The point is that at the end of the day the benefits of a-list preferred are not that much better than a-list. Every single other airline provides this benefit. It's something that would be seldomly used by anyone, since most road warriors most often carry on. I am personally planning to move across states, and this is one of those rare times when this benefit would be great. Or if you travel somewhere where you'd like to go shopping and buy lots of local items. Some of my friends sometimes do that when they go to central america.

This would bring SW to parity with the other airlines, who despite charging everyone for bags, give this benefit to their top elite flyers.