@Kilroy if you think WN pax are out of a trailer park, you haven t seen Spirit or Frontier. Or the m

I ve written this week about how Southwest nationalcarrentals needs to figure out what it wants to be, but let s turn the tables. What do you think Southwest needs to do to make you a customer? Is it perfect as is? If not, what needs to change?
Pre-Assigned seats and at least an attempt at some business class seating See JetBlue Mint, without those, they will never get my business travel. I flew Airtran for years as an alternative to Delta domestic flying when I lived in Atlanta it s too bad the merger with Southwest wasn t the other way around.
I agree. My company pays for my travel (which I do weekly). First Class, assigned seats, nationalcarrentals and lounge access all help make the experience tolerable. Until WN provides those services, I won t be flying them.
Pre-assigned seating, definitely. I won t pay extra for it, but I d be happy to give up the option for a 2nd checked bag in return for getting a pre-assigned seat and avoiding the cattle call or the 24-hour-ahead mad dash online, nationalcarrentals which I don t do. Essentially, until WN offers pre-assigned seating, I m resigned to a middle seat on WN.
Also, whatever it takes to attract more business travelers. Not to sound elitist nationalcarrentals about it, but the quality of fellow travelers on Southwest leaves something to be desired vs that for traditional airlines. You could have 2 weekday flights running the same routes nationalcarrentals at the same times, with the only difference being, say, WN vs Delta, and you ll see a lot more never flown befores , obnoxious kids, and so on on the WN flight. nationalcarrentals I don t expect to be surrounded by millionaires in coach on any carrier, but I would like to be surrounded by more people on WN who don t look like they just stepped out of a trailer park or a Kmart toy section.
@Kilroy if you think WN pax are out of a trailer park, you haven t seen Spirit or Frontier. Or the most extreme case I would think is Allegiant. It does also vary heavily by destination, and on the opposite end of trailer park, you get spoiled brats who talk too loud and expect too much (esp. SoCal flights)
Honestly I don t know what the fuss is about unassigned nationalcarrentals seating on WN. I always get a window no matter when I check in, even with B60 type boarding passes. Yes its usually toward the last few rows, but I m never really in a rush anyway.
I m with you there I use to fly a lot and I really like the idea of NO assigned seating and a second bag. at least the airing gives u the option to check two without paying for it (with the notion of paying for it from your ticket) hey but that s me. no I don t live in a trailer either :-)
My company s travel website doesn t include WN when I search flights. If I wanted to go on WN, I d have to book it on their website and this submit nationalcarrentals a reimbursement form to my company. This process takes MUCH longer. So, I think if they d be able to get their flights on more company travel websites, they might be able to do much better. Well, at least in my case.
Southwest knows what it s doing, and a thread of people nationalcarrentals claiming they need first, assigned nationalcarrentals seats, lounges and all the crap Delta , Alaska, United have is useless. Fly Southwest for what it is, and what is has.
Yet Southwest has slowly been morphing into a legacy carrier. They haven t given up a lot of the things that make them unique, sure, but they re realizing that in order to continue to grow and stay profitable some things are going to have to change. Their history of success will only take them so far when costs continue to rise and profit margins erode.
they charge the difference in the costs of the flight. If you are switching to an earlier flight too soon to departure ie day or week of yes you will pay extra. But if you had a ticket of equivalent cost already then no you don t pay a dime extra.
That often only is valuable if you have already paid the highest possible fare. It s not that they are letting you switch for free if the same fare class is available nationalcarrentals which is what United allows (or if any confirmed seat is available which is what Alaska allows). They charge the difference between the discounted fare you paid, and the current fare, which if you are changing on the day of the flight nationalcarrentals is the walk-up no-advance-purchase fare. They have no same day standby.
I don t think they should ever add first class, but an economy plus section, like jetBlue and Frontier have would be nice, and worth paying a little extra for. I d think they could do it without assigned seating, although it would probably require flight attendants to check the tickets of people sitting in that section.
1) They really need to reconsider in-seat power, especially since they are flying longer and longer routes these days. The free live TV is a terrific perk, but one whose utility is diminished substantially by lack of power.
2) Expanded buy-on-board food offerings. One of the biggest problems flying Southwest for me (at least until the Wright restrictions lapse) nationalcarrentals is the issue of being on the plane all the way through lunch hour and beyond and not being able to get off to grab something, assuming I m on one of those multi-hop no plane change routes out of DAL. The option to pay $8 for a crappy nationalcarrentals sandwich would be much appreciated. Maybe they could make it free for A-list/Business Select or something.
