Southwest tries assigned seating

[Lori Burger]

There group seating method is enough to convince Poof to never fly Southwest (I like them because they're cheap and funny), but apparently they're considering changing their methods:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.southwest06oct06,0,4320948.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

[JVO]

I like the unassigned seating. If you purchase your tickets on line and confirm the day before, you will almost always get an A ticket. Then you can sit where ever you want. Of course if you don't do that, you get stuck with the leftovers.

[mrjohnchimpo]

sw doesnt' already have assigned seating? screw that. why would you want to fly on an airline in which you don't know whether you're going to get a seat, or where it's going to be? price?

[Lori Burger]

I like the unassigned seating. If you purchase your tickets on line and confirm the day before, you will almost always get an A ticket. Then you can sit where ever you want. Of course if you don't do that, you get stuck with the leftovers.

Eh, not always. I've done it before, exactly 24 hours before the flight, and got a group B boarding pass. I think it depends on how popular the flight is, because for the most popular flights many people pay a service to get them group A boarding tickets (it's like competing with an auction sniper on ebay - can't be done).

[JVO]

sw doesnt' already have assigned seating? screw that. why would you want to fly on an airline in which you don't know whether you're going to get a seat, or where it's going to be? price?


Price. Something else interesting about Southwest (you may already know this) every single southwest airplane is exactly the same. They are all the same model of plane and they are all set up exactly the same. That way any southwest pilot can pilot any plane in the fleet at a moments notice. Also means the ground crew and mechanics only have to learn how to fix one type of plane. I think that is really smart. I don't particularly like to fly southwest, but they are cheap, and they definitely are a good business. Southwest is one of the few airlines who haven't declared bankruptcy in the last few years.

[poofdogg]

i despise southwest. they suck horribly. burger is right. you can sign in 24 hours early and still not get A seating.

Besides...even if I get A seating, I have to show up at least an hour early cuz the idiots start lining up 30-45 minutes early. Why would I want to stand up for 45 minutes waiting to get on a plane?? I want to sit in my chair. I want to have my laptop out doing work. The planes are bigger than most, the seating is a little better, but I want an assigned seat.

As for their being "funny", I find it to be utterly annoying. I get on a plane at 6 in the morning and just want to sleep. They decide everyone needs to be as cheerful and bubbly as they are. SHUT UP!!

So that was my tirade on Southwest.

[False Alarm]

i like the football commercial where they're in a grocery store and the cashier turns on his register and says, "i'm open," and this customer takes a pineapple and whips it into the cashier's face cuz the customer's so excited about football season he began hallucinating that the cashier was a wide receiver, or maybe a tight end. maybe a running back on a swing route. i hope that's southwest.

[mrjohnchimpo]

i think that's an nfl commercial. same people that made the one where 2 moms are browsing through discount towels and then one just turns and violently tackles the other for no reason. except that it's football season.

[cuscus]

I thought she flipped a rolled towl at her ass like the popular form of lockerroom tom foolery.

[mrjohnchimpo]

oh yeah. well in one of them somebody gets tackled.

[andikay]

i like the football commercial where they're in a grocery store and the cashier turns on his register and says, "i'm open," and this customer takes a pineapple and whips it into the cashier's face cuz the customer's so excited about football season he began hallucinating that the cashier was a wide receiver, or maybe a tight end. maybe a running back on a swing route. i hope that's southwest.


I like the MLB commercials they played all summer; all of a sudden people start running and jump into the air and slam up against a wall as if they were trying to catch a fly ball. The lady in the art museum is the funniest! Then Southwest stole the same premise for their "Ding" alerts, except people are running over cubicles or dropping cakes.