Idle Thoughts Hot Take: give priority boarding to customers that don't have a carry-on.

[jenik]

If we could get 25% of the passengers to check a bag and just board with a backpack / bag / purse we would all board and deplane so much easier. Would knowing you will be a "High B" because you checked a bag be incentive enough to change your behavior? I'm not suggesting that a bag-checker would jump ahead of existing status holders or folks that pay for upgrades. Just ahead of general steerage folks that carryon.

I love checking a bag w/ SWA and have never once had a problem with a lost /delayed bag (I just jinxed myself). When I fly another airline and do carryon (because I'm a cheapskate) I don't really notice getting on or off airport property significantly faster. Yes, it's easier / faster but it doesn't seem tremendously so. At some inefficient airports (I'm looking at you, DEN) it's almost for sure a wash.

If that shift was to happen, would Southwest regret it due to the demands of having to handle that much more baggage?

I could see flight attendants all excited that we are boarding faster but baggage handlers seething and cranky due to increased workload. Who would win if it was a battle? Flight attendants can be pretty scrappy in a pinch. Don't rule them out.

[bballflyer]

I don’t typically check bags to be nimble, I often use the flexibility of standby and same day change and don’t want to worry about my luggage. I am not sure how this could be implemented because you can always add bags after you check in and have already received your boarding pass. 

[dfwskier]

You tried this survey on Reddit and pretty much got shut down. You'll get the same here.

[MarkF]

I think boarding would not be much different. I DO think though that passengers without carry-ons should be able to deplane as a group, before the group of passengers with carry-on baggage. They have to wait on everybody digging around for their carry-ons. They would speed things up just standing up and walking out.

I understand why people take carry-ons, but if it were up to me( and it's not ) I would not allow them on any flight. Those bins can't possibly contain those bags and boxes in the case of a serious incident. Purposely putting things in the cabin that would end up as projectiles dropping on people's heads and flying about the cabin is not too logical I think, but that's just me.