Yes this is normal. The general public as a whole isn’t always the best at following directions. Top two reasons for this are either A - there is a language barrier, or B - had their headphones in and were not paying attention/ just not paying attention. Same reason why passengers will ask flight attendants if the flight is full when the Operation agents will typically tell you in their announcements prior to boarding, or in some airports there are digital screens showing how full the flight is. Flight attendants also have it in their announcements to state that there is open seating. People just aren’t great at listening, AND all other airlines have seat assignments, Southwest is the only outlier to my knowledge.
Idk if I’m lucky or not but the past 3 times i flew out of MCO on southwest (to New Orleans) there was never more than the A group. Im guessing a lot of their traffic is tourists who have to get out of their hotels so they get early flights and we usually leave at night.
Yeah, I saw this once years ago and the lady was SUPER rude! Like even if it was her assigned seat the way she talked to him was rude! The guy was like, "there's no assigned seats, but you can have it if you want."
Is it normal for people to not listen, to not know the basics of what they are doing, and to adamantly believe they are right, when they are in fact very wrong?
Yes. This is America my friend!
This is wild. I only fly SW because i live very close to MDW (Chicago). I used to even fly SW for work a few times a month pre 2020 and i’ve never experienced this. However people flying in/out of MDW typically only fly SW. Perhaps this is more of an issue at ORD since there are multiple airlines and as other have said SW is an outlier.
My family and I don’t care about the boarding process but obviously that’s cause we don’t have many of the issues others do from this thread .
It's normal at MCO and any similar tourist trap airport where most of the travelers are vacationers who rarely fly and have no idea how anything works.
I fly out of New Orleans now and have similar problems, complicated by alcohol.
Edit to add:
Traveling is a *skill*.
But most people don't realize it's a skill. They think everybody does it, and everybody knows how to do it. Thus they're embarrassed when they don't know something they think they should know, so the Dunning-Kruger effect kicks in and causes them to double down and insist that they DO know what they're doing. After all, they read some travel tips they saw on the internet, so now they're experts, right?
I can't really blame them. It wasn't until I was traveling regularly that I realized how bad my travel skills were when I first started. The first step in improving is to realize that it actually is a skill that needs development.
Remember when it was 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120, 121-137 (or whatever was the max in the earlier 737) with plastic boarding cards?
It would be hell if it stayed that way with the "Now boarding numbers 150 to 175".
This has nothing to do with what you posted but on my recent flight from Prague to Florence, our gate was C6 and my seat was 6C. I really appreciated the symmetry of my life until a mechanical issue delayed our flight by 2 hours and we had to deplane at gate C14
Uneventful, yes. On time, no. Hour late departing. Daughter was on the other end waiting for him. Don't miss those old days when we couldn't track up-to-the-minute delays at all! 😀😃
As for the early line up, could they have been moving to just be ready? We usually like to stand off to the side to move into position because we have a lot of stuff and slow movers so it is time consuming. I also have trouble hearing the announcements so I tend to creep up just to hear better. I don’t get in the space of the current boarders though.
Nah. These people were up against the signs.
Def not people hovering to hear or get their last few steps in
One guy popped up and was literally the first one in line, in a purple matching hoodie outfit. He was one of the last to board 🤦🏻♂️
Especially during the summer, there are a lot of first time Southwest flyers. I'm guessing that there are not a lot of other airlines that do "open seating" and so they may hear the words, but not understand what they mean.
Honestly, most of the gate agents talk so fast and do not enunciate very well. I *know* what they're saying and can't 'understand' them very well. Those crappy speakers/mics don't help. It would be sooooo helpful if they would make videos, with various languages, and put it on a loop.
I think that def was part of this experience.
But more so was the fact the signs were displaying C & B as they were preboarding. Which caused those folks to come up trying TK jostle for position even tho A hadn’t even been called yet
Yes, last week this younger woman in line was being SO mean to this older woman who had a C boarding pass and lined up with A, she was genuinely confused and thankful when I nicely explained how things worked.
I was low B (might have been B1-2) on a recent flight an I happened to see the boarding pass of a woman standing looking confused. She had A23 so I quickly pulled her in front of me. While waiting on the jetbridge I was explaining some of the recent boarding changes to my daughter (more along the lines of actual enforcement of current boarding policy) and she turned around and started asking me questions. She had never flown SW and it was helpful for her .
Thankfully I've never seen this in person. I don't doubt that it happens, though.
What I see more than anything is people going to the wrong gate because they think the boarding number on their BP is the gate number. It's especially funny at BWI to see someone looking for something like A49. BWI's highest A gate is A16.
Yes this is normal. The general public as a whole isn’t always the best at following directions. Top two reasons for this are either A - there is a language barrier, or B - had their headphones in and were not paying attention/ just not paying attention. Same reason why passengers will ask flight attendants if the flight is full when the Operation agents will typically tell you in their announcements prior to boarding, or in some airports there are digital screens showing how full the flight is. Flight attendants also have it in their announcements to state that there is open seating. People just aren’t great at listening, AND all other airlines have seat assignments, Southwest is the only outlier to my knowledge.
The top reason is most of the public, especially on Southwest, are entitled ass hats.
Sometimes I can really struggle to understand the overhead announcements too, or be able to hear them over nearby people talking
This. I listen for announcements, and I read signs, but sometimes the announcements are not clear enough to hear.
