SWA going to preassigned seating?

Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum....I'm guessing if the seat assignments
are at the gate, and not when tickets are purchased it may be OK. On the
other hand, how would one get seat assignments at the kiosk? If seat
assignments are given at ticket purchase time, I most likely would be SOL on
exit row seats.

Head em out, round 'em up - Southwesstttttttt

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st.../515711577.htm
l


Southwest considers assigned seating

Airline bullish on Las Vegas
By Richard N. Velotta

LAS VEGAS SUN

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southwest Airlines, the busiest commercial passenger
carrier at McCarran International Airport, is considering implementing
assigned seating, a departure from its first-come, first-served system it
has had in place for years.

John Jamotta, director of schedule planning for Southwest, said at an
aviation conference that technology has advanced enough that it is no longer
cost-prohibitive for the Dallas-based airline to consider allowing
passengers to choose in advance where they sit on flights.

Southwest, which serves about 1 million passengers a month at McCarran,
boards passengers in groups of 30, with the first people to the airport
getting boarding passes designating them as the first on the plane. Once
aboard, passengers can sit in whatever open seat is available.

The airline has had the policy in effect for years, boarding passengers with
plastic numbered cards until last year when the airline switched to boarding
passes marked A, B and C.

In an aviation forecast conference presented by The Boyd Group, Evergreen,
Colo., Jamotta said airline executives plan to discuss changing the policy
to enable passengers to select seats in advance.

"It's not a cost question anymore," Jamotta said. "It's a customer service
issue."

Jamotta gave no details on how or when such a system would be implemented by
the airline.

"As the technology has rolled forward, we have found that this is something
we may be able to do," he said.

In his presentation on the state of the industry and the airline since the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Jamotta said Southwest has embarked on a
slow-growth strategy, but that the carrier expects to return to a more
aggressive growth mode next year. In an interview after his presentation,
Jamotta said Las Vegas figures prominantly in the airline's growth plans,
even after recent flight additions at McCarran have made Las Vegas the
largest operation the airline has.

"We're bullish on our opportunities in Las Vegas," Jamotta said. "It's a
powerful part of our system."

Jamotta attributed Southwest's success in Las Vegas to the airline's low
fare structure and customers' expectations of value when visiting the city.
An advertising campaign airing on Nashville television stations encourages
people to buy tickets to Las Vegas on Southwest so they can have more to
spend after they arrive.

Southwest later this year plans to announce a new city on its route map and
begin service in 2004. But as far as Las Vegas is concerned, Jamotta said he
expects the airline will continue its "connect-the-dots" strategy of adding
more point-to-point flights to locations already served by Southwest, and
also adding flight frequency.

"On Friday nights, you can't get get a seat out of Los Angeles to Las
Vegas," Jamotta said.

Southwest already offers 15 nonstop round trips a day between Los Angeles
International Airport and Las Vegas, the sixth busiest route in the
airline's system.

McCarran is now the busiest airport in Southwest's system. By Southwest's
count, the company has 185 flights a day in and out of Las Vegas, counting
operations that run five or six times a week as a daily flight. McCarran,
which uses a different method to count, says Southwest has about 170 flights
a day.

Ozzy Kopec wrote:
Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum....I'm guessing if the seat assignments
are at the gate, and not when tickets are purchased it may be OK. On the
other hand, how would one get seat assignments at the kiosk?

What do you mean? Some airlines let you choose seats at the kiosks.

mrtravel wrote:
Ozzy Kopec wrote:
Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum....I'm guessing if the seat assignments
are at the gate, and not when tickets are purchased it may be OK. On the
other hand, how would one get seat assignments at the kiosk?

What do you mean? Some airlines let you choose seats at the kiosks.

It's a lot better than having to get them from the people at the desk, since
the kiosks show you a map of the plane indicating free and taken seats. You
can strategize to maximize your space: In 3-3 seating, make sure to pick a
row that already has one person in it, preferably in the middle of a cluster
of such rows.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Site remodeled 10-Sept-2003: Hundreds of new photos, easier navigation.

"mrtravel" wrote in message
om...
Ozzy Kopec wrote:
Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum....I'm guessing if the seat
assignments
are at the gate, and not when tickets are purchased it may be OK. On
the
other hand, how would one get seat assignments at the kiosk?

What do you mean? Some airlines let you choose seats at the kiosks.


Sure, why not? I've made seat selections and changes on the Alaska system.

