My two cents: I think the service should be free because SW is asking users to rely on their own power source - if they were to make power available, then I might be OK paying for it.
I did read the bulk of the comments, at least through page 2, and many many people are missing several key points, not having read existing comments before making their own.
FIRST: Waaaay back at 1/29/09, Brian Lusk stated that it has already been decided that VOIP will NOT be allowed. There will not be 25 verbal conversations taking place. Keyclicks are another story...can't be helped. Even without WiFi, many people work during flights and it's just a fact of our modern world. Try to be aware of where your elbows are!!
SECOND: I can't see how there will be plug installation on the planes. Think about this - retrofitting the entire fleet with plugs at seats would be an even more astronomical cost than setting up WiFi. I think people would be willing to pay as long as they can access (plug in to) the system for their entire flight and not have to worry about battery power. But what if I paid for the service and had to use only my battery (current model for WiFi on SW) and my battery died 30 minutes into use, I guess that's my problem? You need to somehow have battery power that will last the duration of your travels, however long, OR you run the risk of a dead laptop upon arrival. Even with a fully-charged battery, these days it's hard to know how long it will truly last with constant use. SW won't have plugs to use, so factor that into your remarks about paying for the service. Along those lines, asking for more room between rows so people can USE WiFi more comfortably isn't going to happen either.
Loyal customers all seem to value the fact that SW is the people's airline - they have and and continue to be the most responsive to consumer input. We appreciate the corporate philsophy, including fee structure, bag policy and liberal change policy and for that reason alone we will continue to fly them.
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11-12-2007
08:54 PM
2 Loves
Hello Southwest Customer Service: Still waiting for your response re: my earlier 11/7 posting: Will the system revert back to allowing position A1 to be printed if there has not been an A-lister (or Business Select) customer confirmed on the flight? To continue our travel saga, last night I waited patiently to the 24 hour mark to check my husband and son in (they weren't near a computer and will reprint their boarding passes at the airport), and ended up with A22 & 23. I can't wait to hear how many empty spots there were in the A-line ahead of them, on this return flight. So was the programming design savvy enough to bump up the line for getting A passes, or is it just an automatic hold on a specific number of A's before the 'unwashed masses' can get their numbers, even if no A-list or Business Select customers are on a given flight?
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11-11-2007
10:16 PM
1 Love
My husband and son are flying to visit colleges this weekend. I booked the trip long before any of these announcements had been made. Went on line to check them in (hopefully getting A group) and when I got in exactly 24 hours prior to flight they were assigned A19 & A 20. The interesting thing is that when they were at the gate at LAX, the announcement was initially "anybody with an A, get in line" (like the old-fashioned Southwest), etc. A short while later another announcement was made to shift everybody to the appropriate 5-number groups. Although my husband and son were 19 & 20, there was only one person in front of them, at A18. Where were all the rest of the A's, 1-17, that boarding passes were reserved for?? Were these A-listers that space had been allocated for but no one was reserved on that flight? Is this how it's going to be from here on out for the 'leisure' traveler? Will the system revert back to allowing position A1 to be printed if there has not been an A-lister on the flight? I would appreciate comments from SW regarding this policy. And I have a feeling I know what the answer is going to be. I guess my husband and son were then the second and third passengers on the plane, so why the fuss? The system was not broken before, it definitely didn't need this ill-conceived and discriminatory fix.
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