Southwest Airlines Community

Greetings Community Southwest:     As of the time of this writing, SoCalFlyer97 has a backlog of written posts to share on this board (e.g.: The next part of my Trains-to-Planes experience series, my latest short-haul SW flight experience from SAN-SFO and back, and my latest experience and tips of using one of Global Entry's perks). Two of these are nearly fully written and ready to be posted,...and then we all got the big news this morning on the seating policy changes.     I felt it would be best to defer the other posts until next week and keep focus on this Seating Assignment headline as all eyes are on this story. I noticed that this board is flooded with questions and comments. I felt it would be good for me to opine as I'm a frequent short-haul traveler aboard the LUV airline, an A-Lister who travels up and down the Golden State and to/from PHX and LAS regularly.   First, let's run through what we already know from the official source. Here's the link to the Press Release and all of my points will be based on this: https://www.swamedia.com/releases/southwest-airlines-launches-enhancements-to-transform-customer-experience-and-improve-financial-performance   Once Southwest announced that it is moving forward with plans for assigned and premium seating, the news media ran with it. The world now knows this will be forthcoming. Also, SW announced a redesign of the boarding model and to introduce nonstop overnight flights starting with a number of routes.   We also know that Southwest announced back in April that it was doing an analysis of product preferences and expectations which included the assigned seating proposal. A reason behind all this is to strengthen their financial position so they basically don't operate in the red (pardon the pun).     Southwest released that "80% of Southwest Customers, and 86% of potential Customers, prefer an assigned seat." and "when a Customer elects to stop flying with Southwest and chooses a competitor, open seating is cited as the number one reason for the change." To be clear, I don't know as a traveler the methodology behind this polling/survey or the demographics of the participants. Some people have opined that this survey is flawed; I don't have a shred evidence to back up that claim either way. However, it would be good for the traveling public and the shareholders in my opinion to release the polling methodology but an 80% up-vote for assigned seating is a high number in my opinion to warrant action for the good of the airline.   Lastly, Southwest announced that more details will be announced during its "Investor Day" meeting in late September. Some additional details or FAQ's could show up sooner, but it appears that we as travelers will in fact have more details come later this fall. Thus, as the old cliché goes: We'll have to wait and see.   SoCalFlyer97 has experienced breaking headlines like this in the past. I've already documented my experience with my old free Washington Mutual checking account when this massive customer-focused bank failed in 2008: https://community.southwest.com/t5/Check-In-Boarding/What-happens-to-the-free-upgraded-boarding-now/m-p/174935/highlight/true#M14541   Back then, I had to wait as Chased implemented the changes. Right now, more details regarding this SW announcement are forthcoming and I and everybody else will need to hold patiently until the details are announced.     For the immediate term, we can still enjoy the current upgraded perks and what SW already has to offer until the changes are phased in.   Now that the facts are stated, here's SoCalFlyer97's thoughts on all this...   As an A-Lister, I don't know for sure how this will impact me.     If you follow my posts, I'm a window seat guy, and I usually pick the first available one which is almost always toward the front portion of the plane. I LUV the views from the window and take a bunch of pictures of them and share them on this board.     For most of my fights, I book well ahead of time during sales when the fare is low. Under an assigned seating program, that will likely mean I may be able to reserve a nice window seat, maybe toward the front. I don't know. Sometimes I've utilized my Same Day Flight Change and my "A61" benefit; I have no clue of how that's going to be addressed. I would assume A-Listers and ALP's will have some priority "say" on their seat selections--possibly including Same Day Flight Changes/Standby's but I'm not sure.   Also have no idea of which of SW's fares or tiers will allow for seat selection versus being simply assigned.     I'm therefore assuming that we as travelers will soon be able to see a seat map of each flight and how full it is upon booking; that would be a huge plus and remove much of the guesswork involved with figuring out how full a flight is; maybe that will be part of the tradeoff benefit for "A61" in deciding whether or not to make a same-day flight change (i.e.: if there's only middle seats left, I may decide to hang on to my original booking). Something like this on SW's booking page would be a huge plus. Here's Breeze Airway's seating map for an August mid-week flight from SBD-SFO:   I'll take that first available premium economy window seat toward the front...okay maybe not!   One thing I'll opine on and folks have already commented on this on this forum. I believe this policy change will put a dead stop to any alleged pre-boarding abuse and seat-saving problems that has been a widespread discussion topic on this board which should help protect the value of the higher fare products. That will be a good thing.   Regarding the Premium Seating feature...I have no idea how this section will fit into all this and I think this will be a phased-in change given Southwest's massive fleets (I could be wrong). I'm assuming the seating re-arrangements will be done while the new RECARO seats with in-seat power are installed in conjunction with the larger overhead bin space to minimize the need to gate-check carry-on's. How this premium section fits into A-List/ALP perks...no clue.   Regarding the boarding process and timing...the news release did mention that they are aiming for "reductions in turn-time through new technologies and procedures".   