Originally Posted by
john398
They have said in customer letters they do not have a policy either way
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...rouhaha-5.html
post 69 letter to customer says:
"Truthfully, we don’t have a policy either way--for or against--saving seats. In fact, we share our perspective on this issue on southwest.com as follows: "because Southwest Airlines maintains an open-seating policy, general-boarding Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat." With this in mind,
as long as there is no Safety concern, it would be acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for his/her family member or traveling companion who may be in a later boarding group. We are aware that the saving of seats is a by-product of our policy, and as long as the boarding process is not delayed and other Customers aren't inconvenienced, it usually isn’t a significant issue."
What do you mean that they don't have a policy either way?
In your quote of the Southwest letter I've
italicized (and colored it in
blue) where they explicitly state that it is is acceptable (hence permitted) to save seats for others.