I recently had the misfortune to fly on one of the new SW Evolve aircraft. I commented on the lack of space and could not believe the canned company line response I received. I fly from STL to SMF and back every week and I guess I have no concept of customer comfort or what personal space is..... or so says Vicki from Southwest. Please see below
My comments to Southwest:
Positives: Flight 270 from SMF to PHX....great flight! I love your new 800 series planes! As always your flight attendants and pilots were happy, funny, honest, thoughtful, kind, caring, innovative, and courageous!
Negatives: Flight 363 from LAS to STL. The remodeled 700 series was a very bad idea- adding 6 seats contributes to my customer dissatisfaction. Flight attendants have told me that they have already informed Southwest of this customer complaint. The leg room and overall space is horrible now and when the passenger in front reclines, the tray table touches me. No “LUV” here! Flight 1500 (4573P3) arrived 25 minutes early last night which was fantastic but was overshadowed by the lack of space and comfort. All three seats were occupied and sitting next to a 250 + pounder for almost three hours was no treat. I'm told that Herbert "Herb" Dwight Kelleher would have never made this change to make more money at the expense of the passenger's comfort. Following in the footsteps of United and American is not a direction that Southwest should be heading.
Their Reply:
Dear Robert,
Thank you very much for your e-mail. We enjoy hearing from our Customers, and it’s an extra-special treat whenever we receive accolades for any of our Southwest Warriors.
Southwest has not earned the reputation as the “LUV Airline” for nothing, and we're thrilled that you have experienced exactly what that means firsthand! We’re proud to have Employees who are happy, funny, honest, thoughtful, kind, caring, innovative, and courageous. All of this LUV translates into the Legendary Customer Service you have received! We look forward to sharing your kind words of praise with our People.
As you've learned, we recently unveiled our plans to retro-fit our Boeing 737-700 series aircraft with EVOLVE: The New Southwest Interior. This eco-friendly, cost-efficient new look for our cabin emphasizes Customer comfort and personal space while maximizing the room inside our planes. While this grants us the opportunity to increase the number of seats onboard from 137 to 143, rest assured that we will not be sacrificing our Customers’ personal space. In fact, sleeker seats will provide additional space under each seat for carryon luggage and approved pet carriers. Our objective was not to add a row of seats, and the extra row isn't the main reason for this redesign. Once we examined how much space would be saved, it was determined we could accommodate the increase without sacrificing comfort. Nevertheless, your disappointment with our decision is clear, and I have included your feedback in our monthly summary, which is distributed to our Senior Leadership. In the meantime, you can learn more about EVOLVE here.
We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon and for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Vicki, Southwest Airlines
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