Hope I'm not too late to put my oar in. Open seating is the best way to go. As someone above observed, assigned seat holders wander off to get coffee, do not make the effort to arrive and board on time, and wait until "third and final boarding call" to amble down to their seats where the bins are full, the other passengers must unbuckle and let them in, and the attendants must gate-check their baggage. Maybe Southwest can do something else to speed things up, but please don't mess with Texas' best invention - open seating. P.S. How does Herb feel about this?
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