I didn’t plan to be a guinea pig for Southwest’s first day of assigned seating, but after American’s storm cancellations and operational meltdown I rebooked—and got a front-row seat to the new boarding reality. Seats may now be assigned, but the gate process still forces early queuing while carry-on bin space turns the aisle into a traffic jam, with passengers backtracking to stow bags and flight attendants trying to manage the pile-ups
With the winter storm, I first went through three American Airlines itineraries but they couldn’t get me to D.C., so I bought a new Southwest Airlines ticket to Baltimore.
I experienced what could generously be called confusion, mostly on the part of flight attendants oddly enough. They were directing people and slowing down the boarding aisle as people found overhead bin space near their seats – rather than picking seats, in part, based on where there was bin space available.
Like other airlines, Southwest has been adding oversized bins to planes. They didn’t need to before, since people got free checked bags and didn’t bring to much on board. Now, though, everyone carries on as much as they can because it saves money.
So people would stop at their seat, see no bin space available, and have to head back in the aircraft to stow bags – only to return down the aisle to their seats. This was far more chaotic than other other airlines.
Was it a sign that the Southwest Airlines web page for its new boarding process was returning an error?
Here’s how it works:
- Groups 1-2 are the most expensive fare class passengers, passengers paying for extra legroom seats, and A-List Preferred (top tier elites)
- Groups 3-4 include the next fare tier, Choice Preferred and A-List elite passengers (who didn’t get an extra legroom seat) Group 5 is Southwest credit card customers
- Groups 6-8 are standard fare passengers without status, followed by Basic Economy passengers who board last.
That’s the gist of how boarding works on most U.S. airlines now, but Southwest has adopted a bit of a hybrid between standard boarding and their old style of boarding.
- In the old days of before January 27, passengers got a boarding number based on their status, fare, or the time they checked in for the flight. They’d line up in that boarding order, and had an incentive to board as early as possible to have access to the best seats. Often that meant all “A” passengers (1-60) would line up in advance, then all B’s and all C’s.
- Before the changes that followed 9/11, Southwest didn’t actually have boarding passes to print boarding order on, so they handed out plastic numbered boarding cards.
What happened today, and in some sense this is like United whose boarding is similarly bad, is that Southwest agents called up all group 1 and 2 passengers to line up before they began boarding.
Then, once boarding time commenced, they did pre-boarding for passengers needing special assistance and military. And only then they began boarding group 1. So everyone was standing in a queue for awhile. Once group 1 was done boarding and they’d moved onto 2, they told group 3 to line up in group 1’s place (the stanchion sign, though, still said Group 1).
One benefit of assigned seats is supposed to be that you don’t need to line up before boarding begins in order to get the best seat. But you’re still lining up before boarding begins. And since Southwest now charges for checked bags, you have to board early to be able to bring carry-on bags on board.
In other words, passengers don’t save time. And Southwest is making more than one group line up at once. So even if you’re not in group 1, you need to queue even before boarding starts. That’s convenient for the airline – they want to board quickly, and make up for the extra time it now takes them to gate check bags, and to board with more carry-on bags. But that comes at the inconvenience of passengers.
It’s common to say, now that Southwest charges for assigned seating and checked bags, that they’re just like every other airline. The once most consistently profitable airline in the history of the industry has copied financial laggards like American Airlines and JetBlue. But the truth is that Southwest is worse than the rest of the industry.
They no longer offer perks and flexibiltiy, like travel credits that don’t expire. But they also do not have AC power at their seats, seat back entertainment screens, first class, lounges (yet), meals on board, or frequent flyer partners you can spend miles with to get to Europe or travel in business class. And they have the worst-performing wifi among U.S. airlines that offer it. They are just like but less than. Unfortunately, they have over 40% of the departing seats from my home airport (Austin) and the new airport lease sets them up for even more growth when the new concourse is built.
With open seating, every seat was still available more or less for customers buying their tickets just a few days prior to travel. With other airlines, these passengers often pay the most but the good seats are already gone. In fact, if you had to change flights there’s still be good seats available – elite frequent flyers would at worst board after A group and before B, meaning usually it was possible to still get an aisle seat at least. Those days are gone.
