re: Southwest Airlines to introduce NINE boarding groups

Like other SW flyers I'm not happy about the changes. but...

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Flying out of MSY, it offers the most options for directs by a good margin. When travelling with kids you don't have to pay for seat assignments because you were guaranteed boarding between A/B which allowed all 4 of us to sit together.
I've flown with seafood numerous times and could load 80 lb ice chest full of seafood/crawfish on trips to see family/friends with bags fly "free".

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If I lived in Houston, Dallas, Chicago or Atlanta we wouldn't fly SW nearly as much (unless we lived close to Hobby, Love, Midway), but from MSY it has the most direct flight destinations and usually cheaper than United/Delta/American/Jet Blue to major destinations and hubs. There are many people who live in areas with smaller airports where SW provides excellent options.

All changes aside we have companion pass till end of 2026, will end up with A list by end of summer, and in the credit card network so the changes won't impact us much, but I am worried about what could happen in the future. Will definitely plan to use up all points by end 2026 in case it gets worse.

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“As it stands today we are going to do away with the lining up,” Jones said, suggesting the flip to traditional boarding groups will occur when assigned seating is fully integrated into the airline’s operations.

Jones added that not using the line up pylons, “…allows us to break the groups up into smaller groups and have that more ordinal boarding towards the back half of the boarding process.” He clarified this will help with the airline’s operational efficiency, and will also allow the airline to manage the flow of passengers at the gate better, which is important for ensuring timely departures and smooth boarding operations.

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Sure would be nice if they could figure out how to keep gate area cleared while boarding the groups. This is not airline specific or US specific. It is everywhere.

I feel like they already have nine boarding groups they way it is. Even aside from the preboard circus:

A 1-30
A 31-60
A-List that didn't get an A boarding pass
Families
Active Military
B 1-30
B 31-60
C 1-30
C 30+

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With the airline moving from its open seating policy to its assigned seating policy, we also know that the boarding process will change, and Southwest will no longer have its unique “cattle call” boarding, as it’s often jokingly referred to.

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I have not been flying a lot lately, but I find it funny that SW's system was referred to as a cattle call, since, in my experience, their gates were typically more orderly. You had your Groups A, B & C; and they would line up in the designated areas in a somewhat orderly fashion. Then they would proceed in a numerical fashion to the gate agent. Yet, every other airline calls the respective group number, and there is a rush to the gate agent with passengers spilling over into the walkways. And because of this process, the following groups will all huddle around the current boarding group so they can be first in line for their respective group.

Now the general admission seating policy needed some work and was always a shite show and open for abuse as many have identified in this thread.

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Should put them in the rear and fill in to the front. First on but last off. That would cure a lot of “disability”.

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I've said multiple times, its eye opening flying SW vs United out of Houston...(same population and generally same cost between the two). Yet, when you fly United, there are maybe 1-2 disability pre-boarders on the avg flight, whereas there are 8-10 on Southwest.

Maybe they choose SW bc Jet Bridge Jesus operates out of their terminals They are all cured once you land

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I guess I am in the minority, but I liked the open seating and boarding groups of the past.

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You might be in the minority of the entire traveling public but you are not in the minority of SW customers

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I don't know many that enjoyed the herding process, watching the wheelchair jesus' take up 20 seats up front, or watching one person pay for A boarding and put their crap across 6 seats to save them.

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This seems to have gotten significantly worse post COVID, just like how common manners have collapsed in all other parts of society since March 2020.

I may actually consider flying Southwest now that they have joined the civilized world with assigned seating

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Daaayuuum! I thought my 408,000 was something.

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1.1m on SW and 495k on United right now...