I recently flew Southwest for the first time, though not to Orlando. Count me among those who don't like it. I don't understand the logic of not assigning seats- what benefit is there to having people herded like cattle on an airplane? Beyond that, many people don't follow the rules, and the staff at the counter didn't seem to care- I saw lots of families with children much older than 5 in the pre-board line. On top of that, two families were fit to be tied when they got on the plane (in group C) and found out they couldn't sit together. They were literally demanding that the flight attendants force other people to move so they could sit together. I understand their predicament, but when you fly this airline, you have to understand that this is a possibility, unless you check in as soon as you can.
When I am flying alone, it doesn't bother me so much. However, if I were flying with family or a group, I would opt for assigned seating.
I guess you can count me in the category of "doesn't mind" Southwest's open seating policy. (I don't like it, I don't dislike it, I just don't mind it).
Southwest has open seating because it allows for a faster turn-around time for the airplane. Even if you load a plane in zones from the back to the front, you're still subject to passengers' ability/in-ability to actually *read* their ticket to see where they're sitting, *listen* for when their row/zone is called and then actually *find* that row and seat once on the plane.
Going by the number of people I encountered at Fenway Park last weekend who couldn't find their way around even though there's large numbers over each section, large row letters painted on each step and then the actual seat number painted right on the seats, I'm sure it takes a while to get people onto a plane with assigned seating. On Southwest, just about anyone who's been to a movie theater understands the concept of "take any open seat", and can read the giant A, B or C on their boarding pass.
There's also other benefits to the open seating. For one, if you're in the later boarding groups and you only have center seats left to choose from, you at least can CHOOSE who you're going to be stuck sitting in-between. With assigned seating, if you have a 350-pound woman on one side and a 350-pound man on the other and you're assigned the seat in between them.... (Of course, if you're the very LAST person to board on an utterly full Southwest flight, you're kinda stuck anyway)
(And now for the potential flame war ignition...) There's also an art to trying to keep the center seat next to you open on a non-full Southwest flight. (Note I said *non* full flight) Sit in the window seat and just look grumpy, even if you're happy beyond all happiness to be flying to Orlando. Make yourself appear like you're not someone that you'd want to sit next to, and often the others looking for seats will look for a different center seat with a more amiable-looking neighbor. :animwink: You could go a little extreme and lay your jacket, book or magazine on the center seat to make it look like it's occupied or being saved. (Though if I go to that level I *always* say that it's open if asked)
Lastly, the beneift of having all the families with little kids pre-board is that almost all of the pre-boards grab seats in the front 1/3 of the plane. So when I'm getting on a Southwest flight, I just walk at least 2/3 of the way back to the nice kid-free area of the plane and take a seat, knowing I won't have a screaming kid in my ear or a foot kicking my seat the entire flight.
Oh, and Southwest did a trial program out of one city (I want to say San Diego) where they tried assigning seats. Not sure how it went, but the president of SWA said that they would only go to assigned seating if it didn't hinder their ability to have a fast turn-around.
-Rob