A lot of your posts about different things come off as very negative. (Understandably sometimes but it seems to be a recurring theme). That being said I’d be curious to see an article about all of your absolute favorite things about different airlines with no negativity.
It’s like they never even bothered to fly another domestic airline to see what works (or more likely what continues to NOT work) and then find a better way. They could have done something better than all the others. I knew it was bad when the gate agents started making the same “we’ll check you bag free” message at the gate….and if you were C…well .. you’ll be required to check. Will they lose business as a result? Time will tell …but …I have no incentive to fly them over anyone else now.. and will use Kayak to find the best time for the best price.
Any time estimates on a) how long before they declare bankruptcy; b) merge with another airline; c) get bought by another airline (either before or after bankruptcy)? RIP Southwest, it was fun while it lasted. Another company raped, pillaged, and destroyed by Elliott Management.
Oh so surprising-the first day of a completely new way of doing things didn’t run smoothly.
They’ll figure it out, nothing to see here except a sensationalist website that often has speelling errerors. lol
Really…I have flown on Delta several times only to be in a throng of people waiting for their boarding group to be called. Southwest does not sound a whole lot different-other than the customer service agents ask the group to line up first. Delta does not because the mob of people in that group are already there.
Kinda surprised Gary didn’t opt for Delta. @Tim Dunn, isn’t AUS the new hub? Sadly, well said, @Lucky Larry.
Their advantage now makes them the same as everyone else less the alliance and oversea advantages the larger carriers have. Only reason to fly them is price and schedule and that is it.
Boarding is a total cluster for all airlines. It wasn’t always like that. Airlines used to board First, it’s elites and then start at the back of rows. First class might mill near the boarding lane but it’s not like now where those in the last group are standing in front of the lane.
Checked bag fees, a plethora of preboards, change in society norms have made it Running of the Bulls. Good gate agents can help to control the chaos but most of the time they just let it happen.
Everything takes time. They’ll iron out the kinks in due course.
The bigger issue is that Southwest is really no longer a true low cost carrier. They’re really not different from other airlines. Nor, are they dramatically cheaper anymore. When I look into reservations to Hawaii or Cleveland, the places I fly most often, the legacies are either cheaper or offer more convenient direct flights, or flights with just one stop. The United and Delta lounges are also a great selling points depending upon one’s itinerary. Southwest is going to need to do something to differentiate themselves moving forward, or else people like me will just fly the legacies where we get more for about the same price, or at least not dramatically more.
@George Romey — ‘Back in my day…’ Nostaliga is one helluva drug, huh?
I meant… nosta-LIGMA. /s
You know…if they are going to change everything that made them “Southwest” in the first place, don’t you think they’d have the common decency to change their name, too? “Southworst,” perhaps? “You-can’t-sit-there Air”? “The Airline Formerly Known As…”?
Does the family on the same itinerary with an A-List preferred get to board early with their ALP family member, or do they have to board according to their own status? I know their seats will be set already, but wondering about overhead bin space being an issue if all family members don’t get to board together.
It is amusing to watch the whiners on reddit complain about the changes.
I’m pretty neutral on the changes although prefer assigned seating.
They aren’t close to bankruptcy, set record highs in revenues and most of their financials are up. They are most likely in much better shape than an airline such as AA.
As to boarding, ideally you’d board back to front but that won’t ever happen because airlines want people to pay more to board earlier and that slowly down things when you have to wait for slow pokes to store their luggage, take off jackets and figure out how to get into their seat.
I do think their systems still have bugs to iron out with the new seating from what I’ve seen.
They have strong, dominant presence in many markets and aren’t going anywhere.
I do think their pricing has gotten too high in many areas, they need to do something about offering better snacks on longer flights, etc.
At this point, the only way airlines can get things back under control is by charging for carry-ons at a steep premium compared to checked bags.
The only question is which airline has the intestinal fortitude to do it first.
