Apparently so, because the other airlines have assigned seating options. With Southwest, seats were not assigned and customers used the wheelchair scam to get their whole party on ahead of other folks in order to pick preferred seats.
I’m afraid we require at minimum assigned seats.
). It does not take much to for them to keep us happy 
- low fares and no flight cancellations. I have no issues with their group boarding policy. I have fast fingers when the 24 hour check-in window opens and cannot remember the last time we did not get a relatively high selection (no worse than middle of the B group). I am fine with sitting towards the back of the plane (it makes little difference when getting off to us), and sometimes we have been able to get the two-seat emergency row, which, for us, is like business class . This year, only every flight we have either had all family members in our row, or an empty middle seat.I love their current boarding process and I'm really going to miss it. The passengers basically load themselves so boarding is pretty quick and efficient. I thought they were able to turn planes fastest of all the airlines, probably because passengers are anxious to get their line spot and get onto the plane. No dill
Assigning seats seems like a reasonable choice, but charging for checked luggage is both "nickel-and-diming" and throwing away an advantage in flight turnaround time and boarding.
Get a SWA CC and get your free bag back.We fly SWA several times a year, and so far this year we have not noticed any decline in service. Form my experience, and our destinations via coach, they are domestically as good as United or Delta, and *MUCH* better than American (which I will only fly if there is no other option, including a fast boat
We are <90 minutes driving distance from 3 airports, their prices are still low or very competitive, and it has been a long time since we did not have a choice of a non-stop to our destination. The last time our flight was delayed was in 2022, and they sent us, without us asking for it, a $100 voucher.
We have flown twice since they started charging for luggage, but we can deal with carry on luggage, and, we never have had a problem finding overhead bin space. The one fee they have raised before this was early-bird check-in - it used to be $15-$25, but we have not seen the option cost less than $39 this year, and have seen it has high as $75. But, with planning and the fast fingers, we almost never have to choose it.
In spite of the YouTube videos and the "Airline" TV show, only one time was there an issue with a passenger - guy sat next to me at the gate reeking of booze and was very chatty, kind of staggered to his boarding group, and they did not let him fly. But he did not make a fuss about it, and I probably would not have noticed had he not sat and interacted with me.
We will see what happens come January. We still have SWA points to burn, so worse case we will fly on them enough to use them up.
That’s true. We always had a CC that gave us free luggage check. However, apparently most passengers don’t, because many bring as much carry-on as they can, and that cause slow boarding for everyone. So it doesn’t solve the problem airlines caused for themselves.
Yep. That's with any airline.
I agree, if you don't take any other advantage. Usually there is a bonus, and then if you utilize the card on spending for things you normally spend on anyway (and of course pay off every month), you can get more than the $99 back in benefits. I don't fly American Airlines much, but utilized bonus's for CC's (multiple), no fee for first year, and am flying DW and I roundtrip to Hawaii in lie flat Business class for "free". But this is another thread, which I think is already out there.
Our last 3 or 4 SW flights indicated to me it was broken.
That’s not a SWA specific problem. People bring those big carry-ons that bearly fit in the overheads and sometimes just put them in whatever overhead that has enough room as they walk down the aisle.
Good luck at playing timed check-in game. I haven't flown Southwest in years but used to be only able to get in A group by purchasing the early bird option. Their prices have gradually risen to those of the other airlines but there was always the "bags fly free" perk which has now gone away. The places we used to conveniently fly to from Phoenix (SAN, LAX, LAS, SNA, etc) we now prefer to drive to. Southwest's longer hauls like DTW and BUF that I used to travel to don't seem to offer a convenient non-stop anymore.
Well, it used to be two free bags checked and that credit card costs at least $99/year. It still makes sense if you are a frequent southwest flier i suppose but our situation has changed such that it's seldom the most convenient option any more. I can't help but feel it'll wind up being a private equity buyout where it get loaded with debt and the owners suck it dry at which point it goes bankrupt.
Sorry, I just don't see that happening, just because they are moving to the business model everyone else uses.