"Ozzy Kopec" wrote in message
news:J10hb.68833$%h1.46831@sccrnsc02...

I was thinking out loud on the kiosks. Remember this is Southwest - they
could come up with some goofy way of doing it. I wouldn't mind assigning
seats at check in time only, in fact I prefer it.

Of course you remember the days when there was a seat map for the flight set
up behind the checkin desk with removable chits for each seat. When seats
were assigned the chit was pulled off the map and stapled to the person's
boarding pass.

"Ozzy Kopec" wrote in message
news:WO_gb.706505$YN5.574973@sccrnsc01...
Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum....I'm guessing if the seat assignments
are at the gate, and not when tickets are purchased it may be OK. On the
other hand, how would one get seat assignments at the kiosk? If seat
assignments are given at ticket purchase time, I most likely would be SOL
on
exit row seats.

I was thinking out loud on the kiosks. Remember this is Southwest - they
could come up with some goofy way of doing it. I wouldn't mind assigning
seats at check in time only, in fact I prefer it.

"R J Carpenter" wrote in message ...

"Ozzy Kopec" wrote in message ...

I was thinking out loud on the kiosks. Remember this is Southwest -
they
could come up with some goofy way of doing it. I wouldn't mind
assigning
seats at check in time only, in fact I prefer it.

Of course you remember the days when there was a seat map for the flight
set
up behind the checkin desk with removable chits for each seat. When seats
were assigned the chit was pulled off the map and stapled to the person's
boarding pass.


no chit ??!

whats your name on FT?

I am fromYYZ_flyer

"Ozzy Kopec" wrote in message
news:WO_gb.706505$YN5.574973@sccrnsc01...
Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum....I'm guessing if the seat assignments
are at the gate, and not when tickets are purchased it may be OK. On the
other hand, how would one get seat assignments at the kiosk? If seat
assignments are given at ticket purchase time, I most likely would be SOL
on
exit row seats.

Head em out, round 'em up - Southwesstttttttt


http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st.../515711577.htm
l


Southwest considers assigned seating

Airline bullish on Las Vegas
By Richard N. Velotta

LAS VEGAS SUN

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southwest Airlines, the busiest commercial passenger
carrier at McCarran International Airport, is considering implementing
assigned seating, a departure from its first-come, first-served system it
has had in place for years.

John Jamotta, director of schedule planning for Southwest, said at an
aviation conference that technology has advanced enough that it is no
longer
cost-prohibitive for the Dallas-based airline to consider allowing
passengers to choose in advance where they sit on flights.

Southwest, which serves about 1 million passengers a month at McCarran,
boards passengers in groups of 30, with the first people to the airport
getting boarding passes designating them as the first on the plane. Once
aboard, passengers can sit in whatever open seat is available.

The airline has had the policy in effect for years, boarding passengers
with
plastic numbered cards until last year when the airline switched to
boarding
passes marked A, B and C.

In an aviation forecast conference presented by The Boyd Group, Evergreen,
Colo., Jamotta said airline executives plan to discuss changing the policy
to enable passengers to select seats in advance.

"It's not a cost question anymore," Jamotta said. "It's a customer service
issue."

Jamotta gave no details on how or when such a system would be implemented
by
the airline.

"As the technology has rolled forward, we have found that this is
something
we may be able to do," he said.

In his presentation on the state of the industry and the airline since the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Jamotta said Southwest has embarked on a
slow-growth strategy, but that the carrier expects to return to a more
aggressive growth mode next year. In an interview after his presentation,
Jamotta said Las Vegas figures prominantly in the airline's growth plans,
even after recent flight additions at McCarran have made Las Vegas the
largest operation the airline has.

"We're bullish on our opportunities in Las Vegas," Jamotta said. "It's a
powerful part of our system."

Jamotta attributed Southwest's success in Las Vegas to the airline's low
fare structure and customers' expectations of value when visiting the
city.
An advertising campaign airing on Nashville television stations encourages
people to buy tickets to Las Vegas on Southwest so they can have more to
spend after they arrive.

Southwest later this year plans to announce a new city on its route map
and
begin service in 2004. But as far as Las Vegas is concerned, Jamotta said
he
expects the airline will continue its "connect-the-dots" strategy of
adding
more point-to-point flights to locations already served by Southwest, and
also adding flight frequency.

"On Friday nights, you can't get get a seat out of Los Angeles to Las
Vegas," Jamotta said.

