15 years ago, Early Bird really made a tangible difference. Automatic check-in, several hours before the other passengers could check in, almost always resulted in an low (or mid) numbered A boarding position. That was a time when smart-phones didn't even exist to alert passengers to log in and check-in exactly 24 hours before boarding. Now that we're all aware of that 24-hour-check-in timeline, more passengers try the Early Bird system. The number of seats on the plane remains the same. The value of Early Bird decreases, and the airline tries to leverage that by increasing the price in order to shrink the customer base who can afford the tangible benefit.
It wouldn't shock me if Southwest came up with an "EarlyBird+" option, to further parse out what their customers are willing to pay.
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