bitterproffit

I think WN is using scientific data to make their decision. I think Dec 1 is poorly timed. While I don't think the risk of Covid is higher with full middle seats, a lot of people, are reconsidering their holiday plans based upon this decision. Remember, we don't think about this stuff rationally, and we don't really understand risk.

What the average American now thinks is that they now are going to pack into a completely full plane to go to family over Christmas. In their minds (and mine), it will look like every other Christmas flight (packed, sick kids, coughing people, etc). And they/we are going to remember how half the plane was sniffling and coughing on the way back home from Christmas last year, and how flu peaked a week later, and they are going to either cancel their plans to fly and drive instead, or (like me) cancel the trip altogether.

My neighbor cancelled her flight to see her kids in California. My best friend is going to drive to Tulsa instead, my co workers are driving or staying home. A lot of them were on the fence until WN made this decision.

I understand why they made it, their 2nd corporate bailout isn't coming any time soon, and hopefully, it will result in increased revenue for them, but I think it might backfire.

toomanybooks

Folks deciding to drive should roll the odds of a fatal highway accident into their calculations.

Might be surprised at the results.

dukesilver

I've been weighing SW travel for a relative of mine and this decision effectively ended it for me. Opening the middle seat may only increase the risk by a little bit...but what is more concerning to me is how much airlines are embracing this DOD study. From what I've read from indoor air quality researchers, the study was only done when the ventilation systems are operating at 100%, and it really only test people looking forward and breathing. It did not take into consideration that most ventilation systems are off/significantly weaker when the plane is at the gate and that passengers turn their heads towards each other, take masks off to eat/drink, and will laugh/talk. The most concerning thing is how bad ventilation is when the airplane is parked and passengers are loading/unloading. I know airlines can't eliminate risk, but I wish they would take more steps to mitigate the virus (like keep the ventilation on when loading/unloading and limit drinks/snacks), especially when infection rates are at an all-time high in the US.

I'd probably be ok with the middle seat being occupied if ventilation is always at 100% and masks are always on.

jep8821

I think Southwest is making a mistake by doing this for December. You want to encourage people to fly for Christmas... This doesn't do that. In fact, I am betting this will cause them to have to reduce flights in December even more because of people cancelling. I think they should have instead waited until Monday, January 4th to end blocking off the middle seat.

sdsearch

Perhaps a downside of Southwest not being a particularly on-time airline, and wanting to minimize the time spent on plane turns at each stop?

One Southwest flight I flew during Covid (July) was delayed, and the FAs announced at landing to please deplane as quickly as possible because of the need to turn the plane around. In other direction, they weren't delayed, but they still didn't ask at landing for passengers to space out.

On the other hand, I recently flew a round trip on Delta (I was flying to/from a Delta hub, and Delta had lots of nonstop flights a day while Southwest had only one nonstop flight a day on this <2h routing), and on both legs the Delta FAs asked multiple times for everyone when deplaning to not get into the aisle until the row in front of them had emptied and moved away. So deplaning was way way more civilized on Delta than Southwest. But of course this being Delta, which has one of the best on-time performance records, Delta slowing deplaning down a bit doesn't cut into on-time performance (they're usually early anyway), while it'd harder for Southwest to do that without increasing the time they allow for turns. The whole Southwest "low-cost" approach is based on fast turns, which have Southwest preferring the fastest deplaning rather than orderly deplaning, even during the Covid era.

Anyway, the way to minimize this affecting you on Southwest is to always pick a window seat (so that you're the furthest possible from the aisle), plus to wait to deplane until after the aisle clears up a bit (even if that means waiting until most of the plane has emptied), plus to wear a CE-approved KN-95 mask if you can (because those protect you from others to a greater degree than cloth masks, which are mainly for protecting others from you and only partially protect you from others).

bgasser

Or WN realizes that they have more demand during Christmas/New Year's and can fill some of those seats up with paying passengers. I enjoyed having the middle seat open, but haven't seen any news articles about AA, United, and Spirit passengers catching Covid on airlines that sell the middle seats for awhile verse Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest which haven't.

jep8821

I am willing to bet you money its NOT MORE demand....As they announced on Oct 5th... "Southwest Airlines Cuts 90,000 Flights in November and December as Holiday Travel Demand Falters. Southwest Airlines cut more than 90,000 flights from its November and December schedules, trying desperately to avoid empty aircraft heading into the important holiday travel season."

justhere

Does the slight increase in risk of catching Covid really make air travel significantly more dangerous than driving? Seems like the risk of injury or death on the road would still vastly outweigh the risk of catching and dealing with Covid. I guess you could look for some info from airlines that haven't been blocking seats, see how many people got Covid, and compare that to the NHSTA data on highway injuries and deaths.

kennycrudup

Tomorrow I take my 67th (revenue) flight of the year (and there's a handful of award flights in there), most of those lately also requiring a connection. While the flights lately have almost always been "Covid Full", which is great, the schedules have been cut to the bone and prices seem far higher than they were earlier this year, so the current model is just bad for travelers. Based on the number of "Sold Out"s I see sometimes weeks out on the choice routings I'm trying to take I'm sure they'll have no trouble filling the seats (not everyone's CV-hysterical), so good on 'em and I'm glad WN is starting to see the light.

Often1

The simple fact is that if one puts oneself in a situation where one is separated from others by less than 6 feet or who are not wearing a mask, one puts oneself at risk. No other way to look at this.

The false premise is that the empty middle seat was a significant safety barrier in the first place. It certainly made people feel safer and it gave them some sense that there was at least one thing better than it was before the pandemic, but the fact is that the 6 foot guidance is only barely met met by skipping entire rows and using an aisle OR a window. Thus, 1 in 6 seats occupied. This is not sustainable. Given that it may well be 2024 before wide-scale travel returns, either the USG has to simply support air carriers until then, prices are increased to account for enforced low loads, or people fly in unsafe conditions.

trouble747

I wonder if this decision will make it to Dec. 1, given that the U.S. is now seeing record numbers of daily cases again with a peak that has not yet been reached. Setting aside how much safer it actually makes you, I think this will be a very hard sell come December.

EAJuggalo

It is up to the individual whether or not that risk is acceptable to them. I flew last week MDW-MCO and back. I absolutely enjoyed having an empty middle seat to spread my stuff out and not having to rub shoulders with anyone, mine are pretty wide. I had no illusions that there was proper social distancing and at least one person on my flight had to be woken up multiple times to be told to put their mask on.

bwallet

Will they start unblocking 1A-C on planes and have flight attendants sit next to each other now?

737MAX8

You mean 1D-F? They should be unblocked come Dec 1st.

bgasser

I am going to venture that the flight attendant union is powerful enough to keep those seats open, especially as WN is seeking pay concessions from FAs. With all the middle seats now available, FAs don't need you to sit by them.