The US customer built this airline – and now they have what they paid for – cheap tickets
I remember when AA tried More Room Throughout Coach – failed miserably when SW gave away seats for 49$
@rich — Real people are upset with this; are you trying to claim Reddit is just bots so any criticism isn’t real? Besides, half of Gary’s posts are just content-farming from Reddit, dawg.
Airlines need a selling point. For Southwest, it was low fares, no checked luggage fees, flexible fare if plans change. Much of that is gone.
For Alaska Airlines, it’s Atmos is slightly better.
For United, it’s the vast route network, especially international.
For Delta, it’s supposed to be a tad premium. It also has a lock on the South.
For Frontier, it’s the shockingly low fares (before the fees kick in).
Southwest needs to have a strong point or it will be in deeper trouble. I think the free checked luggage angle is the cheapest and quickest to implement. Putting screens in the seats is expensive and takes time. If it wants the money, maybe $10/bag. That will look like a bargain.
So all the complaints about the “catttle call” and how that will be so nice to be rid of that. Nothings changfed… Just a different way to do the same thing.
@1990 you were not flying in the 1990s. Yes, people actually waited for their rows to be called before they stood up and walked over to board. Airlines have a hand in creating this mess but people’s lower standard of behavior has made it worse. Back in the 1990s you might see one wheelchair and most of the time it was clear that person was unable to walk down or up the jet bridge. No 15 wheelchairs down and 3 coming back up on the arrival.
@George Romey — Do I need to regale you of getting stuck in St. Louis thanks to TWA? Shall I revive the glory-days of Denver’s Stapleton? Oh, the Flying Saucer at JFK T3… WorldPort! Ah, yes, a 2-5-2 configured MD-11, or 2-3 MD-90, with the cigarette butt holders still in place, and the ear-phoned that’d give your inner-ear a scar if you ripped ’em out accidentally. Naw, I much prefer 2026.
I will now treat this like the other airlines where I have boarding in group 4 or 5, but wait until group 7 or 8 to reduce my time on the plane. I only have a backpack so I don’t have to have overhead space if not available. I didn’t really like boarding in A but for the reason to get a better seat, not being on that early.
How does this train wreck of an airline even survive 2 years from now?
Looked at their fares this weekend 19000 points one way in southwest cattle
Sfo to las for their cheapest saver fare no seat assignment allowed plus the cost of luggage
Booked first class on another carrier for 9000 points same route
Why would anyone in their right mind book southwest. If I want to get raped and overpay I could fly the pathetically over rated and mediocre sub par delta
As for Gary’s criticism 100% on point no arguments it’s not negativity it’s simply the truth
Nobody wants to see an airline fail but Southwest clearly looks like it’s headed over a cliff
It’s just a matter of when.Or the flying public is foolish enough to keep flying them despite
massive price increases and an inferior uncomfortable product
Previously their value proposition slightly friendlier team members could make up for their
Other negatives but now?
Since the southwest changes I’ve noticed a massive increase in passengers flying my preferred carriers and despite being a 100k flyer or mid tier on others an upgrade is near extinct typically
I wish Southwest well for one selfish reason that they keep folks off the carriers I wish to fly.
Southwest sad if not pathetic what it’s become
I stopped flying SWA when I moved to NYC. I now only fly DL, UA and B6. I have status on the first 2 and can’t imagine going back to SWA. They will lose their current afficionado’s and not pilfer many fliers from the other choices.
Bad move.
WN will get this figured out and has far more staying power than AA does.
WN’s on-time and cancellation rates were as good as or better than industry average yesterday. They can get people where they need to be which is more than AA can say right now
they have effectively fired some of their least desirable passengers and are becoming a more viable option for some people including many business people and connecting passengers that would never fly WN with open seating
@Wiley Dog — Same here. WN hardly flies anywhere from the big-three airports, except LGA… and, even then, it’s basically just MDW, STL, DAL, HOU, maybe TPA, and a few other randos. NYC really is all about DL, B6, UA, AA, and foreign carriers. Alaska, Spirit, Frontier, etc. hardly have much of a presence either. Like, FLL had more Southwest flights than NYC. Sheesh.
