msglsmo

Completely agree. I have status with United and pay for the Economy Plus seats. It is worth it to me, as I am guaranteed a window seat up front.

My point is EBCI is nothing more than a paid seat. It is a reasonable cost for one, but one that does NOT guarantee the seat you want.

Peoriaman1

What happens on United if that seat is already taken? Its funny how attached people get to their favorite seats.

msglsmo

Then I pick a different window seat in the front half of the plane. I don't specifically prefer "9A" or "10F" - my preference is just the front half in a window. Having power and extra legroom is a huge plus for that seat fee.

formeraa

But it is not the ICAO code that most are familiar with. It is the OAG 3-digit code, which is 7M8.

Back to the topic, it makes sense to charge more for EBCI on longer flights. On a 45 minutes flight from DAL-HOU, I don't mind sitting in a middle seat in the last row. On a 5.5 hour flight from OAK-BWI, I would rather pay $25 to get a better seat.

Kevin AA

Great, so now even MORE people are going to save seats?

I hope Southwest rolls out this change coincident with a policy than bans seat saving.

Critterlynn

You are absolutely right. More people will definitely be trying to save seats. With the increased price point, I could easily see only one person paying for EB and saving seats for a whole family, where in the past they might have bought them for each individual. If this does happen, I could also see WN banning seat saving. This might actually be a good thing.

WillCAD

If they ever ban seat saving, it will be a very rough transition. For the first few weeks, there will be shouting matches and maybe even a few physical altercations every single day as the self-righteous save-haters interact with the militant entitled savers. Flight crews will be forced to intervene, and that won't go well, either, as the savers will immediately start a social media blitz casting negative light on both the crews and the airline with heart-rending comments like "Southwest wouldn't let me sit with my children!" and "Southwest forces elderly Alzheimer's patient to sit with strangers". The save-haters, of course, will respond to such comments with contempt, sarcasm, and hatred.

Eventually, the furor will motivate SWA to more to assigned seating, which nobody will like, but it will prevent the entitled savers from fighting with the militant save-haters and drawing the innocent flight crew into their feud, giving the airline a black eye in the process.

So, I don't see a save ban coming any time soon. Because no matter which side of the issue you're on, you've got to admit - it's a hot-button that will cause more trouble than it's worth and cost SWA money, whereas the dynamic EBCI pricing will cause grumbling and a few bumps on the road, but will ultimately make SWA more money, and people will quickly get used to it.

nsx

Correct. The headline will be "Southwest separates parents from their children" which would be a PR disaster.

A rule allowing middle seats to be saved would work, but Southwest makes more money when a few of those people buy EBCI for the second passenger. The sloppy status quo will continue.

Critterlynn

That would never happen. There would still be family boarding.

Kevin AA

Sorry but I don't see it that way. If seat saving is banned, the only ones who will be getting kicked off the plane are the greedy seat savers. The rest of us normal people will take an open seat and we'll be on our way.

People whine to social media about their "hellish" flight experience all the time, even if it's 100% their fault. Just move along and ignore the idiots to the extent possible....

Kevin AA

yep, and Alzheimer's patients pre-board, so no issue there either.

The seat savers are able-bodied adults who choose to game the system to cheat WN out of revenue they should be getting for boarding sooner. Their childish antics need to be stopped.

ursine1

Price increase? Yes. Seat saving ban? No. Not gonna happen.

What will happen: Preboarding gets worse. Seat saving gets worse. Southwest continues to ignore the issue until EBCI revenues drop to the point at which they are forced to assign seating.

LegalTender

What will happen: Nothing. EBCI price increase is not great enough to inflict a seat saving ban or suppress pre-boarding. FAs/GAs will say when they can no longer go with the flow and bickering becomes intolerable.

Peoriaman1

While I'm generally on the side of banning seat saving, I do have to admit that as a single flyer seat saving affects me not at all. Zero percent. Nada. The status quo might be sloppy but I prefer it to assigned seating.

Zorak

If you don't care what seat you end up in, then sure, but if you've ever seen a seat you wanted and then kept walking when you noticed (or asked) it was being saved and ended up in a seat you preferred less, then by definition you've been affected (granted it may not be an earth-shattering thing )