I agree that the worst part about this fee is the chance that someone pays the $10 and gets in the "B" or "C" boarding group. Southwest should simply limit the number of EarlyBird'ers to those that will get an "A" boarding group.
Also, even though I am not paying the $10 fee, I will still be online 23:59:59 before my flight to get the best of the rest of available boarding positions. I agree that those who purchase a ticket two months in advance and pay the $10 should be ahead of those that purchase a ticket two days in advance and pay the $10.
How could Southwest come up with this new fee and not limit the number of people who can purchase this option? For a five hour flight, I think a lot of people will pay the $10 and some of those are going to end up with a middle seat.
Other airlines give you the option to pay extra money to purchase a specific seat - and they tell you which seat you are paying for. How about this Southwest - when we are purchasing a ticket, tell us what boarding number we will get if we pay the $10? This was not thought out too well on your part.
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I am curious as to how Southwest will determine the boarding order of the Early-bird'ers. Will it be the first passengers that purchase the Early-Bird option? Will it be randomly assigned for those that purchase the option at least 36 hours in advance of their flight? If 100 people pay the $10 fee when they purchase their ticket, who gets to board first? Some people who pay the $10 might still end up with a middle seat. I would be pretty upset if that was me. One person who pays for this option with their ticket purchase months in advance should probably get to board before someone who purchases this option two days before their flight.
For shorter flights, you won't be getting my ten dollars, but maybe for the cross-country ones.
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