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Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

JoyceB
Explorer C

I pay the Early Bird price and have A Group Boarding Pass, but row after row, I am pushed back because of Seat Saving for people in C Group, that didn't pay for Early Bird.  I may have let seat saving slide before, but then the price of Early Bird was $10 or $12.50 each way.. Now that the price has increased to $25 EACH WAY, I will no longer continue to be pushed back to the middle or back of the plane because of seat saving. I intend to sit in their Saved seat and they can just deal with it. I thought "My" final straw was on the last flight, where a guy was saving 8 seats for his C Group family.. But NO, "My New Final Straw" is that Southwest now charges $25 EACH WAY for Early Bird.

 

My new stance on this is.. if Early Bird person is Saving seats for others that didn't pay for Early Bird.. those people are actually Stealing that seat, and Stealing my hard earned money, from ME. There is no longer any other way to look at it.

 

Since Early Bird is now the same price as a luggage charge on most other airlines, I may change to those airlines, and have at least, a Reserved Seat.

 

 

 

11 REPLIES 11

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

spacecoastbill
Frequent Flyer B

@JoyceB wrote:

I pay the Early Bird price and have A Group Boarding Pass, but row after row, I am pushed back because of Seat Saving for people in C Group, that didn't pay for Early Bird.  I may have let seat saving slide before, but then the price of Early Bird was $10 or $12.50 each way.. Now that the price has increased to $25 EACH WAY, I will no longer continue to be pushed back to the middle or back of the plane because of seat saving. I intend to sit in their Saved seat and they can just deal with it. I thought "My" final straw was on the last flight, where a guy was saving 8 seats for his C Group family.. But NO, "My New Final Straw" is that Southwest now charges $25 EACH WAY for Early Bird.

 

My new stance on this is.. if Early Bird person is Saving seats for others that didn't pay for Early Bird.. those people are actually Stealing that seat, and Stealing my hard earned money, from ME. There is no longer any other way to look at it.

 

Since Early Bird is now the same price as a luggage charge on most other airlines, I may change to those airlines, and have at least, a Reserved Seat.

 

 

 


Ignore the seat savers.  If you want to sit there and there is not a person sitting there.... go ahead and do it.  Let them try to complain to a FA.

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

Is it really that big of a problem? I fly pretty much every week on Southwest, and I occasionally encounter someone saving a seat or two. I’ve never seen someone save multiple rows. I just don’t see the big deal. 

 

And, horror of horrors, I did it myself in December. I flew with my wife and 6 year old daughter to Legoland in Florida for Christmas. I boarded around A18 (+/-2) on 4 flights, and I saved 2 seats for them. Heck, since I had status, I didn’t even pay an extra penny! Hey, I’m evil, I guess. 

 

As for ignoring me, what could someone do? Ask again? “I’m sorry, but my wife and 6 year old daughter are sitting there.” Tell me that it is “open seating”? “You can sit in any available seat, but these seats are not available.” Sit anyway? Not without pushing past me and committing assault. Seriously, is this really the HUGE deal some people make it out to be?

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

dfwskier
Aviator A

@bwallet wrote:

Is it really that big of a problem? I fly pretty much every week on Southwest, and I occasionally encounter someone saving a seat or two. I’ve never seen someone save multiple rows. I just don’t see the big deal. 

 

And, horror of horrors, I did it myself in December. I flew with my wife and 6 year old daughter to Legoland in Florida for Christmas. I boarded around A18 (+/-2) on 4 flights, and I saved 2 seats for them. Heck, since I had status, I didn’t even pay an extra penny! Hey, I’m evil, I guess. 

 

As for ignoring me, what could someone do? Ask again? “I’m sorry, but my wife and 6 year old daughter are sitting there.” Tell me that it is “open seating”? “You can sit in any available seat, but these seats are not available.” Sit anyway? Not without pushing past me and committing assault. Seriously, is this really the HUGE deal some people make it out to be?


Well said.

 

Like you, I fly a lot -- 30-35 flights a year. so I am A-List and have been since the program was born.

 

I can count the number of times I've not been able to find a pretty good seat on one hand. Oooops, I don't need any hands as the number of times is ZERO.;

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

Randy01
Explorer C

If you’re an A list then it obviously would not affect you. 

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

spacecoastbill
Frequent Flyer B

@bwallet wrote:

Is it really that big of a problem? I fly pretty much every week on Southwest, and I occasionally encounter someone saving a seat or two. I’ve never seen someone save multiple rows. I just don’t see the big deal. 

 

And, horror of horrors, I did it myself in December. I flew with my wife and 6 year old daughter to Legoland in Florida for Christmas. I boarded around A18 (+/-2) on 4 flights, and I saved 2 seats for them. Heck, since I had status, I didn’t even pay an extra penny! Hey, I’m evil, I guess. 

 

As for ignoring me, what could someone do? Ask again? “I’m sorry, but my wife and 6 year old daughter are sitting there.” Tell me that it is “open seating”? “You can sit in any available seat, but these seats are not available.” Sit anyway? Not without pushing past me and committing assault. Seriously, is this really the HUGE deal some people make it out to be?


You just gave a textbook definition for the disruption of the boarding process.  Equating passing you to get to an open seat to an assault isnt going to meet the standard.

 

If the FA is called, or notices, they typically state that there is no one in the seat, and the person can sit there.  Causing any kind of disruption can cause you to be removed from a flight.

 

The clue is if you want to try to save a seat, do it in the rear of the aircraft.  Typically those seats fill last.

