|
|
|
|
|
|
by dimmke
701 days ago
|
|
|
Southwest is not "the leader" of anything. They're struggling. If they were doing well there would be no motivation to add these changes. They lost 231 million dollars last quarter. I personally stopped flying Southwest years ago when someone blatantly cut in line while boarding (like a whole section earlier) and I told the gate agent and he rolled his eyes at me and said "we're all trying to get going" I think their seating and check in system is dumb especially when they set up this elaborate system where you have to rush to check in exactly 24 hours before then get mad when you expect them to enforce it. Fuck Southwest |
|
|
I flew business for years on Continental, then United, then when I stopped flying for work in 2012, I started flying for pleasure a lot more. I still kept flying United because that was where all my rewards and perks were. When I stopped getting my automatic upgrade to business/first and had to fly the ever worsening economy class, I switched to SWA for everything domestic. I pay for the ticket that comes with "early bird" check-in, because I'm not going to remember to check in, and my flights always come out way cheaper. On a particularly full flight, I might upgrade to A1-15 for my wife or I, so that one of us can stake a decent row.
There have been people who try to cut in line, and usually they back down after you inspect their boarding pass and politely remind them that C group is after A and B. Sometimes they listen. Other times they they pretend to be dense, and other passengers my badger them to remove themselves. If they stay, then they stay. One person cutting in line isn't the end of the world. Especially if you are already part of the A boarding group.
On United, when flying longer distances that I will want more comfort (from business class offerings), I see they usually have a gate attendant doing line sweeps to make sure everyone is lined up correctly either for their fancy 1MM+ miles club, military, or Group 1. They are less likely to enforce Group 2's (or whatever comes after).
So all-in-all, I think SWA does a fine job at minmaxing (for the customer) price and convenience, while United (and I'm sure most legacy full-service airlines) are more about max-maxing.