Southwest already offers 15 nonstop round trips a day between Los Angeles
International Airport and Las Vegas, the sixth busiest route in the
airline's system.

McCarran is now the busiest airport in Southwest's system. By Southwest's
count, the company has 185 flights a day in and out of Las Vegas, counting
operations that run five or six times a week as a daily flight. McCarran,
which uses a different method to count, says Southwest has about 170
flights
a day.

"Ozzy Kopec" wrote in message
news:WO_gb.706505$YN5.574973@sccrnsc01...
Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum

"J.A.G" a wrote in
message ...
whats your name on FT?

I am fromYYZ_flyer

===
I'm not a poster, in fact I just discovered the forum(flyertalk.com) today.
I see A from A posts there. Now, to keep this some what on topic, my
flight (MDW-LAS) leaves in the afternoon, so I'll hop the El during my
lunch break, get my boarding pass (4 hours before flight), back to work
and back to airport after work for the flight. 10 minutes on the El, nice
short hop.

They might be considering it but I doubt it.

Their corporate site still says "Once onboard, of course, the Customer
has the freedom to choose any available seat."

Using assigned seats would slow down boarding and probably require
longer turn around times. Not in the SWA image. FFM

Ozzy Kopec wrote:

Saw this on a flyertalk.com forum....I'm guessing if the seat assignments
are at the gate, and not when tickets are purchased it may be OK. On the
other hand, how would one get seat assignments at the kiosk? If seat
assignments are given at ticket purchase time, I most likely would be SOL on
exit row seats.

Head em out, round 'em up - Southwesstttttttt

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/st.../515711577.htm
l


Southwest considers assigned seating

Airline bullish on Las Vegas
By Richard N. Velotta

LAS VEGAS SUN

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southwest Airlines, the busiest commercial passenger
carrier at McCarran International Airport, is considering implementing
assigned seating, a departure from its first-come, first-served system it
has had in place for years.

John Jamotta, director of schedule planning for Southwest, said at an
aviation conference that technology has advanced enough that it is no longer
cost-prohibitive for the Dallas-based airline to consider allowing
passengers to choose in advance where they sit on flights.

Southwest, which serves about 1 million passengers a month at McCarran,
boards passengers in groups of 30, with the first people to the airport
getting boarding passes designating them as the first on the plane. Once
aboard, passengers can sit in whatever open seat is available.

The airline has had the policy in effect for years, boarding passengers with
plastic numbered cards until last year when the airline switched to boarding
passes marked A, B and C.

In an aviation forecast conference presented by The Boyd Group, Evergreen,
Colo., Jamotta said airline executives plan to discuss changing the policy
to enable passengers to select seats in advance.

"It's not a cost question anymore," Jamotta said. "It's a customer service
issue."

Jamotta gave no details on how or when such a system would be implemented by
the airline.

"As the technology has rolled forward, we have found that this is something
we may be able to do," he said.

In his presentation on the state of the industry and the airline since the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Jamotta said Southwest has embarked on a
slow-growth strategy, but that the carrier expects to return to a more
aggressive growth mode next year. In an interview after his presentation,
Jamotta said Las Vegas figures prominantly in the airline's growth plans,
even after recent flight additions at McCarran have made Las Vegas the
largest operation the airline has.

"We're bullish on our opportunities in Las Vegas," Jamotta said. "It's a
powerful part of our system."

Jamotta attributed Southwest's success in Las Vegas to the airline's low
fare structure and customers' expectations of value when visiting the city.
An advertising campaign airing on Nashville television stations encourages
people to buy tickets to Las Vegas on Southwest so they can have more to
spend after they arrive.

Southwest later this year plans to announce a new city on its route map and
begin service in 2004. But as far as Las Vegas is concerned, Jamotta said he
expects the airline will continue its "connect-the-dots" strategy of adding
more point-to-point flights to locations already served by Southwest, and
also adding flight frequency.

"On Friday nights, you can't get get a seat out of Los Angeles to Las
Vegas," Jamotta said.

Southwest already offers 15 nonstop round trips a day between Los Angeles
International Airport and Las Vegas, the sixth busiest route in the
airline's system.

McCarran is now the busiest airport in Southwest's system. By Southwest's
count, the company has 185 flights a day in and out of Las Vegas, counting
operations that run five or six times a week as a daily flight. McCarran,
which uses a different method to count, says Southwest has about 170 flights
a day.