That tells me that they may have cracked the code of quickly boarding (and possibly exiting) the plane without the need for open seating which I think they'll announce later. That tells me that there's a high possibility that boarding times will stay at 30-minutes prior to departure (or even be improved to 25-minutes prior) but that's my guess for now.     Lastly, Overnight Flights...Starting next February.   Here they are: LAS-BWI LAS-MCO LAX-BWI LAX-BNA PHX-BWI   This will be a great feature in my opinion. If they're able to roll this out systemwide in the future to include the SoCal short-haul routes, that basically provides transportation coverage during the night owl hours up and down Cali. It's worth noting that BrightLine is building a high speed rail route for the SoCal-LAS corridor which will essentially compete with SW; having additional lower cost night owl flights for this route can help assure SW remains competitive for this market. I hope SW considers Cali for Redeye real soon.     So there you have it. In summary, I don't know if this change will be a good or bad thing for my flight needs. I'm guessing it will be good but that depends on how this gets executed and what the seating reservation policies will be. As SW announces more details of how this will all integrate with A-List/ALP and Same Day Flight Change/Standby and what the "A61" tradeoff's will be, I'll provide an update.   For now travel safely and enjoy the rest of your summer. I'll be posting my other travel experiences mentioned at the top of this posting sometime next week. ... View more

Greetings Community Southwest:     Last month, SoCalFlyer97 traveled and served on a mission trip in Austin TX from Cali which a Southwest Airlines flight and two Southwest Hotels bookings played roles in. In addition, our nation's massive rail network Amtrak got me from a local train station into the Lone Star State for the journey in.     Both Southwest and Amtrak have officially marketed each other's services; SW's destination page for SAN gives a blurb to hop aboard the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner route at San Diego: https://www.southwest.com/destinations/west/san-diego   Likewise, Amtrak gives a plug for airport connections along its SoCal route with a nice picture of a Southwest 737-700 parked at BUR. https://www.pacificsurfliner.com/plan-your-trip/connections/airport-connections/   So I thought it would make sense to share my journey from SoCal to AUS via Amtrak's Texas Eagle train, share my two Southwest Hotel stays, followed by my return trip to SoCal aboard a Southwest flight. This post will be the first of a series of multiple posts. This first post covers the prelude feeder trip aboard the Pacific Surfliner into LA to connect with my 36 hour train ride into the Lone Star State.     SoCalFlyer97's journey across the western United States begins aboard the Pacific Surfliner in San Diego County to LA Union Station so I can connect with the Texas Eagle route. The Surfliner has multiple trains daily linking SAN to LA with select trains going north toward SBA and even one daily roundtrip all the way to San Luis Obispo.   My long-haul ride aboard the connecting Texas Eagle didn't depart 'til later that night but since this train only offered 3 departures each week, I felt it was best to be in the LA area very well ahead of time just in case I ran into any travel problems for this first leg aboard the Surfliner; thus I planned for a midday arrival in LA.   Train arrived at the local station about 10 minutes behind schedule but nothing to complain about. The Surfliner offers two fare classes: Reserved Business Class and Unreserved Coach. Both fares offered great flexibility; they can be cancelled with a full refund to the original form of payment with no fees (for Business Class, the refund is granted if the reservation is canceled/changed anytime before actual departure). No change fees. Both also granted access to a café car which offered light meals, snacks and beverages for sale with a dining area and reasonable prices. Passengers can also bring and consume their own food aboard the train at their seats but just like the airlines, if one brought their own alcohol aboard, it cannot be consumed on the train.   Seating for both classes offered reclining seats, power outlets, foot rests, and large tray tables.      Business Class perks also include seating in two cars reserved for Business Class passengers, additional legroom, less foot traffic, complimentary snacks and drinks, a dedicated attendant, and guaranteed unassigned seating. Just like SW, once aboard the train, passengers may take any open seat on the upper deck as the lower deck is reserved for passengers with disabilities.     Unreserved Coach fares basically gets you on board the train; however this class has the maximum ticket flexibility where one can use the ticket in between the two station pairs aboard any Amtrak Surfliner train up to one year of booking without having to rebook. Thus, if one misses their train, they can simply hop aboard the next one without having to make any adjustments to the booking. The drawback is Unreserved Coach can "oversell", leading to standing room-only conditions at times.   The fare difference in between Coach and Business Class ranges from $10 to $35, depending on travel distance...a great value in my opinion; thus, I elected to ride Business Class.   On the train set, the Business Class section consists of two cars located on one end of the train. On most of my train trips, the second car would consist of a Superliner coach car--the one used along Amtrak's long distance routes with dimmed lighting and even more legroom; whenever I see this car on the train set and have a Business Class fare, I prefer to ride in this coach.     As you can see, not a full train in Business Class; so feel free to spread out. Unreserved Coach looked a bit more crowded but everybody had seats. I got into LA around 1pm. Texas Eagle wasn't due to depart 'til 10pm.   One travel tip: If you're connecting onto the Surfliner from your Southwest flight and travelling anywhere south of Orange County or north of Ventura, grab a window seat on the side of the train next to the ocean!     Next up on this Vacation Series...What did SoCalFlyer97 do when he got to LA with a 7-hour layover? Take more trains? Stay tuned! ... View more