zdcatc12

I don't fly SWA much, usually a couple times a year. Last night, lining up for the last MCO-ATL flight of the day I had A37. Get in the A36-40 line and start asking the others around me what number they have. I always do this and on my ATL-MCO flight the day before, the gate agent actually told everyone to do this. Asked the lady behind me, she said 48. I mentioned that you should be standing back there, as I pointed to those poles. She told me to mind my own business. Wow!! Asked the girl in front of me, she said "I don't have to tell you that, what is your number?" I said 37, she said I have 34. As I looked at her boarding pass I saw that it was C35!!!. It is crowded enough in those lines, you don't need people who aren't supposed to be there, standing there.

At boarding, I'm not sure where the first person ended up, as she was behind me, but the second one did not try to board with the A group. I ended up in 2D and saw her board, and based on the other passes that people were holding as they walked by me, it looks like she ended up in the B group.

Why do people have to have an attitude like this, it is crazy!! Also, during boarding, someone came up to tell the lead FA that a man was saving seats and refused to allow her to sit there. She couldn't get back there, so she called the rear FA and also made an announcement about open seating seating and how anyone can take any open seat. which I thought, was a good way to handle it. I also had an issue on deplaning with the passenger behind me, but I'll leave that for another time.

I have never encountered people like this before, and I was just wondering if this behavior is normal?

NoStressHere

Yea... always a few.

Here is a better way to handle boarding numbers, less "getting into someone else business".

I have a38 - where do I go here?

As to the saving seat thing - it will always be an issue, but I am fine with how they handle it.

mapleg

I don't fly SWA at all, but why don't you let their staff monitor the boarding process rather than you?

jmw

So far, I've never had a bad encounter with a seat saver. Sometimes I need to get off the plane quickly for business so I am very firm about taking an empty seat in the first few rows. I've never needed to involve the flight attendant. I don't do this on leisure trips or any trip when I don't need to get off the plane fast.

If you want to save a seat and don't run into me when I'm in a hurry, save a seat further back in the plane.

NoStressHere

Sounds simple enough... but reality is another story.

The staff could be "nazi like", but that can get ugly in a hurry.

zdcatc12

I would of if she had went ahead and tried to board ahead of me. Not sure what I could have done different before then. They say you are supposed to ask what someone elses number is so that you know where your place in line is and I did that. It just so happened that these two for some reason, took offense to it.

seaduck79

This is part of what those who do unfortunately have to put up with. Either fly a different airline or let the FAs handle it.

kennycrudup

... yet here they are ...

Intl359Widget

Almost everyone we know in the continental United States has at least flown Southwest once in their lifetime so naturally here they are.

kennycrudup

I've taken 5 AA flights in the last 24 months (and have one more coming due to a use-or-lose credit) and don't like them compared to WN, yet I don't itch and bone over in the AA forum about it.

eqeqeqx

Perhaps trying to impress staff in the hopes of getting employed as a boarding process monitor?

mapleg

Yeah, reminds me of the insurance ad about becoming your parents. Hey, we don't need a line monitor here!

Tanic

I quit flying SW because they went bankrupt and grounded their planes last year.

Boraxo

As a friend of mine likes to answer, ""Why would you ask?"

Seriously I never ask, though sometimes I will try to glance at other BPs and position myself accordingly. But really - you will be within 4 spots of your number - does it really matter?

I typically save 3 seats when flying with my family, and normally take a row just before the exit row. Typically that doesn't merit a second glance from anyone before the B group. And I have yet to encounter anyone who did not keep moving when I informed them the row was taken.

nineworldseries

It's always the same tired, broken record on this Southwest forum. The WN "Stans" obviously consider this board to be a kind of secret society where only Southwest insiders should post. Fans come out of the woodwork every time to roundly defend this board against any complaints about Southwest or any "outsiders" here. It's so strange that so many posters get so defensive about this specific faceless corporation and will even turn into amateur board mods to tell you to get out. It's so bizarre.