Reply to "Baby got back"? Beware of new Southwest policy

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't get the negativity towards Southwest on this thread. They are consistently the nicest airline I fly, with the best customer service.

This change is being driven by them getting rid of unassigned seating, which they did because when they surveyed people about Southwest, they found it was the #1 reason that people would decide not to fly Southwest. I personally like the unassigned seating (and liked when it was truly unassigned without even preferred seating available) because it is more efficient and is why Southwest consistently had one of the best on-time records for years. It was also one of the reasons the adopted the "checked bags fly free" policy when other airlines started charging, because allowing free checked bags encourages more people to check bags, which means fewer carry ons, which means faster boarding and de-planing.

Anyway, the lack of assigned seating is why Southwest was able to offer this benefit to larger passengers, which would allow them to sometimes fly without pay for an additional seat. So Southwest kind of became the preferred airline of larger passengers, which creates issues of it's own -- if you have a full flight with an above average number of obese passengers, that's going to be a problem for everyone including the obese passengers.

So now they have assigned seating and a policy on obese passengers that's similar to other airlines. I get why it's a bummer if you've been enjoying the benefit of not having to pay for an extra seat if you need it every time you fly, but this isn't Southwest being a jerk. There is no other way to accommodate passengers who need two seats when there is assigned seating. It is what it is.[/quote]

As a frequent flyer for business, I can tell you Southwest offers and offered me nothing. I was not in their business model. If I were a Kettle flyer I kind of get the appeal of old Southwest. Today, I don't get it at all for anyone. Unassigned seating was always insane IMO. But they aren't that cheap, and they don't offer the benefits of the legacy carriers. This is why they're having to become one, but I think they're too late.

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