Agreed. If you’re booking 4 people, you’ll get assigned 4 seats together if available (whether it’s across the row or behind will be interesting), and then if you don’t like that “configuration” you can move your “block” around for a fee. And then if it really breaks down and turns into Tetris the more full the flight gets.
I read this that they are assigning seats the same way as any other airline. Like you can choose to buy a seat when you book the ticket or if you don’t, you get it assigned at check-in which is prior to your day of travel.
I fly SW on purpose. I can bring extra luggage and choose my seat. It’s what makes them unique. This change worries me. On a recent flight from Heathrow, we were on British Airways. They are under the umbrella of American, whom I despise. I would not have picked the flight willfully, but it was booked within a cruise package. When it came time to check in with the airline, we paid $105 each to choose seats. We wanted the extra space and leg room. We chose seats in a pod of two, verses three. (I loathe middle seats.) A few weeks prior to the trip, they changed our seats to a pod of three. I spent eight hours cramped in a middle seat. Ugh!
Had to wait until after the flight took place to request a refund. It took two months for them to respond. And their response was - Our records don’t show you paid for a seat. Now I have to fight with them to get my $$. Having had many horrible experiences like this with other airlines is why I choose SW on purpose. I hope they don’t go down the same road of poor, we don’t care about your business, customer service.
That is Insane!
Not sure if someone has already raised this question. We always fly SW. I have never minded the open seating policy. When I book a flight, I frequently rebook every time the price goes down and get flight credits. I am worried about how having pre-assigned seats is going to interfere with that relatively easy way to rebook?
I think that’s the big question now and we’ll have to see how it is implemented -
I’m guessing rebooking will still be similarly easy itself, but I have a bad feeling that chosen seat fees might follow the way of the current upgrade to A1-15 fee: not refundable.
That would be crazy and a huge PITA IMHO, Hope I am wrong!
I’m still anxiously awaiting them to say if & how their passenger of size policy will change with assigned seats.
FYI - I just received a notification from SW that their schedule is now open through 6/4/25.
Their website/app have been a mess today. I tried three times to book for my January trip, as it’s the best rate I’ve seen thus far. (Supposedly, there’s a sale today.)
It timed out three different times - giving me the 404 error every time I tried to pay.
I noticed the Early Bird fee went up from $15 to $25.
I haven’t seen it at $15 for a while. $25-$30 for me. I’m curious to see how this pick your own seating pans out. I don’t mind paying a little extra for it. Some airlines charge high prices for this perk. But SW competition (Spirit and Frontier types) have very low base pricing. If SW keeps current pricing and charges a chunk to pick the seat I may start giving Spirit and Breeze a looksee.
Goes to show I don’t pay for Early Bird checkin, particularly when I travel alone.
I’m not brave enough to trust Spirit or Frontier.
I haven’t found either to be really any different than Southwest
Except they both save me a ton of money
They are rated among the worst for being on time. And don’t they have strict baggage policies?
Really? I’ve yet to experience being delayed
Yes you pay for bags on both.
I get a lot of emails from them and then find that the fares are not the fares I’m looking for
Do they usually spell vacation correctly?
I think so
I had a decent experience on Spirit. Delay… yes. By 25 mins and I already figured it in, lol.
Goid question