When I heard that Southwest Airlines was doing away with open seating (and add different seat types with more leg room), I was a little sad. It felt like the end of an era.
I recognize that running an airline is incredibly complex. You have to sell more seats than are on the plane because sometimes people don’t show up… so it’s nice to get the money AND sell the seat again.
Sometimes this means people get bumped and you have to pay them more (in vouchers, which isn’t real money), but that’s the game.
Turns out to be even messier than that: