When Southwest Airlines (LUV) announced that it was changing its decades-old open-seating policy to one in which passengers can pay extra to choose where to sit, the backlash was both expected and fast in coming.
The policy of passengers boarding in groups and then being able to choose from any available seat is unique to the airline and beloved by its longtime passengers.
(A Delta (DAL) flight attendant went viral on TikTok for exclaiming “this isn’t Southwest!” when passengers kept moving around the cabin and switching seats.)
Related: Southwest Airlines finally makes the seating change many feared
The reason for the change is straightforward: Southwest’s results have been weaker than Chief Executive Bob Jordan wants to see. He said in a statement that Q2 “fell short of what we believe we are capable of delivering” and that the carrier would take “urgent and deliberate steps” to improve the situation.
On July 25 the airline unveiled the change as part of its second-quarter report, which showed net income dropped 46% to 58 cents a share.
“The research is clear and indicates that 80% of Southwest customers, and 86% of potential customers, prefer an assigned seat,” Southwest said in a statement. “By moving to an assigned seating model, Southwest expects to broaden its appeal and attract more flying from its current and future customers.”
Southwest passenger: ‘I am appalled by the decision’
Well, maybe not so fast.
One petition posted on Change.org by S. Shoffner, demanding that Southwest “keep its open seating policy,” gathered more than 540 signatures.
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“As a happy, loyal, lifelong customer of Southwest Airlines, I am appalled by the decision of their new leadership to get rid of the open seating,” Shoffner writes in the description to the petition. “What makes Southwest stand out among its competitors is the things they do differently, especially open seating.”
A smaller petition posted on Change.org calls on travelers to “stop Southwest Airlines from adopting assigned seating” because it “threatens to tarnish the airline’s tradition of passenger freedom, convenience, and ease during boarding.”
Southwest Air change hurts families’ ability to sit together
Another reason passengers don’t want the carrier to change its seating policy is that open seating enables families to sit together without paying extra, so long as they board early enough and seats are available.
“Southwest’s open seating policy makes them stand out in the industry where passengers often bemoan the lack of freedom and choice in their air travel experiences,” Grant G., the organizer behind the second petition, writes in the description.
“It allows families to sit together without the extra cost and stress of securing seats together, as well as individuals to have a decision on a taking an aisle or window and who they sit next to.”
Southwest has not said whether it was completely doing away with the open-seating structure or would allow passengers who did not pay for assigned seats to choose from what was available once other groups had boarded.
The Dallas carrier also hasn’t specified a timeline for when the changes would come into effect. Jordan said that Southwest executives would be meeting to work out a plan for the changes in September.
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