I'm very glad to see the system remain open seating. From ding fare to full fare, all purchasers will have the same opportunity to boarding passes and boarding the plane. Instead of two "contests" to be first in line (online BP, and being early at the gate), we now have only the former. Since automated services were disliked by SWA even before the online checkin gets more competitive, I expect to see more security controls like buying tickets on ticketmaster. Makes hiring a secretary to checkin for flights that much more important.
Sure, everyone myself included would have loved automatic A for RR ticket or CP holder, but did we really expect to have a perk ADDED? When SW already announced a shorter advance announcement period for possible changes to the RR program starting in December.
to the posters who said why are there boarding groups of 60A's, 60B's, and only up to 17C's, I highly doubt they will get all the way to A60 online before assigning B-1. My guess is that for now online check in will stop issuing A's at 47 and use the extra 13 A's and B's for full-fare passengers or upsells either at time of sale or time of check in. The real test of this will be to check out a sold out flight to see how many C passes have been issued.
Keeping these extra 13 A's and B's would also enable them to let a passenger who changes flights at the last minute keep or upgrade their boarding pass letter.
With the new system, if A's are numbered 1-60, and there is also a B1-60, then you see they have lots of room to manipulate things. The current system, with A stopping at 47 and B starting at 48 leaves them no way to add in a few extra As or hold A's for full fare or paid upgrades.
the only downside that I see is for a business traveller who buys their ticket <24 hours prior to departure, if they decide not to save A's for full fare travellers. And for rapid reward restricted ticket users who can't book until <24 hours prior to departure (that seems to be when alot of the restrictions on using the tickets are lifted online).