Diminishing fuel hedges, impending negotiations over a pilot's contract that hasn't been overhauled in 12 years and increased competition from the likes of jetBlue and others... it's no wonder Southwest is looking hard for new ways to save or make more money in their everyday operations. Well, assigned seating is NOT the answer.
Famous for their 10 minute turns once upon a time, they now struggle to stay on the mark with 25 and 30 minutes scheduled between flights. What happened? What killed the 10 minute turns? While many factors can be argued, ONE clearly prevails as the most affecting: passenger's luggage. Mainly that the business-"men" of yesteryear toting nothing more than satchels and briefcases have been replaced with vactioners, college students and business folks that insist upon dragging all their oversized "carryon luggage" into the cabins of the airliners.
Southwest is so busy growing their fleet, pilot and flight attendant base while keeping their ground personnel at or below minimums that they have lost their oversight--the operations and customer service agents that could and should enforce the one carryon plus a small purse or laptop bag limit. It's simple, really. If they stringently enforced the carryon policy to the letter, there would be no need to explore new boarding procedures.
The longer turn times are not a function of folks piling into the first rows of seats at the outset of the boarding process but rather that they are simply holding up everyone behind them while they search desperately for overhead space that will accomodate their multitude of baggage, and then struggle to cram those items in the bins. When was the last time you saw an agent ask a passenger to utilize the sizing boxes strewn around the terminals? One carryon means one carryon and a second SMALL bag sufficient to accomodate a laptop or basic personal affects found within a purse... AND NOTHING MORE. Better yet, leave it at ONE SINGLE CARRYON (.)
Southwest passengers are the savvy, work-the-system types that enjoy "playing the game." Let's leave the "game" at scoring the "A" boarding card and not devising way s to sneak all pieces of their luggage onto the aircraft. Southwest has a one of the best luggage handling reputations in the industry. Their loyal passengers can learn to be comfortable with waiting an additional 5 minutes at the conclusion of their flight to receive the baggage OR leaving behind the extra stuff they really didn't need to bring anyways.
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