Sounds to me like the annual traveler had a bad vacation and needed something to ..... about...

I still don't this "cattle call" mentality. When I fly airlines that do have assigned seating and board by groups, it seems as if everyone gets up and hoovers around the gate when the elites/pre-boarders are announced. I'd rather be in a line at the gate then trying to push my way through people that are in Group 5, yet they are standing right in front of the gate agent when Group 1 is called. I guess you can call SW a "cattle call" and the others a "buffalo stampede."