alggag

Ryanair and easyJet cross borders all the time no problemo with open seating.

I don't doubt that they will keep the 717. There was just a big rumor going around on airliners.net that we would see a 717 in canyon blue at one of the events in DAL or ATL today. I half expected to see it roll out at the ATL event as the WN half of the photo shoots.

N830MH

WN wants keep the 717 aircraft? You didn't telling me the truth? I thought they didn't leave from entire fleets.

LoneStarMike

So does this only apply to U.S. carriers flying from Mexico into the U.S.? I know when VivaAerobus flew from MTY/CUN into AUS they didn't have assigned seating.

alggag

I'm wondering if this is one of those things that everyone just assumes to be true without any real concrete knowledge. Sort of like how people claim WN doesn't charge bag fees because their IT system doesn't allow it yet they can't reconcile how that same system allows them to charge for 3rd bag/overweight luggage.

jlemon

I believe WN continues to state publicly that the B717 fleet will be retained and operated by the combined airline.

In fact, Brian Hirshman, WN's VP for Maintenance & Engineering, has said that Airtran's ATL maintenance base will be retained in order to focus on the B717.

So, it looks like the B717 is here to stay with regard to WN, at least for now. I certainly hope so: I think it's a great airplane to fly on from a passenger's perspective.

iansltx

Wonder how many seats the 717 will have once it goes to one-class on Southwest. The 737-700s that both...uh...Southwest divisions fly have the same number of seats, due to SWA having a more generous pitch than Airtran in Coach, but no biz class up front. 717s have 30" pitch in the back, which I'm guessing will change when the planes lose biz class...

Doing some calculations, 21 rows of 30" pitch + 3 rows of 37" pitch = 741" of combined legroom to spread across however many rows Southwest decides to put in the plane, not counting exit rows. If we're assuming that Southwest will shoot for 32" of legroom, we're down to 23 rows, or 115 seats total. Take that down to 112 if they switch to staggered seating like on their 737s. So less seating than Airtran has (and probably narrower seats) but more comfortable.

I just hope that whatever planes have WiFi now will keep them, whether it's Gogo or Row44. Losing Wifi when your fleet is already equipped sounds dumb to me.

LoneStarMike

It will have 117 seats

Source

nick p

The Southwest/Airtran merger is finally a done deal. Wonder how this will affect any of my future travel plans

toomanybooks

"Southwest expects to keep 117 seats in the Boeing 717s, the same number that AirTran uses. However, it'll be a one-class cabin rather than first class and economy as AirTran operates it. "

Are the current Airtran first class seats nicer than the economy ones (I have never flown Airtran)?

If so, will they leave them in place, or rip them out and replace so all seats are the same, do you think?

alggag

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I believe WN made a comment that when the planes are in the paintshop they will come out as all WN, in and out. In the process, the plane will be removed from the FL fleet and placed in the WN fleet.

jlemon

The AirTran biz class seats on the B717 are similar to the domestic F class seats on Delta's MD-88 aircraft. Both feature 2-2 seating up front in a two class configuration (2-3 seating back in Y) and a pitch of 37". And according to Seat Guru, the AirTran biz class seats are actually wider than DL's MD-88 F seats: 22" width on Airtran vs. 19.5" width on DL.

As others have said, the biz class sections on all AirTran aircraft will be removed in favor of all Y class seating, although the B717s will still have 2-3 seating instead of the 3-3 seating arrangement found on all WN 737 series aircraft.

I believe that AirTran's biz class will be missed.

iansltx

Good to know on the seat arrangement side. I'm betting that I'll never ride on a WN 717 due to the routes I travel, but this info should assist other folks in figuring out what kind of ride they're in for.

According to my calculations, having 117 seats would mean 24 rows on the left side, 23 on the right, with an average seat pitch of just over 32" if we're dividing the number I mentioned before by the row count on the righthand side of the plane. So same as the rest of the SWA fleet, which is a plus.

N830MH

They will pick any seats? Why they didn't have a choose own seats? The customers who likes to pick any seats? Is that unlimited seats?

LoneStarMike

Because VivaAerobus seating policy was the same as Southwest's. No assigned seating. Get on the plane and choose any available seat. You just couldn't pick it ahead of time. If it were really that important for a passenger to choose their seat ahead of time, they always had the option to fly to to/from Mexico on a legacy carrier. Most of the folks in Austin who flew VivaAerobus were more concerned about a cheap ticket and the ability to fly to MTY/CUN nonstop instead of having to connect in a legacy carrier's hub.

N830MH

Right. Thanks for clarifications. I didn't mentions know that. That's why it does not have a seat assisgned. Whether if they will decide to pick any seats and its exactly same as AQ, WN, YV (Go! Mokulele) does not have a seat assisgned. I know the passengers who can picks choose own seats.