Diamondback

Interesting....so they are going to be proccessing refunds if you lose your A BP on a changed flight. Not sure any other airline would volunteer the word refund at the counter.

das

I think Southwest's logic was that they want to keep the number of pax on the A-list to a manageable size, so they can sell Biz Select fares, and that (hopefully) some A list spots remain for devoted people who check in at 23:59 prior to flight.

That said, I think they got the companion policy dead wrong. Mainly for exactly the reason you state - it is very frustrating to have to "save" seats for your companions, especially because you could come across as a liar who is just trying to hoard some extra space. It's also no fun for passengers to have to hunt for an empty seat they can actually occupy.

But I think the companion policy needs to be simple - and require booking on the same PNR. Otherwise you run into a slippery slope.

Diamondback

Question regarding printing BP's and boarding procedure. WN starts numbering for OLCI after the count of thru passengers, correct? So if a flight has 23 thru passengers, the very first possible BP will be A24? Is that correct? If so, then the A line at the gate will be empty for the first third of the line since the line is sequenced?>>

curbcrusher

No. The sequence starts at A1 for every boarding opportunity regardless of thru passengers.

uastarflyer

Good to see the rulebuster ticket option added, my biggest prior complaint with the program. The lack of availability of "saver" award seats and the insistence of maintaining blackout dates (not to mention award expiration dates and difficulty to earn awards) continues to keep it uncompetitive.

Firewind

We've hit on this in previous threads. Wouldn't it be a simple fix for Southwest to stop having the "bouncers". I don't get what it does for them to have these flights that keep the same number from MHT to PHX to LAX to OAK, and more.

Firewind

No, not obviously, but those seats are taken.

nsx

People prefer a stop to a plane change, so they are more likely to choose Southwest for the trip (more revenue). It also saves time on the turn if a significant number of passengers remain on board.

ClimbGuy

If Biz Select get a drink coupon when they print their boarding pass what is to stop them from making 100 copies of the coupon and turning their flight into a party?

Firewind

Thanks. I see the light, for a change. I should have thought of the effect on the golden <25-minute ground cycle, since I frequently harp on its huge role in Southwest's formula, and the effect of keeping its planes in the air on its bottom line.

justageek

Great thread. Lots of really good observations in here! A few of mine:

1) Certainly we now know why Southwest was so vicious in shutting down the "get an A boarding pass" web sites -- even the ones that were free and the ones that were just Kate sitting in front of her computer checking you in 24 hours before your flight. No surprise there.

2) On the new awards: as someone noted, the program has now been devalued by 4x: 2x when they went from 2 credits/flight to 1 credit/flight, and another 2x when they went from 1 award/non-capacity-controlled ticket to 2 awards/non-capacity-controlled ticket.

3) This will hurt WN's Rapid Reward partners. In the most extreme case, the people who used to get all their RR credits through partners and then fly exclusively on free tickets in the A boarding group, are going to dump the partner companies immediately. People who used to do a mix of partner credits and Southwest credits but do not qualify for "A List" are also likely to bail from the partners. If I were a RR partner company, I'd be furious.

4) As our wise moderator pointed out, the new policies will drive up the number of people faking injuries to pre-board. WN already has a really bad fake-pre-boarder problem, and the last thing they need to do is make it worse.

5) Can we now finally drop the "egalitarian" claim? Pretty please? We now have an elite program ("A List") and a First Class fare (free drinks, more FF credits, better seat -- just like on the legacies). What more do you need?

All in all, the changes make me happy to have dumped Southwest back when they destroyed RR (switched from unrestricted award tikets to capacity controls). My elite status on the legacy airlines suddenly became a lot more valuable, and the "good" tickets on Southwest (which used to be all of them) just became a helluva lot more expensive.

As a non-Southwest-customer, I'll be sleeping very well tonight.

bofc

Three cheers for Southwest! FINALLY being a frequent LUV flyer is rewarding - no more fightin for the A seats. The new gates are great (no more standing around like sheep when the plane isn't even at the gate yet) - and the gates at MDW (for example) really do have electric outlets for laptop works - as promised. LUV still allows ticket changes with no penalty and what airline hasn't dropped the value of their frequent flyer program? Maybe grandma traveling twice a year isn't happy but this is great news for frequent business travelers. Where's the LUV all you whiners?

nsx

Did you forget that we are FTers?

This level of complaint is about as good a reaction as any company can expect from any change that does not simply give away the store to FTers. Here on FT we see things pretty accurately, if I say so myself, but the people adversely affected by the change are always going to scream more loudly than the people benefiting from the change cheer.

smartyibm

No. It is just that first we need to get in seperate areas in line. Then I get on the plane and pick a seat. Then every couple that comes along, I need to explain my wife is coming. And what if they ignore me and say it's open seating and they plop down? Then do I have to get up when I see the wife and find 2 other seats? My point was that it would be easier to book seats together on another airline, and be able to board together.

Appletom

After thinking about the changes, one can categorize the changes into two categories.

Pay for A. OK, it isn't "give us an extra ten bucks and you get an "A" boarding pass", but two groups of people are (almost) guaranteed to get an A - people who have 32 BIS segments in 12 months and people who buy the most expensive tickets.

Who wins: Road Warriors, expense account'ers.
Who loses: The knowledgeable infrequent traveler, those who collect segments by any means possible.

Rapid Rewards Awards. For all those whining that the system has been devalued again - yesterday there were capacity controls and you had exactly two choices if a reward seat wasn't available on the flight you want:
1 - find another flight.
2 - pay real money for your seat.

Today there are still capacity controls, but you now have three choices if a reward seat isn't available:
1 - find another flight.
2 - pay real money for your seat.
3 - burn an extra Rapid Reward.

Who wins: Everybody.
Who loses: Nobody - unless all the sudden we start seeing a drop in available reward seats and the only way to get a decent flight is to use a Freedom Award. If SWA pulls this stunt then they lose all my respect and LUV.

(And for all those who say, "We used to get double credits" and "We used to be able to use any reward on any seat" - remember, you used to pay a dollar a gallon for gas. Yesterday's announcement was about changes coming today - so fair comparisons must be made between today's RR and yesterday's RR - not what RR was years ago.)

In summation:

Heavy BIS travelers get what they've been screaming for, priority boarding. Rapid Reward users get what they've been screaming for, the removal (granted, at a cost) of capacity controls.