05-13-2023
11:06 PM
05-13-2023
11:06 PM
So here's what we know or at least I know since I experienced it: The flight attendant physically blocked open seats on an exit row and prohibited customers from taking those open seats and said they were for someone else. She then moved and allowed people who boarded later in the process to take said seats. When customer service was called this morning and asked about it, the SW rep said the company has an open seating policy ( we all know and acknowledge), the company has no policy for or against saving seats by other passengers (we know and acknowledge) and that the company has no policy about flight attendants saving seats for passengers. Customer service rep then said that going to the gate and specifically requesting the exit row ahead of time and having those seats held for you was a thing. When asked how that could be an allowable thing since it would violate the open seating policy for the company to then actually have staff reserve seats and also would undercut the need to buy early access or being priority and having A group status, she said it was a thing because of the reasons stated above....that the flight crew likes to know they have people who can handle the specific duties required of passengers seating in the exit row so they will accommodate said gate request to be placed in the exit row if asked. All of the above was why I posted. None of it seemed correct, yet it came from a spokesperson for the company so I shared it because the entire experience was quite frustrating but none of us involved wanted to cause a scene on the plane. It did, however, leave us with a bad taste in our mouths about flying SW again because of the frustration of the experience. And admittedly, I'm still quite frustrated and not pleased based on the answer I shared that was from customer service that it's just a thing.
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05-13-2023
10:38 PM
05-13-2023
10:38 PM
@DancingDavidE it's not made up, but I'm glad you take enjoyment out of calling people liars. Nothing could possibly happen without you having witnessed it yourself is a terrible take. The fact that there's not a policy about it and yet a SW customer service representative stated this was was a thing and why it likely happened is the reason I posted. I mean I've never seen you fly frequently to MCO to visit the mouse, but I don't think you're lying about it.
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05-13-2023
01:17 PM
05-13-2023
01:17 PM
I don't know what to tell you. Implausible as it may be, it did occur and the woman who answered the phone at SW customer service this morning said it was quite normal for people to be able to go and request that the exit row seats be held for them at the gate agent and have that done. I even asked her why that made sense because that meant someone could jump ahead of people who had purchased priority boarding and even said "I could do this and have that prime seat over someone who had slot A2 as a boarding position?" and she said "yes." She said it was a thing because people who sit in exit rows have to be able to perform certain responsibilities and they like to know ahead of time they have people who can do those things and people requesting the seats ahead of time enables that need to be met so they will hold them.
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05-13-2023
10:27 AM
05-13-2023
10:27 AM
Not a frequent SW passenger here, but had an experience on my flight this past week that I thought I would share with a tip to future passengers on how you can actually reserve specific seats on Southwest flights. My travel party and I got on the plane and as we made our way toward through the plane several of us realized that exit row seats were open. We thought we would take advantage of the opportunity and gain the extra leg space by sitting in the exit row seats. One of the flight attendants was blocking the seats and when we asked to sit we were told "these seats are unavailable." We asked were people sitting in them and were told "yes they are taken" by the flight attendant. We moved on to the rows behind the exit row and waited as we were disappointed but didn't want to make it a big deal. As we waited for the boarding to finish we realized that she was holding the seats for people who had not boarded yet as they came on with luggage behind us, stowed it and then took their seats. It was not a situation where someone had boarded and then gone to the restroom during boarding (not a great idea, but I know it happens). I called into customer service after the trip to ask what the policy was for flight attendants holding seats for passengers and how that reconciled with the "open seating/first-come first served" policy and an active policy of not getting involved in the first come vs. saving seats policy. I was told by the customer service rep on the phone that if you go to the gate agent ahead of time and tell them you would like to sit in the exit row that they will hold the exit row seats for you ahead of everyone else in the boarding priority or boarding order - whether they paid for early access or were in the queue ahead of you or not. So there you have it, if you want the leg room you can request the reservation of exit row seating with the gate agent and they will hold it for you per SW customer service.
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