Peoriaman1

Well, not really. Not that I would notice. My only real preference is that I have a window seat. So if a row already has someone seated at the window, I'm going to walk on by anyway, whether they are saving seats or not. If windows are all full, I take an aisle. In other words, I'll walk right by Exit Row Middle or Bulkhead Middle if there are still open windows ten rows back.

On the very rare occasions I board late, the likelihood of any particular remaining seat being saved for some guy who is even later in the boarding process than I am grow smaller and smaller.

ursine1

I'm generally a single flyer and I've had to 1) fight for a saved exit row seat, and 2) decide it wasn't worth it to fight for a saved seat, both more than once.

jeffandnicole

Most normal people I see just move on and find an open seat.

Seat saving may not be totally right, but creating an argument with others is more wrong. I'm sure you pass by open seats with nothing on them just to try to sit in a saved seat. I'm pretty sure you're just looking for an argument to prove your point, rather than being 'normal' and just taking another seat.

ursine1

Normal. <rolls eyes>

This complacency is what Southwest counts on, as they continue to refuse to acknowledge the issue by enacting an actual policy, instead stating that they "expect passengers to work out seating arrangements among themselves."

If someone is saving an exit row window, and I want an exit row window, I'm not going to pass by just because someone expects me to be "normal."

In the absence of a specific policy, it's a perfectly valid position that it's "normal" to not save seats in the first place.

Normal. <rolls eyes>

NextTrip

SWSNA

Allow all the groups of 2 or more to board first (before the singles). (Most of) the twos, fours, and fives will leave an aisle or window seat open. The singles will then fill in the holes and almost everyone will get a seat together.

For example, assume a plane with 138 seats (46 rows - I'm ignoring the missing exit row seat on purpose to make it easier). The breakdown of parties might be:

• singles: 40 (40 people)
• doubles: 25 (50 people)
• triples: 9 (27 people)
• quads: 4 (16 people)
• quints: 1 (5 people)

The triples and quint will take up 10 full rows. The doubles, quads (assuming they sit 2+2) and leftover quint will take up 2 of the seats in 34 rows (25 + 4*2 + 1). That leaves those 34 rows with one open seat, and 2 rows (46-10-34) that are completely empty. All of the singles except 2 will get an aisle or window, and no party is broken up. (And yes, I'm ignoring through pax, late boarders, bickering couples, single medical pre-boarders, and lots of other exceptions).

They could still sell EB and give priority, but only within the two groups. In other words, EB or A-list or BS would get you closer to the front of the "party" or "solo" groups, but solos couldn't advance into the party group.

I think WN might get a side benefit of a little faster boarding, too.

Of course, A-list typically singles (like me) would not like this too much....EB would go down to near zero for the party groups, but might actually go up for the solo travelers.

justhere

Some mighty big assumptions there, my friend. Some might big assumptions.

BarryPeters

So did EB dynamic pricing go into effect yet?

kendallg

Hi Barry. The new prices took effect today. Here's a story I wrote for USA Today this morning.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...es/1124554002/

Would love to hear other routes where travelers have found the fee still at $15!

ursine1

It's $20 on all my routes now.

DenverBrian

No ex-DEN routes were mentioned in the sample in the USA Today article.

flyer4512

Same here, may as well save $40 ($80 total) and see how T-24 works

dmbolp

Hope this leads to less people buying it, and my wife's T-24 check-ins move into the A group

DCP2016

On the route I fly usually it's up now to $20. Still cheaper to book WN with the $20 Early-Bird than it is to fly on B6 with their new $30 bag fee.

flyer4512

I would guess most people who used to purchase EB will now be at T-24 so not sure how much of a difference it will make.

We have EBCI on all out WN flights through March 5 so we won't know how it works for us until April 6