SWA with a twist
 

If SWA reserved, say the first 5 rows of their planes for frequent travellers, (not fake pre-boards) .. and you knew you could get one of these seats or an exit row when purchasing a full Y type fare .. would that make you more inclined to fly WN than you would be now. With those types of incentives, I would probably fly WN a lot more.

That would help. What would really be an improvement is a transit boarding card for through flights. I think passengers who board in California, say, should get priority seating when changing planes to fly on the the East Coast. THAT would greatly increase my usage of SWA.

On some flights, frequent travelers would be a majority of the passengers. The lack of assigned seating is a turn-off at least until you get used to it. Southwest's installation of automated check-in kiosks has virtually eliminated waiting in line for a boarding pass.

I hope I never get used to it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Just curious - if you were offered guaranteed placement in the first X number of boarders (maybe 1st 45 under the current process, or between preboard and Group A), vs. an actual assigned seat, would that make a difference?

I guess what I'm wondering is what exactly makes people hate the no assigned seat policy - the fear of not getting a "good" seat, the inability to know you have a specific seat (e.g. 3A) going into the process, the lines and process for getting onto the plane, or other factors?

I ask because I'm guessing that it would be easier to implement a priority boarding process over a hybrid seat assignment plan (especially if you have to police thru pax moving in the cabin at an intermediate stop).

No, I would not.

SWA is for people who want cheap fares getting from point A to point B. Obviously their model works, even though some people may complain about it.

The problem for family travel is that the family cannot sit together. I know there are ways, but they are not "guaranteed". Such things are important to a mother.

My "complaint" (I used to fly them a lot) was not the lack of assigned seat, but, on connecting flights, arriving to City B and receiving boarding card #103, for what could then be a 3+ hour flight with no remaining carryon space and a middle seat. My suggestion at that time was to reserve some boarding cards in the 2d group for those who had already checked in @ point A. I think the rest of their system works quite well for efficient reliable transportation, and that pre-reserved parts of the aircraft would be a poor idea.