I fly on SWA frequently also, with my family for vacations and by myself for academic conferences. When I'm flying alone I am usually not too concerned about my boarding position so I just check in 24 hrs in advance but when my family is flying we pay for Early Boarding so that we can sit together but sometimes we still end up in boarding Group B or the beginning of Group C and at least one of us will have to sit away from each other. I have been aware of the lack of a "Seat Saving" policy for a long time, however despite knowing you can save seats we never do and I can see how it would be frustrating watching other individuals board early and then save multiple seats.
Regardless of how you feel about Southwest Airlines' lack of a prohibition on seat saving the fact remains that they can choose to make rules and to not make rules with respect to saving seats and there is no federal law or regulatory requirement that they restrict their passengers from saving seats. Whether you like it or disagree and feel like it's unfair it is not discriminatory in any way as no specific group/race/gender/sexuality/religious affiliation is being singled out and being disadvantaged. Saying it's discriminatory to people who obey the rules and follow the law is factually incorrect because "rule/law followers" are not a category of people who can be discriminated against and technically the people who are saving seats are also following the rules, since there is no policy/rule that says they can't save seats.
You can agree with it or disagree but it doesn't change the fact that it's permitted. As long as passengers are considerate and respectful then I have no problem. I'm the type of person who doesn't mind switching seats with someone because they want to sit with their child or a friend/significant other who is an anxious flyer but if someone rudely asks or demands I switch seats so they can sit next to someone then I'm not moving, especially if I'm next to my family. Maybe the airline will change their policy/non-policy in the future but for now it's reality and before people get into a confrontation about something so trivial or force a airline employee to step in we just have to try to be courteous to each other and also consider how stressful it probably is for the flight attendants.
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