3) I m going to go contrary to most opinions here and say they should keep the open seating. Folks, if you don t want a middle seat, all you have to do is pay $12.50 each way for Early Bird. That s less than most preferred seat fees on other airlines. And don t forget that if you fly enough to be an A-lister, you already get priority boarding ahead of everyone else. But I wouldn t mind seeing the introduction of an Economy Plus-type offering say, the first two rows with an extra 6 inches of pitch for an additional fee.
They really need to get rid of the Evolve seats. They are terrible. I used to fly Southwest all the time, but now I avoid them whenever possible. By the end of a 2 hour flight in these seats, I am miserable. They are just not comfortable. The old seats were great by comparison.
I strongly agree with rae8. I long made it a point to fly Southwest whenever possible because I appreciate and want to support its ticket change policy. Because of the Evolve seats, however, I am compelled to avoid Southwest on any flight longer than 90 minutes (unless the flight nationalcarrentals is on one of their aircraft that does not have those seats). That is because the Evolve seats are truly awful to sit in longer than that, even for me, a person with no back, joint or other health problems,
Not happening anytime soon, if ever. I m pretty sure the compromise that ended the Wright restrictions would require WN to move out of DAL entirely nationalcarrentals if they started up service at DFW. That s why Virgin America had to pull out of DFW entirely when they were awarded their gates at DAL.
Club lounges in their major hubs. I m a get to the airport early guy, and having a quiet + comfortable + connected place to sit and work, along with snacks and drinks really makes my business travel experience much more enjoyable.
I would fly them more than I do if they actually offered competitive prices where I fly. Usually I m flying nationalcarrentals around the west coast (Alaska is almost always cheaper) or transcon (Delta or United is cheaper and significantly faster) and even if I factor in 1 checked bag, Southwest has just become too expensive, not to mention uncomfortable seats. Although I definitely see the value in no change fees and no checked bag fees, I almost never need them to begin with.
The hot pants and white go go boots they started with and the only Texas beer or board policy! They changed the industry making the aisle seat more popular than the window seat! Seriously, I would like to see seat assignment, business class seats, interline agreements including nationalcarrentals mileage rewards, meals on flights over two hours, nationalcarrentals and lower fares than AA. AA beats their fares routinely in Texas!
Get rid of EVOLVE seats and delete the additional row in the back of the planes. Give back the leg room they once had which was better than any other airline nationalcarrentals out there. I get excited to fly an old 300 series that doesn t have the new crappy EVOLVE seats. You don t need a business class if you return nationalcarrentals it back to the old seating.
How about getting back to basics? Lowish fares with a predictable and on time product? They need to be like the Target of airlines. Not the lowest prices like a Wal Mart, but an airline which offers a good combination of value and quality.
Like others have said, their pricing nationalcarrentals as of late is really off base. BOI to OAK is typically outrageous. To visit family, I can use SMF, OAK, or SJC. AS, with some advance planning, can be had for $250 RT to SMF. WN to OAK though rarely drops below $350 RT.
Once you get to know how to work their system, as opposed to just bitching about it, you will find them a friendly, efficient operation. My only objection is the new seats OK in a -800 where there is leg room but lousy in a -700. Between flights and using the credit card I rack up a lot of points as well as the Companion Pass for my wife how do you beat that?
What NOT to do. Starting nationalcarrentals up more routes than you can handle. Flying routes with 10 or something nationalcarrentals stops, at some of which, with little or any notice, you have to get off the plane and switch to another aircraft. Not operating on-time. nationalcarrentals Even thinking of using regional aircraft as an alternative to the 737. Going to a legacy-like nationalcarrentals hub and spoke system. nationalcarrentals No! No! No!
To me, Soutwest is the most important airline in the business today. Certainly, far from perfect, but without Southwest, nationalcarrentals the legacies would be walking all over us customers even more, if that s possible, than than do today.
They definitely should NOT do the me too, and become another AA, UA, DL. I fly them primarily because of the no change nationalcarrentals fee policy. But my first choice is always WN domestically, the fares on someone else have to be significantly less to move me over. I rue the day I have to fly one of the other majors.
Interline. I fly about 12 time