Originally Posted by
spin88
It works for WN, but if you think for even a second about it, they reserve A 1-15 for Elites and people buying more expensive fares. So on a flight with 143 (-700) and 175 seats (-800) they have 15 elite/business travelers. On many UA (or DL or AA) flights actual elites/business travelers may be 30-50% of the passengers. WN just has a very different customer base which requires different solutions.
That's not even close to correct. A1-15 is reserved for whoever wants to pay for a Business Select fare. It could be your first flight ever on any airline and if you buy a BS fare, you'll get one of those 15 boarding spots.
A16-A60 will only go to non-status passengers if they are not all taken by A-list and A-list Preferred "elites". It's possible that even then there are so many A-list and A-list Preferred customers that some of them get B boarding numbers. However in that case they are allowed to board after A60 and before the B group starts.
So to say that WN only has 15 elite/business travelers on a given flight is simply not correct.