excop48

I think you guys have been misinformed. GA @ WN are the customer service agents where you get your boarding passes. The Agents who board the AIRCRAFT are OPERATIONS AGENTS. WN has two seperate UNIONS. GA as you all are saying are CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS at the Service Gates. Agents at the boarding gate are OPERATIONS AGENTS who board the AC and do the weight and balance.

BonzoESC

We're using GA as an abbreviation for "Gate Agent," i.e. the agent who is at the boarding gate. The agents at the counter in the departure hall are "ticketing agents." Sorry for your confusion!

LegalTender

Tell me again why assigned seating is such an dysfunctional concept?

ftnoob

And that is incorrect. The employees who stand by the door to the jetway, make the boarding announcements, scan the BPs, etc., are OAs (Operations Agents). The GAs (Gate Agents) are the ones who sit at the airside counters and handle things like printing BPs for people checking in at the gate, providing vague answers to questions about the flight load, reading paperback books, rebooking during irrops, managing the standby list, etc.

From the Glossary section of the Wiki:

pete4abw

I think WN's policy is bad. With other legacies, CO and US, in particular, I know they permit people who travel together to stay together with the highest status/zone. My elite status gets anyone I travel with in the fast lane. WN allows the same.

I'm AL and I travel when I travel with a family member, I go to gate attendant and ASK my companion can line up with me. I never have a problem. I think WN would be smart to permit family consolidation. Solve the seat saving brouhaha as well.

This, I think is why WN is seeing fewer high paying fares now, since paying first class rates and getting to line up like cattle is not what FC is supposed to me.

pinniped

I've flown WN a lot with 4-5 other family members.

Manually checking them in, we're sometimes 5-10 BP's apart, thanks to Sprint's lousy slow data network. At the gate, we always consolidate in the area of our highest BP.

So if we have 5 BP's in the A31-A45 range, we gather back in the 40's. Nobody complains. We're headed to Row 16 or so anyway. It's really a nonissue.

I don't think WN needs to complicate their boarding any more than it is now. The numerical order really does create more orderly boarding. You want to see dysfunctional, go watch United load a sold-out 757 on a Monday morning. @:-)

excop48

Please do not compare WN to OTHER airlines. WN has made a profile when the other guys are losing money right and left. WN has a great business model and it works. Gary Kelly has stated that when he brings Airtran into WN. the assigned seating with Airtran will disappear. If the PAX would board in the order of their boarding passes. When WN can board a full 737 of 137 passengers in less than 20 min that is doing alot better than any of the BIG BOYS. Plus WN carries more passengers than the legacies. Wait until Airtran is in the fold the numbers will increase even more. ATL will be a huge factor for WN in the coming months probably mid to late 2012.

pinniped

Actually, I think the data show that yields are up. They're getting more high-paying fares now and some flights/routes don't seem to have to sell any of the traditional leisure fares to fill planes. They're obviously not selling all of these as Business Select, but they're selling a lot more of the high WGA fares than ever before.

pete4abw

I can only attest to what I see. They will not see my business when I can fly for the same amount and get better benefits elsewhere. Obviously, where they have a lock on a route, they will continue to sell, but when there is competition? I always look elsewhere first.

ElmhurstNick

It's not dysfunctional, but it's not more functional either.

When I need to buy a ticket 48 hours in advance at full fare, and I fly with an airline 12-14 round trips a year or more, I deserve my choice of an aisle or a window seat without having to think about it. With pre-assigned seating, I've been shut out on many occasions by AA and UA buying even 7-10 days out, even as a passenger with status.

Open seating is not that difficult for people traveling alone. Even a boarding number such as B-5 will usually get you either a window or an aisle, unless you're on a plane with a lot of through traffic such as a flight originating in DAL.

Southwest is more challenging for groups of 2-3, but that's a big reason why they introduced family boarding after the A passengers.

pete4abw

Why not? Just because they operate differently, AND, at a profit -- something they deserve a lot of credit for -- does not mean consumers cannot shop and compare. And, just because one or more competitors are losing money does not mean they are bad. It really comes down to what you, as a consumer, want from an airline. Being a fanboy is fine, but I'm a twice weekly traveler. I want more and don't want to pay BS rates for it.

TCRhino

Saving seats is the only way that I can get my wife and four kids onto the plane in a single group when we finally get to use those miles. I feel bad for the families that have to wait until B or C then struggle onto the plane and hope beyond hope that someone will take pity on them and free up two seats together. If someone was a big enough jerk to try to force me to give them one of my saved seats, my 350lb, 6'3" frame would be plopped down in the middle seat next to them enjoying a long period of closeness.

I fly 50+ round trips per year on SWA, their RR may not be the most lucrative, but A-List Preferred works for me, early boarding, fly-by lanes for security, etc. I agree with the poster that the way to fix the saving seats issue is to make sure that people can pull their families up with them in line rather than making everyone go back to the lowest common denominator. Yes, the trick might be then to have one person buy a Business Select pass then bring the rest of the family along, but they do it today anyway and create a situation on board that is tense for no reason.

I always make a point of going to the back to do this, however. Less chance of running into those people who are too focused on self to realize that families deserve to be seated together too.

kerflumexed

Welcome to FlyerTalk TCRhino. It also bugs me when I am sitting in my aisle seat and a Mom with 2 kids is going down then aisle looking for seats together. I do give up my seat if it will help them out. ( No sympathy for Dad's though).

texashoser

kerflumexed/tcrhino, I agree with you for the most part and wish WN would allow AL folks with status more leeway when boarding with passengers. I think most flights with just a few families, this wouldn't cause problems. Other flights, this idea might hose a lot of single AL/EB pax that end up behind a bunch of families who have only one member with AL+ status, etc.

Also keep in mind that we are in the minority on this board with respect to family boarding.

InkUnderNails

Thanks. I stand corrected.

They, the OA's, still need to learn to count, no matter what they are really called.

(Now, if I can just remember. The ones standing at the gate are Operations Agents, and the ones at the desk are Gate Agents.)