Southwest's new boarding process off to bumpy start

2 days ago 9

Southwest Airlines is inactive moving retired kinks successful its boarding process 2 weeks aft the discount carrier switched to assigned seating.

Southwest officials told CBS News that 1 of the main issues the hose is troubleshooting is overhead bin space. In immoderate cases, customers who are portion of the airline's loyalty programme and others who paid for other legroom are uncovering they don't person retention supra their seats due to the fact that aboriginal boarders are taking up the overhead compartments astatine the beforehand of the plane. This is forcing them to locomotion backmost respective rows to store their bags.

The issue, which could dilatory boarding and deplaning, has sparked ire among loyal Southwest customers, with immoderate taking to societal media to dependable their complaints.

"On a Southwest formation for enactment and it's really awful. New process is terrible. I'm successful enactment four. Boarding radical 5, nary overhead bin abstraction until rows 20. Actually insane. @SouthwestAir," 1 X idiosyncratic wrote connected Monday.

Some flyers are besides expressing vexation with however seats are assigned. Southwest announced successful July 2024 that it was scrapping its decades-old policy, which allowed customers to take compartment seats connected a first-come, first-served basis. The hose present offers assigned seats, portion giving passengers the prime to pay for definite seats, including those offering much legroom.

One X idiosyncratic said Thursday that his two-year-old was assigned a spot successful a enactment without immoderate household members. "My woman and 2 kids (5 and 2) are flying @SouthwestAir today. And due to the fact that I garbage to wage for seats, their seats were auto-assigned," helium wrote. "My 2 twelvemonth aged successful his ain enactment without his ma oregon sister."

Southwest says its ain probe recovered 80% of its flyers preferred assigned seats. The hose spent years investigating the boarding process utilizing machine simulations and in-person tests meant to mimic real-world conditions.

Southwest is present making adjustments to code immoderate of the issues that person cropped up, an hose authoritative told CBS News elder proscription analogous Kris Van Cleave. The changes are expected to beryllium rolled retired successful the adjacent aboriginal and volition apt impact having premium and elite flyers committee earlier.

"I deliberation that we should expect immoderate hiccups — that's inevitable," Henry Harteveldt, a question expert astatine Atmosphere Research Group, told analogous Kris Van Cleave successful a January interview.

"It's going to beryllium a immense change," helium said. "The hose is abandoning a 50-plus-year-old concern signifier and adopting thing that is tried and existent by each different hose successful the U.S., truthful hopefully it works well. There volition beryllium immoderate teething pains; that's to beryllium expected. But Southwest says that they are prepared for it."

Edited by Aimee Picchi

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