The Final Stampede?
June 22nd, 2006 by Grant in: BusinessI’ve always liked Southwest Airlines. They operate on time, have good service, their employees are happy, they actually make money, and as a customer you know what to expect, including a cattle call followed by a stampede.
They seem to have the airline business figured out. So it surprised me a bit to hear that they are experimenting with assigned seating, much like their competitors use. They say they want to shorten the amount of time it takes to board and deplane.
Interestingly enough, Northwest Airlines is eliminating the row-by-row seating after finding that a “board at will” method was faster (while still maintaining assigned seats).
It’s worth noting that Southwest, while changing their seating policy, still hasn’t cut back on their product. While other airlines like Northwest and American will make you pay for that can of Coke, Southwest still throws in a bag of pretzels, and gives me the whole can… free of charge.
It will be fun to see who makes out with the shorter turn-around times as these are two opposite business strategies, but at this juncture, even if Southwest goes with assigned seating, my money’s on LUV!
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June 22nd, 2006 at 5:37 pm
I like having assigned seats just to guarantee that I can sit with my wife, but I always question the back-to-front seating. There are always people in line out of turn, and the agents either can’t or won’t turn them back, probably in the name of ‘customer service’.