Airlines Confidential‘s Scott McCartney breaks news in this week’s episode about how Southwest Airlines will change its boarding process next year, to go along with the rest of the changes to its business.
When Southwest Airlines moves to assigned seating they will no longer line everyone up prior to boarding. Like the rest of the airline’s moves, Southwest’s boarding process will converge towards being much more like other airlines.
- Gone will be the stanchions, and having passengers line up by group and number
- In its place with be 9 boarding groups
Currently Southwest Airlines passengers line up with a boarding letter and number, and board in order. Passengers self-organize in line, checking with each other to make sure they’re queued up properly. Those pylons help – most often with numbers 1-30 on one side, and 31-60 on the other, and often a pylon for every 5 places.
Boarding order is assigned based on elite status, fare type, whether they’ve paid for ‘Early Bird’ check-in (getting a boarding number assigned just before those are open to the rest of the flight) followed by the order of check-in. Passengers on ‘through flights’ can stay on board or save their earlier seat from the first segment and keep it for the second.
Customers wanting to save money but still board earlier, hoping for an aisle seat or at least to avoid the middle, check in as close to 24 hours before their flight as possible
Years ago, before the pylons (and numbers printed on boarding passes), passengers received plastic boarding numbers.
This queuing in order means that most passengers line up and are ready, in a more or less orderly fashion, before it is time for them to get on the plane. They board quickly and find seats quickly. Their boarding order is a ‘license to hunt’ for the best seat.
All of this adds up to very quick and efficient boarding. Combined with free checked bags, passengers also didn’t bring as much on board planes. That means they didn’t take as long storing belongings, and – even though Southwest hasn’t been as quick to increase overhead bin size as other carriers – they deal with less need to gate check bags which takes crucial minutes just prior to departure.
Combined, Southwest has been able to turn planes more quickly, which means less time for an aircraft on the ground not making money, and more efficient scheduling at times that most appeal to customers. Those are all features Southwest will lose as it charges for bags and seats.
- Even if bag fees add just a few minutes to boarding each aircraft, that’s a huge loss to the airlines. Fourteen years ago, when they were much smaller, they estimated that “it would cost us approximately 8 to 10 airplanes of flying per day if we were to add just a couple of minutes of block time to each flight in our schedule.”
- Since airlines are trying to optimize schedules for connecting flights, they don’t just push each flight later in the day. Customers want certain times, too, and their competitors fly certain times, so there’s a scheduling inefficiency that derives from small delays.
Southwest realizes, though, that when boarding order no longer affects what seat you’ll have, customers won’t have the need to go through that drill. A new boarding procedure makes sense. But nine boarding groups is akin to what American, United and Delta do. It means the introduction of gate lice, people milling around boarding before it’s their turn. It means customers trying to board out of order, either for restlessness or to ensure access to overhead bin space which will suddenly become more scarce as everyone tries to bring their belongings onboard to avoid bag fees.
Ok, so, basically, American Airlines. Got it. Avoid.
This could soon be a new form of airport entertainment: Watch the chaos erupt at the WN gated with the new boarding and baggage procedures. Fun guaranteed.
What a mess this is becoming. LUV won’t be flyable for years as they figure this out. Glad my primary AA and secondary DL go tos have this already figured out.
Southwest has put the final nail in the coffin with these changes. Just another legacy airline without the perks of a legacy airline.
Why does Southwest need nine groups? It’s a single class aircraft and it’s not like there are multiple elite levels. Seems to me four groups at the most. What a total cluster that’s going to be. I feel for their gate agents.
What is the definition of a pilon? Is it a pylon (traffic cone)?
Elliott DBA Southwest
I’m not smart enough to determine WHY I would ever fly Southwest with all these changes. They already started price-creep keeping them from being a viable option but with baggage fees, it definitely doesn’t make sense. You don’t take the bus to pay MORE money!
The biggest perk for me has always been my bags fly free on SW.. I can use SW or AA from where I’m at but avoided AA because of the bag fee. If SW isn’t having a special on the fare, it will probably cost the same to fly AA with the bag fee now. If this is the same for other flyers, SW going to lose business.
Pilon: “a bonus given with a large purchase, a trade, or a cash payment.”
Maybe the “bonus” they’re receiving for their “large” ticket purchase is their seat.
How to ruin an airline?
-Implement fees “just because” we need to make even MORE money
-use profits from said fees to buyback shares to “increase shareholder value”
-Change everything that made folks want to fly it.
-Sell stock prior to massive increase in operating costs due to loss of highly profitable efficiencies. Addendum, borrow against said anticipated profits to buy even more stock
-Leave airline with so much debt & operating losses it either folds or merges at bargain basement price.
-ultimately passengers stuck with just another crappy airline that can’t depart/arrive on time or complete loss of service in smaller Market airports
Where did you verify this? Us employees havent been told this ?
Would never fly Southwest before and probably won’t now. Anyway I can watch most of the fights and assorted BS on YouTube any time.
@Cal – this is from former Wall Street Journal airline reporter Scott McCartney
Never underestimate the ability of a rich out of touch CEO to destroy a business model that has worked for decades.
Another great step to making Southwest an acceptable airline to fly again. My only concern with them is that they didn’t add first class in all of these changes. Having an airport closest to me that is dominated by them, the changes will allow me to start flying an airline that I’ve avoided for almost 30 years. Keep up the great changes!
