TalkBoard Member/Moderator: Southwest and JetBlue forums
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN CP & A-list, Interstate BBQ at MEM B17, CO Lifetime Presidents Club
Posts: 9,241
Please keep it polite and factual, not personal. Remember that this forum doesn't have a dedicated moderator, so the load falls on some very busy Senior Moderators.
I ask regulars of the WN forum to be extra sensitive and friendly here. F9 is having a rough year, as are several other airlines. Unwelcome change is everywhere. If we have useful information to contribute, that helps. If we don't, we shouldn't post. Do it as a favor to me, please.
Location: Westchester Co, NY or Rio Grande Valley, TX or ???
Programs: CO 1Pass since '88, WN RR, FL A+ Elite, UA M+ 2P, HH (D), BD*G
Posts: 483
Quote:
Originally Posted by DenverF9Flier
That's got to vary based upon city and load on the flight, doesn't it? I understand if it's a half-full flight to somewhere where folks don't carry-on a lot of luggage, but c'mon, I know that "scrum" boarding is fast but for a full flight there's no way you can board a plane in 10 minutes with carry-ons...
You're right about the variation - boarding time does vary a little from city to city. However, boarding a 737 in roughly 10 minutes is quite doable. In Southwest's earliest days, they actually scheduled 10 minute turns - i.e. the plane spent 10 minutes total at the gate! Currently, WN schedules many of the smaller airports for 20 minute turns. In Harlingen (HRL), if the plane lands and has pulled up to a gate at time T, the first passengers are in the terminal by T + 90 seconds max. By T + 6 minutes all passengers are off the plane (unless there were several wheelchair pax); pre-boarding begins around T + 7 or 8 minutes, with A1-30 shortly thereafter. Even on full flights during the Christmas season, when it seems everyone has a carry-on present, WN is able to keep to 20 minute turns.
Please keep it polite and factual, not personal. Remember that this forum doesn't have a dedicated moderator, so the load falls on some very busy Senior Moderators.
I ask regulars of the WN forum to be extra sensitive and friendly here. F9 is having a rough year, as are several other airlines. Unwelcome change is everywhere. If we have useful information to contribute, that helps. If we don't, we shouldn't post. Do it as a favor to me, please.
I apologies if anything that I said was taken as personal by anyone. Frontier has many fine qualities and I wish it and its customers only the best. They have not always done right by me, such as the Christmas 2006 snow storm mess, but overall, they are pretty good. I certainly do consider price to be a factor in any purchase decision and I don't like feeling I paid more for something than I should have. The change fee especially gets under my skin.
I hope that I have presented a factual account of how WN has improved the boarding process in November 2007. I can't say that its for everyone, but it is better than it used to be -- maybe enough that with these improvements, open seating really can be as good as assigned seating.
My hope is that Frontier will not go out of business. Competition is good for travelers. I have some opinions, which I have shared, on why I think Frontier is hurting. But, those are just my opinions.
