While I generally give good complements to SW for value and friendly staff, I have one complaint that I would really like SW to address. The airlines claims one benefit of their service is "open seating" - and flight attendants always announce that all available seats are "open and available" if unoccupied. However, this is a lie because SW does not enforce the every open seat is available rule. I'm a tall person (6'3") and on nearly every flight I take I try to sit in the exit row so my knees don't get crushed. I am not always able to score an exit row seat because passengers who boarded before me "SAVE" seats for their family & friends. When I complain to the passenger saving the seat AND the flight attendant, I get a "too bad" response - and of course, if I complained loudly or snarky I'm likely to be kicked off a unruly. This becomes even more frustrating because I often pay more for early check in and boarding so I have a better chance in the "A" line to score an exit row seat - but the extra expense again is thwarted because an empty seat available to me taken away because passengers are being allowed to save seats. Complaints to the flight attendants suggest that although SW says seats cannot be saved, they are not allowed to enforce this simple rule. Either SW needs to update their slogan and flight attendant announcements to say that open seats may be saved for other family or friends OR SW needs to enforce the no saving rule to comply with their claim that indeed, they offer open seating for any unoccupied seat - no more saving seats! It's rude.
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