A group of 4 of us using miles on a basic economy fare (no status) checked in (same itinerary) for a flight tomorrow with one person needing assistance (legit wheel chair) and they assigned all 4 of us to row 5. All of us were willing to sit anywhere on this 80 min flight but they put all of us: window, middle and 2 isles upfront together.
As several have observed- poor on execution when managed from 40,000 feet.
Only 300,000 more miles in basic economy to go to get off the bus with wings.
@Tim Dunn — While I feel for AA’s crews getting stranded, c’mon, Tim, I’d bet on AA over SW. That’d be like you calling it quits with Delta during Crowdstrike. Did you lose faith then?
The Newsroom first aired in 2012 with a banger of a Jeff Daniels monologue about America no longer being the greatest country in the world. Since then, it has gotten worse. This is just another example. We need to get better, or resign ourselves to consignment in the detritus bin of history. Sad state of affairs.
Delta Comfort says it includes dedicated bin space but it did not mark Reseved above the Delta Comfort section on the 4 flights I took recently. There were more bags in Comfort section bins than passengers in those seats. And I did not hear one single announcement for free gate checking. So how much worse can Southwest’s new seat selection and paid checked bags policy be?
@All Due Respect — I ‘memba (that show). Again, I wouldn’t count us out just yet, but, yeah, times aren’t ‘great’ now, that’s for sure.
n the first photo in this article, I noticed a sign with a red border affixed to an overhead luggage bin that read, “FLIGHT ATTENDANT USE ONLY.” Before Southwest Airlines assigned seats, passengers would use donut bags to block off and reserve seats for their friends or family. Now that seats on Southwest Airlines are assigned, if you place a sign on the overhead luggage bin that says, “GARY LEFF USE ONLY,” could you reserve that entire luggage bin for yourself?
Southwest’s huge price increase is the deal-breaker for me. For over 30 years they cost much less than the competition. Now they are usually more expensive with fewer flights per day.
Once its customers break their Southwest habit, revenue will decline. But by then it will be too late to win all of them back with reasonable fares. The good news is that Elliott will be long gone by then.
Most important accomplishment of SWA is to get rid of the fake pre boarders. Now they have to get rid of those with those fake Sunflower lanyards – only allow them to sit at the back of the plane.
Would the issue have been solved if they had bigger luggage bins where you could store bags vertically so that you could actually put more than 2 bags in a bin.
I’m not saying your experience was isolated, but I hope you offer your feedback to the company and not just write an article complaining about it. When you want to come work a flight on the first day of a MAJOR change in the days immediately following a massive travel disruption, please let us know! In the meantime, give us a little grace while we learn the new system. Although it wasn’t our choice, most of us FA’s are on board with it (yes, pun intended!) for many reasons that may not be obvious to you and the flying public. We’d love a chance to adapt to this change before the criticism floods in. If nothing is smoother in a month, let er rip.
Just got off a half full flight. Everyone who didn’t pay extra for a seat sitting in back three across. Middle of plane empty rows. Even after everyone boarded would not let you move to empty rows. Is this just learnings or a new marketing strategy to get you to buy an upgraded seat.
Maybe it was the storm that caused the chaos. I’m on a flight from ALB-BWI and there were absolutely no hiccups or chaos. I’m writing via free WiFi too. Kudos to SW.
I got into the same situation as Gary today. My American flight from TPA to DFW connecting to LAS was cancelled and they rebooked me on two flights to get to DC and then another flight tomorrow morning to Las Vegas. I really wanted to try to get there tonight so I ended up buying a ticket on Southwest. The only reason I even considered doing that was because I could pick my seat when I bought the ticket. It was great to be able to do that. I bought the ticket just a couple of hours before the flight so under the old way I probably would have been one of the last people to board the plane and would have been in a middle seat which I was not willing to do. In any case, I experienced group 1 and group 2 lining up. (I was in group 2). And while we don’t line up for other airlines, we kind of do, right? Everybody clusters around and you’re looking around trying to figure out which of the people are really in first class, who’s in group 2 or who’s in group 7 but they don’t understand the process and they’re hovering around too early. So I think when they start announcing the boarding and you go and get in the line for 1 or 2, if that’s your ticket type, that it’s a really good thing. I was in the bulkhead and the flight attendants were keeping people from putting things in the overhead above those seats even though they were sitting there, which I didn’t understand. She let me put my bag up there. Maybe it was a smaller bin. So I did see a couple people have to go back a few rows to put their bags up. But otherwise it turned out to be a really nice flight experience. There was nobody else in my row which amazed me with all the cancellations going on. Now I’m sitting in Kansas City hoping my flight to Vegas goes as well as the first one. I agree with everyone who says Southwest will get the hang of this.
Simple fix for all airlines:
First checked bag is free.
Carryon bags are $40.
Plane boards in 20 minutes.
Simple fix for all airlines:
First checked bag is free.
Carryon bags are $40.
Plane boards in 10 minutes.
@1990 I don’t know if anyone answered about Austin and Delta. My partner of 15 yes works for Delta at a hub so my info is about as legit as you get. Austin isnt technically gonna be a hub but a focus city. If you’ve been through Raleigh Durham its like that. Delta wants to use it to get to smaller stations in Texas. I was going to have to go to Lubbock for work and Delta doesn’t go there. They are hoping Austin will do that for them. This was all planned out pre-pandemic so it’s been on hold.
You made me laugh at TWA and STL. STL was my “home” airport for years and ive gotten stuck there without TWA but I remember those days! Good times!
You are incorrect on group 5. It also includes some A-List. I just flew today and was in Group 5, for seat 26 D and I have A List and not a CC with SW.
None of the “horror” stories happened to me on day one or day two of assigned seating.
@ 1990. Yes TWA! (when were u in St Louis?), I got delayed on the first leg of a StL-London-Dehli-Kat trip, missed connection, put on BA in 1st to Delhi. Back then Air Nepal told me we were waiting for the plane to arrive but they didn’t know where it was.
Better you than me.
Gary Leff…paid hitman for UAL. Everyone sees right through this clown and his fake news.
The stupidest thing the entire US airline industry ever did was introduce a first checked bag fee. If the airlines had targeted carry ons with a fee they would have solved more problems back then (revenue), while future-proofing their business processes (the 8-9 board group cluster and gate check mess we have today). Boggles the mind…
Unfortunately, I’m in the same boat as you. AUS is home base, so I’m usually stuck with Southwest as the default option, especially after American cut their nonstop service to Vegas (among other routes).
@ Chase. Good point. As it presently is you now pay extra to wait for your luggage to be delivered … or lost. Carry-on is measurably quicker, less damage and more accountability. That should be the one with a charge especially if time is money.
What is the plan for SWA tall boarding stancions. eg 1-5, 6-10, 11-15 from every gate? Melting them for their CC airline card, recycling, selling them to avation geeks for charity?
@jack the ladd — Several times in the 90s (thanks to TWA), and a few times since (thanks to others). Might take WN there, in order to use my Chase Sapphire Reserve $500 credit.
Speaking of Nepal, any word on how they’re doing these days? Haven’t made it there yet, and hoping their election in March stays calm. Lotta turbulence…
We also flew WN from SMF to MSY, changing planes in HOU on the 27th and while we did observe some of what Gary described – it was fairly minor and the flight attendants did a very good job of directing traffic. The biggest shift was that there were almost NO bags coming out on the checked baggage carousel when I collected ours upon arrival in New Orleans. For someone who ALWAYS checks bags (I travel heavy for Mardi Gras, y’all) – I’m down with the “charge for carry-on” plan!
For an inaugural day of a major paradigm shift – I felt it was quite calm. WN will indeed get the hang of the new regime . . . whether or not they survive this in any case, remains to be seen.
Does anyone in the United States use the term “queue” to refer to lining up besides travel bloggers? I’ve never heard anyone use this phrase in the wild, but is all the rage amongst the travel blog community.
Remember probably 20 years ago, people would camp out to be one of the first in line.
Is it this way again ? One is assigned a line, but not a line number. I see people knowing their are in group 1 or 2 or 3 etc, and decide to sit down to be ‘first’.
My background, i have been flying for work for 18, mainly using SWA, i have had SWA Companion pass for 17 of 18 years. I normally get Companion Pass early in the year within the first 4-5 months sometimes less. i got tired of flying one year, but only missed it by one or two flights. All of my points are only from purchased flights and not with the SWA CC. I have seen all of the SWA changes over the years. I do make status on two other airlines besides SWA. I have over 6 million lifetime miles with SWA and easily sitting on over 1.25 million points. The new boarding has me in group 2 every time, with their new boarding procedure for SWA. I was previously always A-1 or A-2, pretty much no matter when I purchased my ticket, which was normally 1–5 days before with the flight with half of those tickets the day of the flight and at the airport . It seams like all the individuals that wrote articles about the new SWA boarding procedure didn’t go in depth and gave the standard article about the difference between the old and new boarding procedure. According to SWA personnel, the first five rows board in group 2 always. The next several rows of preferred seating after that possibly back to the Exist Rows board in group 2. My only perk is sitting up front to get on and off first and not have to worry about space for my one personal carry on backpack. I have always had free drink with coupons or from my Business Select or now Choice Extra and free wifi. I don’t drink so the free drinks have never meant anything to me. I asked about the Priority Boarding it showed on my SWA app, since i had already purchased a Choice Extra had been always first to board after pre-boarding. It seams that no matter what ticket you purchase, you can purchase Priority Boarding which will get you onto the plane before Group 1 and after the Pre-boarding and after Military. So basically SWA is wanting to squeeze everyone flying their Airlines and make their loyal customers unhappy, besides the handicapped, overweight, and casual passengers. I know, I rambled on a bit and may have jumped around in my thoughts, but wanted to share. Happy Flying and Safe Travels.
I can’t speak to Gary’s experience but I’m not sure you can fairly judge a process on the day it is rolled out.
For sure UA could benefit from 9 boarding groups (one thing that AA does well) because at hubs like SFO more than half the plane are pre-board 1Ks and Group 1 elites. But I’ve never had trouble finding overhead bin space even in Group 2. And I expect most WN flights have far fewer elites in Groups 1-4 given the current clientele (given the drastic reduction in same-day commuters and biz travelers).
While I was a fan of the open seating system, I have become less enamored in recent years as the price of EBCI increased and most of my flights going out 100%. Ironically WN will get more of my business now that I can use points to buy the cheapest fares and reserve my preferred aisle gratis thanks to the credit card (and even upgrade to more legrooom as opposed to scrambling for an exit row).
The old WN is gone, just as free elite upgrades have largely disappeared on legacy carriers. Accept that the game has changed, and hope that WN stock tanks before Elliott sells its stake as they don’t deserve a win after destroying a fine airline.
@carletonm – plane boards in ten minutes because travelers like me (three flights this week, one backpack) would stop traveling. I don’t check. And, it would be impossible to enforce.
I completely agree with the writer. I am an A-list preferred member and have been for many years. I dreaded assigned seating and it is as bad as I thought it would be. Before assigned seating I was consistently A16-20 which meant most of the time I got the bulkhead aisle seat and the rest of the time I got an aisle in the first 5 rows. Now I am lucky to get an aisle up front and on a flight I recently booked 3 weeks ahead of time there were no aisle seats up front left. The bin space too is now getting chaotic. Because all the people with seats up front now all get on the plane together early there is a rush to get on first to secure your bin space. Due to changes in my company’s travel I will probably lose my A list preferred status after this year then I’ll be gone from SWA because the seating available for last minute business travelers like me will suck like it does on other airlines. At that point my airline choice will solely be based on price.
Correction to my previous comment posted the other day, i had previously stated “ According to SWA personnel, the first five rows board in group 2 always. Which is correct, and it doesn’t matter your status level. My other comment, “The next several rows of preferred seating after that possibly back to the Exist Rows board in group 2”. which should have stated that those seats all board in group 1. I have read several comments about from others, that we shouldn’t be so quick to condemn or complain about the new boarding procedure, it just started. My comment to that is, how else is the company going to know they screwed up and pissed off at lot of their customers, especially the loyal frequent travelers. I told my family about my experience, and my brother said, they were going to cancel their SWA CC.