01-22-2007
02:56 AM
4 Loves
One of my pet peves are captians that turn on the seatbelt sign at the slightest jiggle. I think that's one big reason some people ignore seatbelt signs, because quite often the light's on and there's no real turbulence so they're not taken seriously. Sometimes it seems as if they're turned on for liability reasons, not because they're needed.
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A recent flight with a Southwest competitor told me all I need to know about assigned seating. It took a full hour to board a 737 sized airplane. People with a guaranteed seat are in no hurry.
Southwest passengers are trained early to get in, sit down, shut up, and go flying, because they're hot to get the seat they want.
Many folks don't like it that they have to hustle, and they want to have the luxury of assigned seating so they won't have to. But at the same time, they don't want to put up with an hour of fooling around on the ground waiting on other lazy people to sit down so we can get where we're going.
Southwest's policies work. Ignore the people who think they want assigned seating. They really don't, but don't know it.
Everyone else assigns seats, and is less profitable as a result, so there's no reason to study the matter. The proof is in the bottom line.
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