Analyst: Southwest Airlines solving two huge passenger problems
No, Southwest has not decided to ban crying babies or stop the person in front of from reclining for the entire flight. It has also not stopped charging for WiFi and it remains legal, if not encouraged, to bring the smelliest food sold at the airport on your flight.
The airline will also refrain from telling the person next to you who wants to talk, but has nothing to say, from babbling on. It’s also not going to do anything about the unaccompanied minor sent onboard with nothing but a bag of candy and a tablet with no headphones (although its flight attendants will repeatedly tell them to turn the volume off).
Instead, the airline has decided to fix two problems that come from its unique boarding system. Southwest Airlines (LUV) does not have assigned seats. It boards people by group and by number. Once your number gets called you can take any seat you like, which seems democratic, but causes all sorts of problems.
That’s partially because the airline allows preboarding to customers who claim to need it and because the airline has no official policy on seat saving. That can lead to people who paid extra for early boarding positions ending up not getting the seats they had hoped for.
It’s a problem Southwest has struggled with and it’s one that appears likely to change soon.
Southwest has hinted at boarding changes. Image source: William Thomas Cain/Getty Images
Southwest likely to make a boarding change
Southwest, it should be noted, has not confirmed that it’s making a change to its seating process. CEO Bob Jordan did address the topic in response to a question during the airline’s first-quarter earnings call.
“We always want to understand what our customers want and desire. And so again, we’re — I’ll just again tell you that we are very seriously studying this, and we’re pretty deep in that study. And again, nothing to reveal today except that there are some interesting indications in terms of what this could mean to us and what it can mean to our customers,” he said.
Industry analyst Gary Leff believes the decision has already been made.
“One simple change Southwest Airlines is working on – and plans to announce later this year – would change their boarding process, and in so doing service to end the phenomenon of passengers faking disabilities to board early, end the practice of seat saving, and make it easier to identify unruly passengers on board. That change is assigned seats, instead of the current free-for-all all,” he wrote on View From the Wing.
One solution for two Southwest problems
Assigned seats would make preboarding less of an advantage for passengers. Yes, they would get access to the overhead bins sooner, but they would not have their pick of seats.
That could end the mysterious Southwest phenomenon where passengers need a wheelchair to get on the plane, but don’t need one when it comes time to leave.
Adding seat assignments would also allow Southwest to end the practice of one person in a large group paying for early boarding and then saving seats.
Jordan has made it clear that the airline’s customers want and needs would be part of the process.
“Our boarding process, we changed it actually, I think it’s a decade ago at this point is very well received by our customers because it’s very organized and the way you line up we have worked hard to monetize that and give our customers choice. We give you choice around how you think about your boarding position and that’s more important to some customers than others,” he added.