Seat saving extreme
Dec 10, 2014, 10:44 am
#31
Join Date: Mar 2006
Programs: WN Rapid Rewards, Delta Skymiles
Posts: 400
But that's the thing, they are following the rules. Southwest has explicitly said that it is okay for people to save seats for their traveling companions. (from the corporate response quoted earlier, "We don’t have a policy regarding saving seats, and it is acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for someone...")
I don't understand how this is any different than any other event that is general admission. I wouldn't walk into a movie theater and demand to sit in a seat that someone was saving for their friend who hadn't arrived yet. Same for a concert or school event, etc.
There is one airline that doesn't offer assigned seating. If you don't like the way they do it you can fly any of the other airlines out there. It's not like you don't know in advance that there is not assigned seating, they don't spring it on you right as you board, so that should be included in your decision making process. Weigh flight times and non-stops and lack of assigned seating and make the decision that is right for you.
I don't understand how this is any different than any other event that is general admission. I wouldn't walk into a movie theater and demand to sit in a seat that someone was saving for their friend who hadn't arrived yet. Same for a concert or school event, etc.
There is one airline that doesn't offer assigned seating. If you don't like the way they do it you can fly any of the other airlines out there. It's not like you don't know in advance that there is not assigned seating, they don't spring it on you right as you board, so that should be included in your decision making process. Weigh flight times and non-stops and lack of assigned seating and make the decision that is right for you.
Dec 10, 2014, 10:52 am
#32
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,872
Dec 10, 2014, 10:58 am
#33
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
But that's the thing, they are following the rules. Southwest has explicitly said that it is okay for people to save seats for their traveling companions. (from the corporate response quoted earlier, "We don’t have a policy regarding saving seats, and it is acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for someone...")
I don't understand how this is any different than any other event that is general admission. I wouldn't walk into a movie theater and demand to sit in a seat that someone was saving for their friend who hadn't arrived yet. Same for a concert or school event, etc.
There is one airline that doesn't offer assigned seating. If you don't like the way they do it you can fly any of the other airlines out there. It's not like you don't know in advance that there is not assigned seating, they don't spring it on you right as you board, so that should be included in your decision making process. Weigh flight times and non-stops and lack of assigned seating and make the decision that is right for you.
I don't understand how this is any different than any other event that is general admission. I wouldn't walk into a movie theater and demand to sit in a seat that someone was saving for their friend who hadn't arrived yet. Same for a concert or school event, etc.
There is one airline that doesn't offer assigned seating. If you don't like the way they do it you can fly any of the other airlines out there. It's not like you don't know in advance that there is not assigned seating, they don't spring it on you right as you board, so that should be included in your decision making process. Weigh flight times and non-stops and lack of assigned seating and make the decision that is right for you.
If I paid a fee to enter a theater early, ahead of other people, sold to me under the promise of better seat selection, I would very well demand to sit in a seat that someone was saving if there was no person in that seat.
Dec 10, 2014, 1:01 pm
#34
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,813
it is acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for someone as long as the boarding process is not delayed and other Customers aren't inconvenienced.
Dec 10, 2014, 2:15 pm
#35
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,872
If you're going to quote something, at least try to be somewhat accurate. Or did you "accidentally" delete "We don’t have a policy regarding saving seats"?
Dec 10, 2014, 3:30 pm
#36
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
Saying you don't have a policy, then going on to detail specifics of that "non-policy" is precisely the problem, which leads to multiple interpretations of the not-a-policy "policy."
If the official line is "we don't have a policy regarding saving seats" then someone taking a "claimed" but empty seat is identically as valid as someone saving that seat.
It's just stupid.
Dec 10, 2014, 3:56 pm
#37
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,621
Hi -
If you do a search on my name and "seat saving", you will find an extended thread on this very topic.
I had to take on all sorts of apologists and thinly veiled ad hominem attacks from people that felt that WN could do no wrong.
I have been able to replace WN flying with other carriers that assign seats and provide a better travel experience at similar or lower cost, including free checked luggage.
I have gone from being CP on WN to taking one flight in 2014 while being top-tier elite on the other two carriers. It CAN be done - sever the connection and you will feel better for it.
If you do a search on my name and "seat saving", you will find an extended thread on this very topic.
I had to take on all sorts of apologists and thinly veiled ad hominem attacks from people that felt that WN could do no wrong.
I have been able to replace WN flying with other carriers that assign seats and provide a better travel experience at similar or lower cost, including free checked luggage.
I have gone from being CP on WN to taking one flight in 2014 while being top-tier elite on the other two carriers. It CAN be done - sever the connection and you will feel better for it.
Dec 10, 2014, 5:08 pm
#38
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,872
Dec 10, 2014, 8:11 pm
#40
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,512
Perhaps if we bolded it for you....
The "inconvenienced Customer" hypothetical is left open-ended.
WN's policy: Never climb a fence when you can sit on it.
"We don’t have a policy regarding saving seats, and it is acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for someone as long as the boarding process is not delayed and other Customers aren't inconvenienced."
WN's policy: Never climb a fence when you can sit on it.
Dec 10, 2014, 9:03 pm
#41
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,872
Dec 10, 2014, 9:39 pm
#43
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,621
For the record, I dropped WN in favor of B6 and AS.
With them, I get most of my routes N/S on both the West Coast and East Coast. They also cover most TCON routes I need to fly. Finally, if I need to go from one coast to the other with a stop somewhere MidCon, I fly one into one city and the fly the other out of said city.
And being 75K on AS and Mosaic on B6 comes in handy too.
With them, I get most of my routes N/S on both the West Coast and East Coast. They also cover most TCON routes I need to fly. Finally, if I need to go from one coast to the other with a stop somewhere MidCon, I fly one into one city and the fly the other out of said city.
And being 75K on AS and Mosaic on B6 comes in handy too.
Dec 10, 2014, 9:44 pm
#44
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 4,872
Not a chance. I flew B6 almost weekly until they left me stranded one too many times (the Valentine's Day massacre was the last straw), used up all my free flights and haven't been back. Great product I the air, but no depth to their schedule when things go wrong. Absolutely horrible memories of that awful carrier, tho LGB was hugely convenient.
Dec 10, 2014, 10:00 pm
#45
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,621
We can agree to disagree on our travel choices. But you DID ask for an alternative and I gave you one.
You place a higher negative utility on the possibility of B6 irrops; i place a higher negative utility on the WN FFP and the overall WN flying experience, including but not limited to the hassles described in this thread
I would say the the former happens infrequently at B6 (or AS, for that matter) while the latter happens regularly with the tacit blessing of WN management.
You place a higher negative utility on the possibility of B6 irrops; i place a higher negative utility on the WN FFP and the overall WN flying experience, including but not limited to the hassles described in this thread
I would say the the former happens infrequently at B6 (or AS, for that matter) while the latter happens regularly with the tacit blessing of WN management.
Last edited by Orwaid; Dec 10, 2014 at 10:07 pm