 

Is it a HUGE deal?  Well, apparently that has some merit.  How many endless times has it been posted here and other online forums?...... Thats probably an indication that it is a problem.

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

bwallet
Frequent Flyer A

@spacecoastbill wrote:

 

You just gave a textbook definition for the disruption of the boarding process.  Equating passing you to get to an open seat to an assault isnt going to meet the standard.

If the FA is called, or notices, they typically state that there is no one in the seat, and the person can sit there.  Causing any kind of disruption can cause you to be removed from a flight.

The clue is if you want to try to save a seat, do it in the rear of the aircraft.  Typically those seats fill last.

Is it a HUGE deal?  Well, apparently that has some merit.  How many endless times has it been posted here and other online forums?...... Thats probably an indication that it is a problem.



Passing me isn’t assault. My legs touch the seat in front of me, and forcing your way past me would be assault. I’m just sitting there. 

 

A FA would tell them that there isn’t a policy concerning seat saving and shrug. 

 

Just because a few people on here lose perspective doesn’t make it a big deal. I can agree that if someone saved multiple rows, it would be ridiculous, and I’d probably just sit down. However, I’ve been flying pretty much weekly round trips since June, and I have never seen that. I saved a seat for my wife and my 6 year old daughter. Oh, and this was in the first four rows on all four flights. If someone thinks that that is a problem, they should consider finding a hobby. 

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

spacecoastbill
Frequent Flyer B

@bwallet wrote:

@spacecoastbill wrote:

 

You just gave a textbook definition for the disruption of the boarding process.  Equating passing you to get to an open seat to an assault isnt going to meet the standard.

If the FA is called, or notices, they typically state that there is no one in the seat, and the person can sit there.  Causing any kind of disruption can cause you to be removed from a flight.

The clue is if you want to try to save a seat, do it in the rear of the aircraft.  Typically those seats fill last.

Is it a HUGE deal?  Well, apparently that has some merit.  How many endless times has it been posted here and other online forums?...... Thats probably an indication that it is a problem.



Passing me isn’t assault. My legs touch the seat in front of me, and forcing your way past me would be assault. I’m just sitting there. 

 

A FA would tell them that there isn’t a policy concerning seat saving and shrug. 

 

Just because a few people on here lose perspective doesn’t make it a big deal. I can agree that if someone saved multiple rows, it would be ridiculous, and I’d probably just sit down. However, I’ve been flying pretty much weekly round trips since June, and I have never seen that. I saved a seat for my wife and my 6 year old daughter. Oh, and this was in the first four rows on all four flights. If someone thinks that that is a problem, they should consider finding a hobby. 


No, you may think thats assault, but it clearly not.  Im more knowledgeabe on it than you are.

 

However if you blocked seat access and the aisle is now blocked, the FA would absoluteky let you know tat the seata are open and anyone may sit there.

 

Thats their policy, and ive seen it enforced that way as it should be.

 

And no, they dont need a hobby, they are in the right.

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

Randy01
Explorer C

It is a big deal when you pay extra to get preferred seating, especially if you expect to sit in the emergency row and someone is saving a couple of seats.  I usually don't pay for early check in and don't care where I sit. On my last flight I did pay for early check in and encountered a group traveling together.  A person ahead of me (A32) called her friend to come in front of her.  The friend held up her pass and stated she had B16.  She was told to come on anyway.  The person checking the passess let her on anyway ahead of the majority of the A list.  When I got on there were about 15-20 bags and backpacks on seats being saved by people from the group that had boarded ahead of me.

 

On my return trip a middle aged couple sitting in front of me sat down next to each other initially.  Soon thereafter the woman moved to the window seat, leaving the middle seat open.  When a young man attempted to sit in the middle seat the man told him the seat was being saved and the young man moved on.  The seat remained open the entire flight.  

 

I've had one gentleman state to me that "I paid $40 extra to get that seat you're sitting in." when he boarded on connecting flight and I was sitting in an emergency row seat.  He was not happy.

 

Some flight crew say they don't allow saving seats and other say they don't get involved.  I've only had one encounter as such where I've asked the attendant if saving seats were allowed.  She told me the she could not get involved but I could sit at the seat being saved and the passenger could not do anything about it.  I did take the seat.  So this may apply to you in the future if someone wants to sit in your saved seat.  

 

It obviously is "a big problem" to you since you are so guarded with your saved seat and claim you would not give up the empty seat without someone having to assault you.  SW should not charge you extra to check in early.   They should simply do away with it and announce that you can take any seat not being saved.  But they choose to stick their head in the sand and would never do this. This is simply a way to make money for SW.  One day you or some other person may end up in some type of altercation about saving a seat and SW will have to answer.

 

 

Re: Early Boarding vs Saving Seats

wordsmith1313
Explorer A

Hi, Joyce. That is frustrating -- saving eight seats is ridiculous. And many people definitely noticed the higher EB fee, for sure.

 

For the sake of our positive community, though, I hope you will limit your anger to people trying to save multiple seats, and not single-seat folks. Many of us A-List and A-List Preferred fliers also have Companion Passes, so we save one seat for our companions.

With an EB pass, you'll still almost certainly get a prime seat, because there aren't that many people saving singles. (And that jerk with the 8 seats saved is an aberration, thank goodness!) Insisting on taking a seat anyway, as Spacecoast Bill adamantly does every time he flies, really does make for an unfriendly, uncomfortable flight -- the exact opposite of what most of us SWA devotees love.

Safe travels, and I wish you all the best!