texashoser

Maybe not. But Southwest is like any other for-profit business whose product relies on supply and demand. Trust me, I don't like the high fares either, but if their fares are more expensive than other airlines yet their planes are full, then the supply is meeting the demand at the prices they are charging. If their load factor starts dropping, I'm sure their fares will decrease. On the other hand, if it does not, lowering fares would mean less profit and would mean earlier sellouts and more oversold flights. It cuts both ways.

nsx

I'm increasingly convinced that Southwest intends to create major new in-flight benefits, including premium seating. I could imagine an assigned seating section in the front half of the plane and open seating in the back. The first several rows would be premium seats, a free benefit for BS with the remainder given to A-listers in the same priority order now used for boarding.

I figure this would more than double the gate agents' workload, so the unions will have to agree. That negotiation will be hostage to all the other compensation issues, delaying any major changes.

rsteinmetz70112

What is the basis of your conviction?

I would agree they need to do something but they are just now reconfiguring all of their planes interiors to add 6 seats. That would have been an excellent opportunity to create a premium economy seating. You're suggesting they are going to pull some of those out to get more room to their better customers?

Frankly, I don't think they will do much of anything. Between the drive for higher profits and the hallowed traditions I don't see significant changes, except maybe assigned seating (for a price).

Eventually their reputation and load factors will suffer and they will be forced to do something, but by then the damage will be done,

nsx

Opinion surveys over recent years have become more specific about possible premium offerings. Premium seating is the cornerstone of any effort to lure high-fare business travelers.

rsteinmetz70112

I've never seen a Southwest opinion survey. But I would tend to agree that premium seating is a key to attracting business customers. Better perks of A-list and A-list preferred must be pretty high on the list as well.

texashoser

Maybe. There is no question they are behind on offering better perks and in-flight options such as in-seat power. But I wouldn't go so far as to say their reputation is going to suffer irreparable harm. After all, we're talking about an airline who has never lost money in any given year nor had to furlough a single employee.

Somehow I think they'll pull through although doubtless they are going through a transition at the moment.

rsteinmetz70112

People keep saying this and I don't know what it has to do with the quality of the service they currently offer.

I have flown them for many years and they are not now the same airline. They are living off their past reputation.

flyerfmaz

Most business budgets are tight, even for very large companies. This isn't the 80's anymore. To keep my loyalty as a business traveler, I don't need fluffy options to spend vast sums of money on that can't be claimed on an expense report. All I need is to be able to get from Point A to Point B for a reasonable fare and with a reasonable level of comfort -- and assigned seating so I'm not thrown into a middle seat by the bathroom when my arriving flight for a connection is running late.

If WN opts to provide some assigned seating, it should be available based on the status of the passenger, not just the fare paid.

steved5480

This. Period.

flyerfmaz

True. As a business, WN has first and foremost the responsibility to earn a profit. And as long as the planes stay packed (almost every WN flight I board lately is overbooked) they're probably not motivated to fix what ain't broke, as the saying goes. But, like any business, they can't be everything to everyone and they need to pick and choose their market segments. If providing assigned seating and treating loyal business passengers a little better would hurt their bottom line, then what we have here is not an airline gone awry, but a mismatch between my expectations and what WN is willing to deliver. So, I take my business elsewhere if necessary. I guess that as a long-time WN flyer I'd rather not do that, though.

sdsearch

The way other domestic airlines typically do it, a "better" seating section (but still in coach) is free at booking to those with high-enough status, free at 24 hours (and maybe or maybe not discounted earlier) to those with only the lowest status, and must be paid for (either as an add-on or by buying high-cost tickets) by those with no status.

How easy it is to get those seats with status depends in part on the balance between the cost (to others) vs the number of such seats available.

The constraints on the number of such seats available, however, are the layout of the plane just as much as the airlline's desire. (For each row you take out, you get N rows of "better" seating, but on many planes there are "barriers", such as exit rows, which cannnot be moved forward or backward a handful of inches to "fine tune" the balance between "better" seating rows and "normal" seating rows.)

While some people say that Southwest only flies one type of plane, each variation of the 737 might have different constraints on how many rows of "better" seating you could put in, because each varation might have the exit row a bit different relative to the number of rows in front of it.

flyerfmaz

Heck, I'd be happy with some assigned seating even with the current seats - no need to reconfigure. Just take, say, the first 10 rows of the aircraft and make those seats available first to passengers with status at no additional charge, and then to others for a fee. It's a win-win. Business flyers get first shot at some assigned seats (solves the late connection problem), and WN makes additional money from other passengers who want an assigned seat and are willing to pay for it. How difficult can it be? The seats already have row and number markings.

hazelrah

I have to wonder what your definition of many years is ?

This seems to me to be a rather silly thread. The carping without substance gets old.

I've flown them many years since they started at BWI in 1993 and with some small exceptions they seem to be much the same.

Still no assigned seating, still low fares, still no bag fees, still good employees, still 737s, and still throngs at BWI lining up with an insatiable appetite for Southwest. Not much has changed.

I am part of a rather large extended family in the East Coast (BWI) and Midwest and when talk turns to air travel, Southwest is always the preferred provider. I spoke with Dad this AM and he mentioned flying to IND <-> BWI and driving to Louisville to attend a wedding. Folks drive many hours in Wisconsin to schlep to MKE to get low Southwest fares.

Are Southwest fares always the low fare?- no, but Southwest is consistently profitable so it knows what its doing.

rsteinmetz70112

I think my first Southwest flight was somewhere around 1980. but I don't really remember.

hazelrah

Are you Atlanta based?