Adore it or hate it, Southwest Airways’ seating coverage definitely makes it stand out from the pack. The provider has a singular boarding course of and does not assign seats to passengers, that means you are in a position to choose your individual when you board. However some latest challenges for the airline now have the CEO acknowledging that there could possibly be modifications in retailer—and the unassigned seating that has come to outline Southwest could quickly be a factor of the previous.
RELATED: Vacationers Are Boycotting Southwest Over New Boarding Change.
When Southwest launched its first-quarter monetary outcomes for the 2024 fiscal 12 months, it turned clear that the provider is struggling financially. The airline reported a web lack of $231 million for the quarter.
In a press release accompanying the discharge, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan referred to as the loss “disappointing” and revealed that the corporate is working to discover choices for reversing its monetary setback.
“We’re centered on controlling what we will management and have already taken swift motion to handle our monetary underperformance and regulate for revised plane supply expectations,” he mentioned.
Throughout an interview with CNBC on April 25, Jordan hinted that one potential choice could possibly be a change to its unassigned seating association.
“We’re wanting into new initiatives, issues like the best way we seat and board our plane,” he mentioned.
Jordan additionally addressed the potential future change in a name with traders the identical day, explaining that executives are “very significantly learning” its seating course of and the way passengers board Southwest planes, per The Washington Publish.
“It has been a number of years since we final studied this in-depth, and buyer desire and expectations change over time,” he mentioned on the decision. “We’re additionally learning the operations and monetary advantages of any potential change.”
RELATED: Southwest Airways Is Chopping Flights to 4 Airports Over Boeing Issues.
Southwest hasn’t but made any concrete choices on seating or boarding. Representatives for the corporate mentioned they’re presently learning buyer preferences for seating and the way they might be altering, The Washington Publish reported. As the corporate defined, its open-seating system was carried out when airways weren’t seeing as a lot demand and had much less full aircrafts.
“There is no determination, there’s nothing to report apart from we’re significantly taking a look at this,” Jordan mentioned on the decision. “However early indications each for our prospects and for Southwest look fairly darn fascinating.”
However the truth that nothing has been determined hasn’t stopped vacationers from weighing in with their ideas, with many hoping that Southwest does not abandon unassigned seating.
“If Southwest eliminates its open seating coverage, then they will lose what makes Southwest totally different than different main airways,” one particular person wrote in an April 26 X submit, with the hashtag #KeepOpenSeating.
One other person made a submit directed at Southwest’s official X account: “Please don’t change open seating to assigned seats. WE DON’T WANT THAT!”
On the identical time although, Henry Harteveldt, journey analyst and president of Environment Analysis Group, instructed The Washington Publish his analysis has proven one of many causes many individuals keep away from Southwest is as a result of the provider does not assign seats.
He mentioned he believes the airline might make “an infinite sum of money” by abandoning its present boarding and seating practices.
“I feel it could possibly be an extremely constructive factor for the airline, however I acknowledge that Southwest has a more-than-50-year historical past of being egalitarian, of getting open seating and being totally different from different airways,” Harteveldt defined.
