CHEEKTOWAGA, NY (WKBW) — Southwest Airlines is getting ready to assign your seat. The airline announced it will change its open seating policy.
Travelers and visitors at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport reacted to the planned changes on Thursday.
“You just get on and get a good seat and you get her early like you're supposed to then you get the better seats,” remarked Nadine Kramer.
Selecting your own seat has been a very popular Southwest Airlines feature over the last 50 years, but that will soon end.
I informed Kramer from Holland, New York about the change.
“Oh, I feel bad about that because I know what it's like to be assigned to seat or have that taken away or having to deal with that when you forget it — so I think that's sad,” Kramer said.
Kramer brought Katherine Wahl, also from Holland to the airport. Wahl was getting ready to fly Southwest to South Carolina.
“And why did you pick Southwest?” I asked.
“I just heard it was good. I don't know – I just picked it,” replied Wahl.
Wahl got to the airport early hoping to pick a window seat, but says she isn't too picky.
“Wherever they put me is fine,” Wahl noted.
Southwest said the seating change will allow the low-fare carrier to charge a premium for certain seats on its planes, like seats with more legroom.
Southwest says research shows that 80 percent of its customers and 86 percent of potential customers prefer assigned seating.
I learned many travelers out of Buffalo like flying Southwest. Numbers show from July 2023 to June 2024 — 677,287 passengers departed from the Buffalo Airport.
That compares to JetBlue, with more than 98,000 passengers out of Buffalo, Delta with over 80,000 and more than 66,000 headed out of Buffalo on American Airlines.
“Southwest has been our largest carrier for a very, very long time and they are growing tremendously. In fact, next month, the daily services to Phoenix are returning. Last year, daily service to Las Vegas returned. They start a new service to Nashville, so they're really rocking and rolling,” described Pascal Cohen.
I met with Cohen, senior marketing manager for the airport at the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, to ask him about the Southwest switch.
“I think it's good news. I think a lot of people like to know where they're sitting and I think research has shown I mean, Southwest can tell you that directly to people want to know where they're sitting,” Cohen responded.
“So, in the future, I’d probably pick a window, but for now doing the checkout and early to get the window seat,” explained Tim Van Oss.
Van Oss of Buffalo was heading to Nashville and always flies on Southwest because he prefers open seating.
“I don't really like the board in the group, so I just by the early check-in so I don't have to deal with it,” noted Van Oss.
No timeline yet for when this change begins, but Southwest expects to release more information in late September.
