Well, in an announcement today, Southwest put to rest the discussions about switching to assigned seating. They have announced that open seating is here to stay.
But, there will be changes implemented that they will phase in airport-by-airport between now and mid-November. The changes are meant to eliminate the "need" (real or imagined) for passengers to camp out on the floor in line just so they can be first in their boarding group.
Passengers will still be assigned to a boarding group A, B or C. But within that group, you'll also be assigned a number. The number corresponds to what order within that group you checked in. (So A30 would be the 30th person to check in, B1 would be the 31st person to have checked in, but is the first person in Group B.)
You can relax and sit down in the chairs, get a snack, whatever you want to do while waiting for the flight. (Which is what I usually did if I had an A-Group boarding pass, as you didn't HAVE to line up to get your choice of window or aisle) When it comes time to board, they will call the A Group. Everyone in the A group will converge near the gate next to newly-installed columns. By finding your proper number (in groups of 5), the passengers will pretty much sort themselves into numerical order according to their assigned number. Then everyone will enter the plane in that order.
Then the same will be repeated for Groups B and C.
Apparently this format has been tested in San Antonio with good results and positive feedback from the passengers.
I kind of like this idea. If the layout of how people "assemble for muster" at the gate is laid out well and is intuitive, I think it'll help things flow smoothly. It'll just be up to Southwest to convince people that they *don't* have to stand around in line. (It also means that some gate areas may need to install more chairs...)
But there's more! It's not getting as much coverage as the letter/number boarding passes, but I think this is an even better change to the boarding procedure: They're changing how they handle pre-boards!
Parents with small children will now be boarded *between* Groups A and B! (Unaccompanied children and handicapped passengers will still pre-board before everyone) If the parent and child have an A-group boarding pass, they can still board as part of their group. But everyone else that normally would be a pre-board will have to wait until after everyone in Group A has boarded.
I think this change will benefit the business and don't-like-waiting-for-anything passengers the most, as the front rows will now be available for Group A passengers.
You can read all about these new policies here:
http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/
http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/faq.html
-Rob
But, there will be changes implemented that they will phase in airport-by-airport between now and mid-November. The changes are meant to eliminate the "need" (real or imagined) for passengers to camp out on the floor in line just so they can be first in their boarding group.
Passengers will still be assigned to a boarding group A, B or C. But within that group, you'll also be assigned a number. The number corresponds to what order within that group you checked in. (So A30 would be the 30th person to check in, B1 would be the 31st person to have checked in, but is the first person in Group B.)
You can relax and sit down in the chairs, get a snack, whatever you want to do while waiting for the flight. (Which is what I usually did if I had an A-Group boarding pass, as you didn't HAVE to line up to get your choice of window or aisle) When it comes time to board, they will call the A Group. Everyone in the A group will converge near the gate next to newly-installed columns. By finding your proper number (in groups of 5), the passengers will pretty much sort themselves into numerical order according to their assigned number. Then everyone will enter the plane in that order.
Then the same will be repeated for Groups B and C.
Apparently this format has been tested in San Antonio with good results and positive feedback from the passengers.
I kind of like this idea. If the layout of how people "assemble for muster" at the gate is laid out well and is intuitive, I think it'll help things flow smoothly. It'll just be up to Southwest to convince people that they *don't* have to stand around in line. (It also means that some gate areas may need to install more chairs...)
But there's more! It's not getting as much coverage as the letter/number boarding passes, but I think this is an even better change to the boarding procedure: They're changing how they handle pre-boards!
Parents with small children will now be boarded *between* Groups A and B! (Unaccompanied children and handicapped passengers will still pre-board before everyone) If the parent and child have an A-group boarding pass, they can still board as part of their group. But everyone else that normally would be a pre-board will have to wait until after everyone in Group A has boarded.
I think this change will benefit the business and don't-like-waiting-for-anything passengers the most, as the front rows will now be available for Group A passengers.
You can read all about these new policies here:
http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/
http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/faq.html
-Rob