I travel a lot for work. Have been flying Southwest 1-2 round trips weekly for about 8 years (some pauses during COVID). Have had Companion Pass for many years straight. Spend about $1000/so on my travel. And I’m done now. My company doesn’t pay for Business Select – I have to go the cheapest (WGA) fare, so now I don’t even get Same Day Change / Standby (massive business travel benefit). This airline will become a crappier American, so I’m going to United to work their system now. Well done, Elliot Investment, you just killed a brand to a corporate-card-swiping long-time loyalist. I’ll take my $50k in annual business travel elsewhere I suppose.
once again, WN is not making money with its current business plan. They have to increase revenues and quit carrying passengers that are getting something that other airlines charge for. Where are all these upset passengers going to go? Frontier is trying to steal WN passengers but they will lose just as much or money carrying the same passengers.
The real issue for WN is that they do not have enough aircraft w/ large overhead bins to accommodate the greater amount of rollerboards. other carriers have generally figured out how to manage large amounts of gate checked baggage and that will be what WN has to figure out.
I fly mostly AA but do fly WN four or five times a year. I’m one of the few that actually likes the current boarding system. It’s organized and efficient. You want an early spot, be a FF or pay for it. If you don’t want to pay, set your alarm for 24 hours ahead of time. You know exactly where you are…not gate lice trying to rush the line for Overhead space. As many have said, there really is no differentiation now. Scott Kirby killed their “no change fee” advantage when Covid hit and now the “no fee for bags” advantage is gone. Not sure how this plays out. They may get more ancillary Revenue per passenger overall but if they have less volume, will it be net-positive? Time will tell.
I don’t really understand why Southwest would need 9 groups. They don’t even have all the “silly” elite and first class categories that the major US airlines have. I would think 5 boarding groups would be plenty.
Southwest What happened to John Combs after you removed him from this process?
What happened to low fares and nothing to hide
Why did they pick 9 groups? AA has 9 boarding groups but it also divides first class and people with status. Southwest doesn’t even have first class so why do they need 9 groups?
I was in a car with three normies yesterday, and it turned out that all three of them were regular WN travelers (and two were Chase co-brand cardholders), and they were, to be frank, pissed.
They started talking, and it became clear that over and over again they were saying a variant of the same thing:
“Why should we fly with them if they’re just like all the other airlines?”
I was also shocked by how much they already knew about the changes, despite being not at all plugged in to this space.
I think Southwest has failed to see (or, perhaps, Elliott has failed to see) how much they’ve burned their core loyalty base in an quixotic attempt to chase higher yields when, frankly, Southwest has nothing to offer most high-yield passengers.
I was not aware that pilon was an alternate spelling for pylon. Oh wait, it’s not, the two words have quite different meanings.
I use to fly SW frequently, however lately I have started flying with DA again and it has been reasonably priced our last couple of trips. SW stop direct flight out of our AP, so we turned to DA. I’m really disappointed with all of changes and new fees, just wondering is it worth the increase revenue you think will generate a profit.
@Christy – you are a regular flier and the “bags fly free” is why you go on WN? And you are on here but don’t have airline credit cards or any elite status? SERIOUSLY?
The entire “bags fly free” mainly caters to infrequent fliers, often families, going once or twice a year to see Granny or visit Disney World who shop for the cheapest possible tickets. BTW NO AIRLINE wants these fliers so not a surprise WN made “Wanna Get Away” into Basic Economy. ANYONE with status on AA, DL or UA, that has an affinity credit card or flies first/enhanced coach (AA at least has a coach fare that include seat and bag fees) doesn’t pay for bags. No regular business flier should need to pay so this entire marketing campaign was “all bark and no bite”
Well, all of the SW seat saving hackers finally after many years have killed the only remaining airline that was different. Happy now?
Yikes! The guys at corporate are so out of touch with their market that they WILL ruin the airline in no time at all. I must imagine that bookings are already down. Why take away everything that makes Southwest unique? Becoming just another vessel to funnel their fortunes to the top. They can’t care. I think that they are waiting for the big payout when the airline is sold off piece by piece or is merged into another airline.
My wife and I flew business select to an island, there were about 25 preboarders going out and about 50 returning. Need I say anymore. Where all these so-called WN loyalists running to: greyhound?
@Stefinny – The FINAL nail in the coffin will be if they eliminate the Companion Pass or make the requirements to get it so high that “normal” travelers can’t get it.
These changes are all about money, SW executives admitted they can’t keep up without harvesting $1B in baggage fees and inconsequential upgrades for mysterious 9 seating options. Good while it lasted but they will fight to be competitive with less value.
Will definitely be looking at other airlines.
@Gary
You fail to mention the huge Jesus Jetway crowd with 5 to 7 family members in tow boarding between group A and B sucking up and reserving seats for those in the back end of group C. And in my last two WN flights, I got admonished for attempting to take a “reserved” seat even thought I was #20 and #31 in Group A, respectively. That B.S.!!!!
Also, the size of the B737 has morphed as time has gone along and is carrying 30 to 40 more PAX per flight compared to when WN broke out of Texas with deregulation. The current melee for seats has got to stop before someone gets hurt.
Southwest was in constant denial and PAX were getting tired of a format that wasn’t working. Now, WN has been shoved from its Sophomore year to adulthood. Sink or swim time has arrived.
Get over it!!