QueenCat Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 As for being handled before you boarded-when dh and I flew last April, we had two flights on SW where more than one person was reserved for the same seat. It was total craziness. However, the attendants were very good at making sure people sat together when they asked and moving people around. And on our last long flight, a very kind frequent flier gave his seat next to me to dh (sat way back) and took a free double seat in the aisle to sleep. :lol: Without asking! Though he may have gotten the better deal there ;) Some people are very helpful and I really don't get stubbornly rude people. I'm sorry, OP. Does your SW stand for something other than Southwest? I ask because Southwest does not have reserved seating. It's open boarding, in the order of your boarding section and number. You pick your seat when you get on the plane, based on what's free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Shawnthorn44 says: Hindsight is wonderful, but because I've flown a lot, I'd have refused to sit down anywhere except with my family. If there were three seats together when I'd boarded I would have just taken them. At that point the airline has two options, either sit you together, or arrest you. That would have been all over the news if they'd arrested you because of your situation. But the moment you sat down, you were no longer their problem and there was nothing you could do. This is a good point. Loverboy's two nieces and two nephews flew with their grandma to visit their dad in another state. Grandma found seats for herself and the two little girls, but she couldn't get seats together for the two older boys (ages 9 and 7). She stood in the aisle and refused to sit down. They closed the door, made the takeoff announcements, threatened grandma, and finally gave in to her. She just refused to sit down and kept repeating over and over again, "You need to seat those boys together. They haven't done a lot of flying." Go, Grandma!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted February 16, 2015 Share Posted February 16, 2015 Does your SW stand for something other than Southwest? I ask because Southwest does not have reserved seating. It's open boarding, in the order of your boarding section and number. You pick your seat when you get on the plane, based on what's free. Doh! You're right. It was Delta. Southwest was the time before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaffeineDiary Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I fly all the time. I would absolutely NOT expect compensation for this. They refunded your reservation fee, you're even. IMO. Sometimes stuff is going to happen in air travel that is going to result in unexpected changes to your comfort. As long as you reach your destination more or less on time, I think you should just shrug it off and appreciate that you just flew through the air, LIKE UNTO A GOD, for a few paltry hundred American dollars, and not sweat the small stuff. If on the other hand it's truly critical that you be seated together, the answer is, as others have pointed out, "refuse to board." To the best of my knowledge, ALL of the non-discount carriers (e.g., American, United, etc) have assigned seating. Therefore, I'm inferring that you were flying some discount carrier, such as Frontier or Spirit. Generally speaking, the more requirements you have, the less likely the discount carriers are the right airline for you to be flying. The sorts of trade offs that are discussed in this thread are exactly what you are signing up for by deciding to save money on a discount carrier. And there's nothing wrong with that -- you just shouldn't expect caviar treatment at hamburger prices. If you asked Southwest passengers if they'd rather have assigned seating at the cost of an extra $100/seat, they would nearly all say "no way." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 How frustrating! Sadly, airline service has become more like riding a public bus these days, except far more expensive! Our public bus system here is way more reliable, comfortable and pleasant than even a reasonably good flight. If airlines would emulate the busses, that would be an improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaffeineDiary Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 How frustrating! Sadly, airline service has become more like riding a public bus these days, except far more expensive! I can't agree with this. To travel from New York to San Francisco, round trip, on Greyhound, will cost you $518, and each direction of the trip will take about 2.5 days. To do the same flight on United would cost around $459 (if you book ahead), and take about 7 hours; the discount airlines will do it for around $300. Even tacking on time to deal with the airport security, there's really no comparison. Airfare is so cheap today it's practically a minor miracle. And if you really think the service on a bus is better, you must not have ridden one lately! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I can't agree with this. To travel from New York to San Francisco, round trip, on Greyhound, will cost you $518, and each direction of the trip will take about 2.5 days. To do the same flight on United would cost around $459 (if you book ahead), and take about 7 hours; the discount airlines will do it for around $300. Even tacking on time to deal with the airport security, there's really no comparison. Airfare is so cheap today it's practically a minor miracle. And if you really think the service on a bus is better, you must not have ridden one lately! :-) I wouldn't ride a Greyhound. But it is my fellow passengers that are the reason. But, I still have fond memories of the 1st class bus I took in Mexico. Everyone had their own independent recliner nicer than American Airlines Domestic First Class. There were sodas and snacks at the back that you could help yourself to. The restrooms were about equal in size to one on a train, i.e. reasonable sized but not spacious. Only complaint was that they had it Air Conditioned to be incredibly cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 That is horrible. I think I would have insisted that we move as soon as we were in the air. Recently I flew SW air and paid extra for A boarding. I was with my son. When we boarded (with the A boarding), there were so many people saving seats for their C boarding friends and family that we couldn't sit together anyway. I was so angry. I actually spoke to a college age kid and told him we needed to sit together and he was SO RUDE and told me to go find another seat because he was saving seats for his friends. I went to the stewardess TWICE and they did nothing. THANKFULLY, I had put our names in to give up our seats for vouchers and we were called off the plane before it took off anyway, but I did write to Southwest and was told that they have no official policy on seat saving and it is perfectly FINE. I just don't get it.....why have the option to pay extra to board early if it does no good. If I were in your shoes, I would re-write the airlines and tell them that you DID inform them that you needed to sit together and that they are the ones who gave your seats away. Dawn Oh, heck no. I've flown Southwest a few times, and there would be a problem if some idiot tried to save seats for people not entitled to them because they didn't pay the whopping fees we did. I would simply ignore someone who told me I could not sit there and sit anyway, especially if it were at the front where the legroom is. What's he going to do? There is no law on saving seats. He isn't legally entitled to do so, even if Southwest does nothing. Then they can't do anything if you sit there. Of course, sometimes you pay the whopping fee for pre-boarding, only to discover people who never left from the last leg, so you can't get a good seat anyway. That's annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyNellen Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I'm not sure everyone is upset with no seat assignment. I know I like it better and choose it over other airlines if the cost is similar. In general I like Southwest better than other airlines. There have certainly been enough times I've had seats pre-selected on other airlines, then not gotten those seats anyway for one reason or another - and of course - paying extra to change a seat if one doesn't like the one auto-assigned. I suspect it's pretty self-selecting. Those who like open assignments choose it and those who don't choose other airlines. My mom just had her first Southwest flight ever a couple of weeks ago and told us she really liked it too. To each our own. My husband flies 2-4x per week and we fly as a family 5-6x per year. Southwest gets our business almost all the time. We prefer the open seating, and their customer service is unparalleled in our opinion. I always just assumed that people who didn't want open seating chose one of the many more expensive airlines with reserved seating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 I can't agree with this. To travel from New York to San Francisco, round trip, on Greyhound, will cost you $518, and each direction of the trip will take about 2.5 days. To do the same flight on United would cost around $459 (if you book ahead), and take about 7 hours; the discount airlines will do it for around $300. Even tacking on time to deal with the airport security, there's really no comparison. Airfare is so cheap today it's practically a minor miracle. And if you really think the service on a bus is better, you must not have ridden one lately! :-) Holy cow! That's a lot! But actually, I was more referring simply to the environment and cost of a typical city bus, or the ones we take from city to city around here, not really a cost comparison between a bus and airplane covering the same route. And my point regarding service was that on some airlines nowadays, you aren't treated any better than you would be on a public bus. (I never said bus service was better, though sometimes it is!) I think you took that statement too literally. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 Thank you everyone for responding! I think I will pursue this a bit and see where it goes. I'll let you all know what happens. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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