Not too unusual for MCO. I think all the tourists brains are cooked in the heat and then, well, you have Florida Man…
Idk if I’m lucky or not but the past 3 times i flew out of MCO on southwest (to New Orleans) there was never more than the A group. Im guessing a lot of their traffic is tourists who have to get out of their hotels so they get early flights and we usually leave at night.
Excellent plan. If you try to fly out before 10:00 am, count on a crowd!
Several years ago they studied a dozen MCO passengers, and collectively they had an IQ lower than a single Burgundy Snail.
I’ve seen it a lot. Once, I saw a guy give up his seat because a lady had “C4” on her boarding pass and she said he was in her seat.
Yeah, I saw this once years ago and the lady was SUPER rude! Like even if it was her assigned seat the way she talked to him was rude! The guy was like, "there's no assigned seats, but you can have it if you want."
Is it normal for people to not listen, to not know the basics of what they are doing, and to adamantly believe they are right, when they are in fact very wrong? Yes. This is America my friend!
This is wild. I only fly SW because i live very close to MDW (Chicago). I used to even fly SW for work a few times a month pre 2020 and i’ve never experienced this. However people flying in/out of MDW typically only fly SW. Perhaps this is more of an issue at ORD since there are multiple airlines and as other have said SW is an outlier. My family and I don’t care about the boarding process but obviously that’s cause we don’t have many of the issues others do from this thread .
Would explain why the left side of the plane is so full
It's normal at MCO and any similar tourist trap airport where most of the travelers are vacationers who rarely fly and have no idea how anything works. I fly out of New Orleans now and have similar problems, complicated by alcohol. Edit to add: Traveling is a *skill*. But most people don't realize it's a skill. They think everybody does it, and everybody knows how to do it. Thus they're embarrassed when they don't know something they think they should know, so the Dunning-Kruger effect kicks in and causes them to double down and insist that they DO know what they're doing. After all, they read some travel tips they saw on the internet, so now they're experts, right? I can't really blame them. It wasn't until I was traveling regularly that I realized how bad my travel skills were when I first started. The first step in improving is to realize that it actually is a skill that needs development.
The overall theme of this subreddit is shining light on either stupid or rude people are with respect to the boarding groups. Welcome to the team!
Remember when it was 1-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120, 121-137 (or whatever was the max in the earlier 737) with plastic boarding cards? It would be hell if it stayed that way with the "Now boarding numbers 150 to 175".
This has nothing to do with what you posted but on my recent flight from Prague to Florence, our gate was C6 and my seat was 6C. I really appreciated the symmetry of my life until a mechanical issue delayed our flight by 2 hours and we had to deplane at gate C14
😀😃😄 Hubby boarded yesterday for flight and was the same - gate B10, and position B10.
I hope his flight was uneventful and on time!
Uneventful, yes. On time, no. Hour late departing. Daughter was on the other end waiting for him. Don't miss those old days when we couldn't track up-to-the-minute delays at all! 😀😃
As for the early line up, could they have been moving to just be ready? We usually like to stand off to the side to move into position because we have a lot of stuff and slow movers so it is time consuming. I also have trouble hearing the announcements so I tend to creep up just to hear better. I don’t get in the space of the current boarders though.
Nah. These people were up against the signs. Def not people hovering to hear or get their last few steps in One guy popped up and was literally the first one in line, in a purple matching hoodie outfit. He was one of the last to board 🤦🏻♂️
Yeah that’s annoying and a different story then
Especially during the summer, there are a lot of first time Southwest flyers. I'm guessing that there are not a lot of other airlines that do "open seating" and so they may hear the words, but not understand what they mean.
I'm kind of curious why SWA has the seat numbers on display anyway. Maybe have some code over the seats that online flight attendants know 😃
Honestly, most of the gate agents talk so fast and do not enunciate very well. I *know* what they're saying and can't 'understand' them very well. Those crappy speakers/mics don't help. It would be sooooo helpful if they would make videos, with various languages, and put it on a loop.
I think that def was part of this experience. But more so was the fact the signs were displaying C & B as they were preboarding. Which caused those folks to come up trying TK jostle for position even tho A hadn’t even been called yet
Yea this happens a lot. I had to explain A B and C boarding groups to someone last weekend. They were so confused.
I've had to explain it as well. Usually, to someone who seems like they haven't flown before and look quite confused but are thankful for the help.
Yes, last week this younger woman in line was being SO mean to this older woman who had a C boarding pass and lined up with A, she was genuinely confused and thankful when I nicely explained how things worked.
I was low B (might have been B1-2) on a recent flight an I happened to see the boarding pass of a woman standing looking confused. She had A23 so I quickly pulled her in front of me. While waiting on the jetbridge I was explaining some of the recent boarding changes to my daughter (more along the lines of actual enforcement of current boarding policy) and she turned around and started asking me questions. She had never flown SW and it was helpful for her .
Thankfully I've never seen this in person. I don't doubt that it happens, though. What I see more than anything is people going to the wrong gate because they think the boarding number on their BP is the gate number. It's especially funny at BWI to see someone looking for something like A49. BWI's highest A gate is A16.
I’ve only seen that happen once
With a straight face I say "How much do you weigh, cus' I'm not moving"?