RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
Southwest Airlines Flight 2444 flew from San Diego to Phoenix yesterday, and for the first time in the airline's 35-year history, passengers were sitting in assigned seats.
Southwest is experimenting with alternatives to its normal seating policy of first-come-first-served, as NPR's Scott Horsley reports.
SCOTT HORSLEY reporting:
For an aviation pioneer, Don Clowe(ph) doesn't sound too happy. Clowe got the very first assigned seat in Southwest Airlines' history. But 19C is farther back than the Phoenix resident usually likes to sit.
Mr. DON CLOWE (Southwest Airlines Passenger): I personally don't like it. I had an A ticket, and wound up in the middle of the plane.
HORSLEY: Patite Collins(ph) was happy enough with her assigned seat, 22C, but she still missed the competitive thrill of Southwest's traditional open seating, in which earlier arrivals are given A tickets and allowed to grab any seat they choose.
Ms. PATITE COLLINS (Southwest Airlines Passenger): There's something about getting on a plane that's empty and you can choose your seat. I know that sounds really cheesy, but it's great to be able to get on a plane and sit where you want.
HORSLEY: Of course, those at the back of the line, with B and C tickets, don't necessarily feel that way, especially if they have to squeeze into middle seats.
Daphne Mendoloff(ph), who was waiting for a nearby Los Vegas flight, doesn't care for open seating, that is sometimes compared to a cattle car.
Ms. DAPHNE MENDOLOFF (Southwest Airlines Passenger): They should have assigned seating. Then people wouldn't be stepping and fighting over each other. No sense to stand in line an hour before the flight.
HORSLEY: Southwest knows some passengers won't even try the airline unless it starts to offer assigned seats, which is why Southwest is experimenting on some 200 flights from San Diego over the next several weeks.
Unidentified Woman: We are conducting a test on this flight. If you are not holding a boarding pass with a pink heart on it, please see us here at the gate podium. We'll be happy to switch it out.
HORSLEY: The maiden voyage was a little bumpy. Southwest has no software for assigning seats, so gate agents had to do it by hand with a pencil and a big eraser. Any passenger grumbling was quieted with free cookies, ice cream, and drink coupons. One agent said the drink coupons were especially popular.
The whole point of the experiment is to see if passengers with assigned seats can board an airplane as quickly as those racing for open seats. Boarding airplanes quickly is important for Southwest and its competitors says airline economist David Swearinga.
Mr. SWEARINGA (Airline Economist, Air Transport Association): When the airplane is sitting on the ground its not making any money. And so the idea is to get it back in the air making some money.
HORSLEY: That same push for speed has other airlines changing the way they board passengers. United now boards window seats first, then middle seats, and aisles last. Northwest boards all rows simultaneously, and America West uses a hybrid system called the reverse pyramid. All of these are said to be faster than the old method of boarding from the back of the plane forward.
America West spokesman Morgan Durrant says back to front boarding tended to cause traffic jams with clusters of passengers who got in each other's way.
Mr. MORGAN DURRANT (Spokesman for America West Airlines): We've all seen this. You're boarding an airplane and you're trying to get to your assigned seat and then there's someone fiddling with putting their overhead baggage in an overhead compartment and so, you know, you've got to wait.
HORSLEY: Southwest plans to use its assigned seating flights to test a variety of boarding methods. Flight 2444 boarded smoothly yesterday and actually pulled back from the gate one minute early.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, San Diego.
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MONTAGNE: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
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