I like the new Southwest policy and I think it has fair points for both the business and the non-business traveler. We flew the airline on the Christmas weekend and in spite of overbooked and late flights, the new boarding procedure made for a more orderly process all around. I am not a childless person, either.

Families with children are not discriminated against; they have the same opportunity to check in online and get an "A" number as do the rest of us. And if you don't have an "A" you are allowed to board as a family between the "A" and the "B" groups. What no longer happens is the mad crush of "A's" who would come late to the party, then hog floor space to get on the plane first. Happy to see that gone.
And even with holding the first 15-20 seats for business tickets, if you are on a flight without that group, then the "A20+" will indeed board first.

I am also happy to see gone the process by which one child would board with a family of 8. But the favorite image of our holiday trip was waiting for our flight connection in San Jose to LA on the evening of the 25th, when a young couple was waiting to board with two overstuffed shopping bags (each) of holiday gifts. I was not unhappy that they were way down the "B" list.

socal - You have hit on one of my air travel pet peeves - too much carryon luggage. I hate it when people are allowed to carry on way more stuff than allowed - then there isn't enough overhead space for those who come after.

It's Christmas day and people had the gall to board a plane with shopping bags full of presents? For shame!
What were they thinking? They could've checked them and had the baggage guys steal them all.

Or the selfish a-holes with the shopping bags could have considered UPS.

"What can Brown do for you?"

"Saved me from being a holiday ass."

It bugs me too when people bring on too much carryon "luggage", but Gekko, the poster stated it was the night of the 25th -- do you suppose UPS was picking up/making deliveries that night?

"Saved me from being a holiday ass."

Hmm...from the looks of that, I don't think it's possible.

Southwest's seating policy sounds like it's very chaotic.

I won't fly with them b/c I want my assigned seat and my husband earns better FF perks with another airline.

I've done a lot of fare comparisions and SW is just not cheaper out of my airport. Maybe $10-15 on some flights, but no significant savings. (And the whole trouble of calling 24 hours ahead isn't worth $10 to me).

Tess! =D> =D>

Assumptions made here:

That the OP could book another airline. Not always true. Some of us live in smaller cities without a lot of choice. Another airline may have an impossible connection or time.

Book 24 hrs ahead of time. How many of us have been stuck on the road without computer access?

How many airports do Southwest fly to that don't have other airlines? Not that many.

Southwest chose their airports carefully, and while many of them are secondary airports, they're also very large secondary airports with other services.

While they're the largest domestic airline in the US, they actually do not serve many smaller secondary airports because they don't fly smaller regional jets. They only go to places that can support a 737.

I am looking at their route map now, and the only airport that has very limited competition is Long Island, but there are alternatives like JFK.

Even Dallas Love Field, as SW-dominated as an airport can be, has hourly service to Houston on Continental Express.

rkkwan (and the rest of the "pick another airline" crew): you obviously don't live in or travel to very many second- or third-tier airport areas. You really DON'T have much choice at airports with maybe 30 gates and less than a dozen airlines, especially if you aren't flying regionally. If you want a non-stop to certain places, you often have one choice, if that.

Southwest's hubs are in particular cities, but they link routes between larger markets and some very limited markets.

In addition the "check in 24 hrs. ahead" thing is complicated when you have connections and later flights -- which you always do coming to/from a lesser airport. And you are, once again, assuming everyone has access to a printer wherever they're staying.

I do think the "pick another airline" retort is narrow and unhelpful. But I also think that's pretty much become Southwest's attitude. What does that tell us about both of you?

Everybody living in the US often have only one choice when trying to fly non-stop from one city to another. Whether it's SW or NW or UA or AA or CO, only depends on where you live.

Some of you want low price, large planes, good refund policy, no assigned seats, frequent flights, PLUS priority boarding for kids.

Well, sorry, your party is over.

But you have it right. SW doesn't want those customers either. So, those of you who've enjoyed all the above perks have to fly like others now.

I guess you could call it a perk to give parents the right to preboard with their toddler. I think it helps all the passengers. I would much rather sit near a toddler with two parents to entertain it than only one.

Preboarding families was ALWAYS meant to be helpful to ALL passengers -- the idea was to get people who were going to take longer to get situated all squared away so they didn't hold up everyone else. It wasn't a premium, special treat for families traveling together, it was a recognition that SMALL children -- who need special seats or special attention from parents, plus all the diaper, food, and toy equipment -- cause hold-ups in boarding.

rkkwan, I just wonder why you have it so much in for people who want to be treated well, who are constantly surprised by the appearance of yet another reduction in travel comfort. Your list of travel preferences is certainly skewed -- no one prefers unassigned seating, they just knew it came with Southwest's (previously) lower fares. "The party's over?" Are you kidding? It hasn't been a "party" for quite a while.

