mindtoss is the personal blog of stephen chip, a creative director living and working in boca raton, florida
One again I had the privilege to fly Southwest Airlines last week when I took a business trip to New Orleans. I thought it would be much better flying Southwest this time since they introduced their new line policy. You no longer need to line up immediately upon arriving to your gate. Once you check in, your place is saved in line. I arrived two hours early and ended up with B44. Not bad, I thought. As illustrated in the cartoon above, I ended up with the center seat.
I think it’s time for Southwest to abandon the whole “Grab any seat you want” policy. It may have worked well in the seventies when the planes flew with less people, However it’s not working so well these days.
Here’s an example. Say I purchase a ticket to go see my relatives up in the northeast six months in advance. The day I’m to return, I spend a little more time with my family. I arrive at the airport just under an hour before my flight leaves. I potentially end up with a “C” line ticket. The only advantage to buying my ticket ahead of time is the monetary savings. It doesn’t guarantee my place in line. I would rather know I had a center seat at the time of booking. I’ll take that incentive any day of the week.
C’mon Southwest, you’re the airlines with heart. How about cutting us all a break. Even Subway abandoned that silly sandwich cut. (Remember the cut where it appeared there was more on the sandwich because all the meat and toppings hung out the side) Sure it’s great to be different but let’s face it, people hate it. It makes us feel like we’re all cattle lining up. This is a new century. Start listening to your patrons. SWITCH TO ASSIGNED SEATING!
Also see:
Southwest Airlines reservations – or why I don’t like to fly Southwest
Virgin America is the new jetBlue
Dog + Pig
2 Responses for "Pig flies Southwest Airlines"
while i agree that southwest is painful to fly and i avoid it, and not just for this crazy seating policy, your problem would be resolved if you checked in online before your flight. A is normally gone by 20 hours before the flight takes off.
sean – you raise a good point. Next time I’ll check in online the day before!
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