saneman

Former Airtran guy here. Been on SW A List since last October. It seemed like a lazy compilation. Let me start off my list
POSITIVES:
1) Getting credit for canceled flights. I love this part. I have come to peace with WN mainly because of this feature. I just changed my mom's flight on the return because something came up and no tension in worrying about a change fee. If there is anything that makes this airline stand out, it's this. My only concern is if such a policy encourages people to book the low fare tickets quickly and some of us lose out on them because they get sold out faster to those just booking tickets on a hunch they might travel. I don't know enough about Southwest's fare buckets to know for sure if this is a factor or not. I wouldn't mind a compromise between this and the standby policy. IN return for a modest change free ($20), make standby easier and cheaper .
2) THe two free bags. This is not as a huge deal for me because most FF programs let you have at least the first bag for free. But good for the casual traveler. I think one free bag is more than enough to give us the benefit of no stuffed overheads in the flight.

What I don't like
1) Lack of assigned seating. It's all well and good to say you have a choice. But that means I not only have to worry about making the flight on time , but I have to be there at the gate a good 35 minutes or so before the flight every time I fly in order to get a decent seat. My status goes to waste if I show up a mere couple of minutes after boarding starts.
2) ONly one exit row has enough leg room. There is that odd seat with a lot of leg room on the left side. Most airlines have 4 good aisle exit row seats where you have both the height and the width accomodated.
3) Stopovers: Yeah, what good is my status if all the good exit row seats are already taken by passengers flying through?
4) Their Standby policy.

Overrated:
1) The cheap fares. Fares have gone up for some of us. Delta seems not worried about low fares in ATL after WN took over. Though I do see WN getting better at promotions here in ATL.
2) ON time? I noticed as much or more delays with WN than Airtran. Compared to delta here, the delays seem about the same for me. Sure anecdotal, but I don't think the writer of that article used any hard data either.
3) Service: At least in ATL, i see a downgrade in service in airport services. Flight attendants are corny. It doesn't mean they are better just because they try too hard to be amateur standup comics. I am sure some like it. I don't care either way. Some are funny, some are annoying. It's a push for me.