More Boarding Changes at Southwest
 

<i>A new Business Select fare, which costs $10 to $30 more per flight than current top fares, is now available. Business Select travelers will get to board first, will receive extra Rapid Rewards credit and get a free cocktail.</i>


http://blog.washingtonpost.com/trave....html#comments

Any information about when this will take effect? Booking on line today, I didn't see any sign of that option, otherwise I would have taken it.

Here is more info from southwest.com:

http://www.southwest.com/fares/pop_fareCompare.html

You have to remember that this offer is ONLY good if you purchase the most expensive, non restrictive fare.

Saw both of those myself when I went to the website myself.

But as I said, no sign of it even when I tried to book on Tuesday or Wednesday. Therefore, still wanted more information, including start-date.

Apparently the start date was sometime between last night and this morning -- all is changed. Now I need to call to find out if you can convert a ticketed itinerary....

Easy. Did it on line as if changing dates of travel.

And so it goes.

Darn, I heard mention of this on the news, but it didn't say that the fee is on top of the highest fares.

Looks like SW will continue to be my last resort.

Keith

What it means is that even if you check-in at 24:00:00 before your flight, you may still not get a A1-5 boarding pass. :D

BTW, who chose the name &quot;<b>B</b>usiness <b>S</b>elect&quot; anyways?

Flying to LA tomorrow. Checked in exactly 24 hours before flight. Got boarding passes A-22 and A-23. I wonder if this new policy will make it worse to get one of the higher numbers. I fly Southwest a lot in California, but not sure if I will have 16 round trips per year.

Besides the BS fare, they also introduced their own elite program. You can be an <b>A-lister</b> to get to board first.

The may start losing clients. Some airlines have very competitive fares and schedules.

I imagine that switching to other airlines will depend, in part, how you use Southwest. In California, we use it mostly to fly up and down the state, sometimes business, sometimes pleasure. They have the best fares. And I for one, will not be unhappy with the new number system, because it has irritated me no end to get to the airport early with my &quot;A&quot; number, take a seat and then watch latecomers come up and basically squat on the ground, ahead of the row of seats, to get on the plane first. I would not mind if parents with young children were boarded first, but the last time I saw that, a group of 8-10 adults boarded with the one child - that was a pretty sight.

I live in San Francisco, and find Alaska Airlines or Frontier offering same or better prices with better schedules, of course it depends when and where I fly.

Everything Southwest has done lately is to get more high-paying business travelers to fly them, often. That's why they change the boarding format, why they add the &quot;A-list&quot; program, why they change the names of their fares to &quot;Business&quot; and &quot;Business Select&quot; instead of &quot;Refundable Anytime&quot;.

On many routes, they have pretty good competition. For example, for Houston - Dallas. If I want to fly one-way <b>tonite</b>, &quot;Business&quot; fare is $126; BS fare is $141.

But for the frequent business traveler who has elite status with Continental, one can buy a &quot;Y&quot; fare and get guaranteed first class for $180 and earn 150% EQM and double EQM. Not a bad deal for $39 more. [Cheapest coach is $130.]

I looked at Southwest this evening to book a flight from the east coast to the west coast in April. Fares are MUCH higher...even if you don't choose BS!!! I don't like their changes. We've thought of Southwest as our &quot;airline of choice&quot; up to now, but I will look elsewhere from now on.

Katye, the right strategy is not to look elsewhere, the strategy must be to look EVERYwhere :)

What's happened with SW is that they had a huge reserve of fuel paid with futures when it was a lot cheaper -- and now they're running out. So it isn't just getting higher-paying passengers, it's that they can no longer charge lower fares because they are no longer getting a bargain for fuel.

Timing is everything.