And it is the time of year when those of us who only fly enough to have some status on 1 airline need to make some decisions.

I will probably continue to book irrespective of status and take whatever is best at that time. For me, the ability to book multiple flights at sale times and then cancel those I don't need continues to be the best way to get cheap fares. Imposing change fees - or more importantly cancellation fees - will significantly affect my view of flying WN.

New Fees: Sale of BP at Gate
 

On Monday I flew from San Diego to Phoenix. Just before boarding the Gate Attendant made an announcement that A13-A15 boarding passes were for sale for $40 each. Is this one of the new fees?

Yes - but, this was one for which the price wasn't announced yet! $40 seems a bit steep to me (I was thinking $25, or twice EBCI).

The discussion is in the following thread: New Fees Coming on WN (and, this this thread should probably be merged into it)

WN needs to be very careful they don't make BS less valuable.

Is WN also giving the extra points that you would get on a BS fare or are they just allowing the people to board in the first 15 slots and giving them a free drink? I know some people value the point bonus as well when booking a BS ticket

On the rare occassion when a lecgay has seats in first available for sale, you don't get the 50% bonus miles that you do on a paid first class ticket (unless you have a higher fare coach class that gives a 50% bonus anyway)

I'm fine with it as long as they don't start selling them for less than $15-20. Below that price I think they're not only devaluing BS but A-List and A-List Preferred status.

I wonder why they didn't go with a sliding scale based on flight length--$25 for up to 400 mi, $50 for 400-1000 mi , $75 for 1000 mi and up.

That's how other airlines do buy-ups for F.

Alot of replies to read so I may have missed this. I have a question. If I purchase a BS fare and receive a A-6 BP and there is a no show by someone else who had a lower BP, say A-5, will they move my boarding postion to that no show passengers or will they sell the "no show" boarding position?

Don't think they mentioned this yet.

WN better be careful about loading on all these fees and chipping away with RR changes, Evolve, higher prices, rendering drink tickets invalid, etc. They've had an image for decades and they are really playing with fire IMO.

Beancounters aren't company builders and they can tear them up in short order.

This isn't news, just confirmation of an earlier post. My wife flew SAN to PHX yesterday and they were selling ("full flight, won't be room for all carry-ons in the overhead bins, etc.") BS boarding upgrades for $40.

That image is long since dead. Southwest, at this point, is just another airline. It's no longer one of those brands that I set aside, emotionally, from other brands in its space because my relationship with it is unique or deeper than with other brands. For the life of me, I don't know why Southwest so rapidly walked away from that unique brand position. So few modern firms ever get to that point. It has to be more valuable than whatever short-term money they gained by swindling people on drink coupons.

I used to think that Southwest would treat me differently than other airlines treat their customers. That seems really naive now.

Now I generally think of all airlines equally. Southwest is good at what they do - fly lots of short hops to a few places I need to go - and sometimes I'm still willing to pay the premium they charge over their competitors where they have the best product. But now it's purely transactional - Southwest doesn't "like" me and I don't "like" them. Today I'm using their appliance. Tomorrow I'm using United's. No big deal, no commitment or loyalty beyond today's transaction. As all airlines devalue loyalty programs and add even more fees, this lack of commitment is rapidly becoming bidirectional.

pinniped, extremely well said.

Adding on to that - other airlines at least have 1st class and lounges and good irrops procedures in order to keep people loyal. Without our 'liking' Southwest - their is virtually nothing to keep us loyal other than price.

Wow, sounds almost like blackmail & extortion to me... Pay us or you won't see your bag again. Cut your fellow man and throw money at the "problem". Yikes

Southwest used to have the advantage of a cheaper price normally than the competition which is no longer the case and ahsn't been for a couple years at least. The one reason I stuck with Southwest for shorthauls until RR2 was rolled out was they had a great RR program. I only flew southest paid on my short haul DTW/MDW and DTW/BNA trips(4 to 6 paid flights a year) yet got 1 to 2 free flights a month and companion pass status through credit card spending and Hilton stays.

Unlike their competition though, at least southwest requries ACTUAL flying to get a-list status. I would take WN more still if it was easy to get A-list status or better yet a-list select via credit card spending, so they do require some loyalty. Hilton gives top tier status by just spending $40,000 a year on their credit card and second top tier spend for just having a credit card (I would LOVE it if southwest gave a-list select status on $40,000 spend a year, I would go back to flying them on short hauls if they did) and you can get silver status on Delta by obtaining their platnium card and just spending $50K on it. What does it say about loyalty when someone gets the same status at a hotel by spending only $40,000 a year on a credit card as someone that spends 75 nights a year in the chain? Or someone that flies 40K miles a year on Delta is getting treated no differently than someone that flies only 5,000 miles a year and spends $50,000 a year on their credit card. In fact on delta by just having a Delta credit card, those card holders with NO status board in the same zone as silvers who are flying in coach.

Southwest should give priority boarding to their credit card holders like their competition. If you have a credit card on American, Delta, or United you get priority boarding. If southwest followed their competition in that regard I would get a southwest credit card and they would get a few trips a year.

This isn't anything new. I remember seeing signs at gates before at MDW where BS fares were available for sale. That is a lot for that short of a trip. The lecagies usually charge $50 on a short haul for gate upgrades, but you miss out on a lot of the benefits of first class if it was bought before the gate, like the 3 70-lb checked bags for free (your luggage is already checked) and priority lane access at security (you are already past security and if you are elite and eligible to use the line you wouldn't pay for an upgrade since you would be upgraded for free before a gate paid upgrade). You would have a more comfortable seat than on WN, snack basket service, and more than one drink. On that flight on a legacy you would probably get two drink services in coach in flight if you wanted it and if the flight is on time a PDB.

Now if WN is going to give the person that pays the $40 fee the bonus points for a BS fare (which no legacy will do on a gate upgrade but WN may) it could be worth it for someone to pay the $40 difference if they need the ponts for a-list or CP