine (and gets replaced a few years later, having earned billions).
Your assigned seat won’t be worth squat when a parent with two screaming, seat kicking, kids sit behind you. The flexibility of Southwest’s seating model allowed the 20% of us who favor it to “game” the system on their perpetually 100% loaded flights (don’t sit by kids, select two open seats with slender person in third seat, etc.). I’ve been dreading this. To me, they just gave up their competitive advantage.
Adding charging to seats, listing prices on Google Flights, and allowing seat selection are recent moves that will take Southwest off my "never fly" list.
As a guy with wide shoulders, I only fly Southwest because I can see and choose to sit next to sometime that does not also have wide shoulders. Otherwise flying is really uncomfortable or even painful for both of us. I’ve been a loyal customer for a decade but will be done with Southwest if they do this.
Honestly, I think this is a good thing. It has always been a bit of an annoyance to me when I have to fly southwest that my ability to get a decent seat comes down to a combination of how quickly I check in and if I want to pay them money to move into a better boarding group. It ends up as an additional source of stress that adds to an already annoyingly stressful process, whereas with every other usual domestic airline, you can pick your seat when getting the ticket, and you won't have to worry about where you end up stuck sitting.
I used to fly SWA quite a bit, but the past few years they are often more expensive than American for the same routes out of my area (DFW), or, require connections when I could get a direct flight on American for the same price or less. Unless I'm flying with a lot of bags, its generally cheaper lately on another airline. I did love SWA's open seating and hope this change doesn't stick, but they no longer seem to have the cost advantage over the other carriers going for them. I fear if this change goes through, its only a matter of time before they start charging for checked bags and then they will be no different from any other airline.
I always specifically flew Southwest because I loved this policy, and shunned every other airline specifically because of a lack of a like policy.<p>For me it was great because as a person with a shaved head and a long goatee, most people would avoid sitting next to me until seats got into last resort, which simply meant extra comfort usually the more angry I looked that day. I'd usually even pay to board early to get a window seat for this reason.<p>I haven't flown in the past 5 years or more now, I'll be annoyed the next time I have to with Southwest again, damn them.
Finally. Now start supporting third party booking sites and I may actually start considering Southwest as a serious option. Lining up at the gate by number like a schoolchild and praying that I can scramble fast enough to avoid a middle seat was fine when I was 19 and wanted the cheapest possible fare. Now, not a chance. Which sucks because they do have a very good network in the US.