Yes, life was great when Southwest was giving away the store. They kept doing it for more years than I ever expected, but it did need to end.

Edited to add: Southwest's profitability masked the cost of a too-generous FF program. Four $29 tickets to earn an unrestricted transcon round trip? Absurd.

On the other hand, we "earned" those benefits by having to show up very early at the airport and sit on the floor in line for 30 minutes to get a decent seat. Except for the squeezed Evolve seating, the travel experience on Southwest is far better now.