My wife and I really upset with this new policy. I fly southwest multiple times a year and my family flies southwest to visit me multiple times as well. I am very disappointed with this move. This is nothing more than a price increase which will affect all people on the plane. I know its not mandatory, but when this catches on in a few weeks, it will have a downward spiral at which everyone will do this to get their choice of a seat. A prime example was my parents logged on to check in for their flight yesterday exactly 24 hours before the flight to the minute. They already were at b-8. This is rediculous and I think needs to be taken away. There will be a time where if you don't pay the extra fee, the check in process will start in the c-group.
I understand the airline has to make a profit, but this is not the way to do it. We would rather just see an increase in the ticket or actually pay for bags. Paying more just for the opportunity to get a seat you want is not right. If you don't do this in time, you could pay and still get a mid b seat or beyond and not get your seat. What is wrong with the current system? You can check in, get your seat, and be happy. We are really going to consider going with other airlines with this new policy. To us, it would be better to either pay more for a flight with a reserved seat or pay for our bags than to go this route. At least you know what you are getting. As far as I can tell, this new policy could have you pay and then still get a "c" pass. So if anyone is reading this please note that this new policy may cause you to loose between 10-15 flights a year with 2 or more people. Heck, we even have groups of 13 that come out to Las Vegas to see us and always fly Southwest. In my conversations with them, they agree they would just prefer to pay a little more for the price of the ticket and keep things the same instead of having this new policy. I also own stock in the company and still am against this. The idea of not charging for bags is great, not having assigned seats is ok, and the airline is doing fine. But this is just going to upset people and cause people to have to pay what comes down to an extra "fee" just for a seat. This is wrong and we might consider using alternate airlines.
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