Southwest Airlines is polling travelers on whether it should start assigning seats to customers, replacing its open-seating system.
The Dallas-based carrier sent an e-mail Thursday to members of its frequent-flier program, asking if they would like assigned seating and if it would affect the number of flights they book with Southwest.
It’s another step in the airline’s evaluation of the issue, after starting tests of assigned seating in San Diego. The testing started July 10 and is expected to last six to eight weeks.
Southwest started flying to Denver in January.
While airlines generally assign seats to passengers in advance, open seating is one of Southwest’s quirks. Passengers on Southwest board in three groups based on how early they check in, up to 24 hours before the flight.
Southwest spokeswoman Paula Berg said the airline has no timetable for a decision on assigned seating but would not make the change before 2008.
“The response since our boarding test became public has been overwhelmingly in favor of keeping our open seating,” Berg said. “We haven’t committed one way or another.”
Some call it “cattle call” seating.
“Perhaps in the past we’ve been a little apologetic,” Berg said, but “customers seem to really like it.”
Frontier Airlines has touted its assigned seating as a competitive advantage to Southwest. But Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said he thinks Frontier has other advantages, even if Southwest starts assigning seats.
For Southwest, the open-seating system shortens the amount of time it takes to “turn” planes from an arrival to a departure at the airport gate.
“We’re able to board and deplane our planes faster than anybody else,” Berg said. “Airplanes don’t make any money sitting on the ground.”
The carrier is trying to determine if it can cut the time even further.
“If it turns out that we can shave off a couple of minutes but the millions of customers who fly us every day say, ‘Hey, this is why we fly you, we’d have to weigh those options,” Berg said.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-820-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