Also, our air transport does not exist solely for business travelers despite what you and many apologists for the drastically mismanaged system and airlines would have everyone believe. Nor should it. I assume you take vacations too? Or travel to see family?

Ah, but clearly you must not have family yourself and clearly you are used to traveling with the perqs of premium ff miles and possibly on tax-deductible travel expense. Or you're independently wealthy -- a party in itself.

Really think you need to back off on the superiority-complex type of wagging the finger at people.

Well, all I am trying to do here is to explain why Southwest is changing its policy. What I think and how I fly doesn't matter.

Anyhow, I also want to hear from all of those so affected what routes do you fly. Because I keep saying "Only Southwest serve my city" blah blah blah, like they are the only game in town.

So, exactly where do those of you fly?

"Because I keep saying "Only Southwest serve my city" blah blah blah, like they are the only game in town. So, exactly where do those of you fly?"

Fair enough. Here's the rundown for RDU for all the SW cities served nonstop:

There is NO alternative nonstop service from RDU to the following SW cities: Baltimore, Tampa, Midway, Nashville, Las Vegas, and Phoenix -- that's 6 out of 9 Southwest cities!

Even when there is another airline, pickins' are slim, with only one or two flights, usually quite early in the morning:

To Orlando, we can take Airtran, which has 1 NS each way per day, or Delta, which has 2 NS down and 1 back.

To Ft. Lauderdale, we can take Delta, with 2 NS down and 1 back per day.

To PHL, there are 2 NS's a day via USAir/UAL codeshare (and all are on cramped regional jets, which can be difficult for families, if not normal-sized humans.)

Getting into longer-haul trips, e.g., cross-country, starts to get more complicated (i.e., other than SW, RDU is served by the legacy airlines but usually via a few regional jet flights to their main hubs). But you get the picture, I hope.

Wow. Southwest does seem to create emotional responses.... so I'll just give my unemotional response to it. I'm not a big Southwest fan because regardless of the fact that I travel all the time for business, I just want to be able to get an assigned seat. So - even if I'm flying airlines that I don't have status with, I can still get an aisle seat because that is important to me. While I have flown Southwest, I will usually take an airline that might have one stop (if the stop is in a good airport) to be able to get that seat I want - especially if the flight is a popular one. From RDU (used to live there), I flew alot of AA (don't like them now, but they weren't bad from RDU) and US Air. I love the Charlotte airport - it's just really nice. I do think families with small children should preboard, and what is interesting to me is that on all the other airlines that have assigned seating, the families are allowed to preboard - it's just that unassigned seating that seems to create the problem. I must say, however, that these days (especially if you're flying Southwest), it is imperative to do the early checkin. There are internet cafes everywhere - or most people have friends that have PCs at home that can help them out. That will help alot. I work internationally, and even in really small countries in South America and Africa, people will find someone who has a PC to get things for them ... It might be worth getting that set up for the next time you fly.... Traveling is just not as much fun as it used it be, but please don't jump all over business people, because while you had 1 day of bad experience - imagine if you had to do that every week!!!! It's just not fun....

Joan

Yes, Southwest does evoke a lot of criticisms positive and negative.
I fly Southwest almost exclusively form Chicago MDW because most of my travel is domestic and to cities that they fly to. I do have a choice and Southwest is mine. This past year I flew them about 18 times and because I have an affinity credit card with them I earn about 10 FF points a year using it.
My main reason for flying southwest is that, unlike the legacy carriers, I can turn over my FF points into "vaction" trips real quick. Of the 18 flights I flew about 6 were "vacation" trips on FF points to Las Vegas, Tampa, NO and San Diego. ( I could also go to Hawaii via ATA with them but havn't yet.)
The unassigned seating is never a factor with me to fly them because I can put up with the hassle and turn that trip into a free flight sooner than later.
As far as the boarding process goes, the new pre assigned check in boarding pass numbers are great because the cattle call line does not form until the plane is called and even with a "B" pass I can usually secure an aisle seat, as I usually travel alone. And if i don't get a seat that I want, so what, the flight is usually an hour or so and Southwest gets me there usually on time, whether I sit on the aisle or window!