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Southwest reward program is the best
I'm bummed they didn't rough up one of the ticketed passengers so you could have his/her seat.
How you handle the no assigned seat?
Having to be standing at the gate 35 minutes before push back seems like it would cost me an extra 45-60 minutes a week at the airport. What a waste of time. And I would be pissed if I hit unexpected traffic and missed boarding..
@KPMG1 I actually would believe that. No groups, just a steady stream of passengers in a sequential order. No inefficiencies due to crowding the gate agent, stalling between groups, that sort of thing. Plus, the plane naturally sort of fills front to back due to the first come, first serve nature of the whole thing so that adds an efficiency as well. I guess I just never really took the time to appreciate how much more efficient and cool Southwest is. Really impressed and will happily fly with them in the future
Southwest is the best!
I find the boarding process to be much quicker and more organized than any other airline
So to clarify I fly southwest every week I never show up to the flight more than 10 minutes before they board. Have never had a problem
@MCK1 it's assigned boarding, so there is order. It's not first come, first serve at the gate 😂. The sooner you check in for your flight, the sooner you get to board (you can board via the app), UNLESS you order a "business select" ticket ($15-$40 extra in my experience), which I see no reason not to, and then you're guaranteed a boarding position between #1-#15. Once you're on the plane, you pick a spot. I was #2 on today and I literally booked Sunday morning. Ended up with one of those exit rows seat with no seat in front of me; it was glorious.
And like @ATK1 said, I hear their rewards program packs the most punch out of all the domestic airlines, so they have that going for them too, which is nice.
Oh and you get a free alcoholic drink voucher on your digital boarding pass if you book a business select ticket. Kinda nice.
@OP. I have flown southwest. I am not arguing whether assigned seats are more efficient. I am purely arguing from a personal utility standpoint. I normally aim to get to the airport about 40 minutes before departure. If I miss my boarding group because I am not standing there at the gate when they call priority boarding, I don't lose my seat. If traffic is bad, I don't care if I am just scraping in before they close the door.
With southwest, I would have to leave more time at the airport, getting there an hour early if there isn't bad traffic, maybe more in cities with traffic problems. If I am not standing at the gate 35 minutes before departure, you can end up sitting in the bathroom.
TL;DR I don't understand why people who fly every week and don't pay their ticket sacrifice the 45-60 minutes to fly southwest, unless they are the only direct flight.
@kpmg. I understand that southwest's system is okay if you are standing at the gate 5 minutes before they board and pay for a A spot in line.
My point is what happens if you get to the gate 10 minutes after they start boarding. On a legacy carrier, you still get your exit row or economy comfort or first class seat. On southwest you are middle row in the back. I hope you can see how that raises the discomfort of getting to the airport late a lot in the southwest system.
We fly every week. If you are someone who likes getting to airport 60 minutes before departure and hanging in the gate area for 20 minutes most days, southwest has no additional cost. Most people I work with don't like spending time in the airport just hanging out, not being productive. They get to the airport 30-40 minutes before departure and walk straight on to the plane. 20 minutes of extra work before each flight means 20 minutes more sleep or time with family. I don't understand willingly giving up that 40 minutes each week, unless southwest is the only direct flight.