My wife and I have flown Southwest out of PHL and PVD numerous times and one of our gripes with the ABC system was the abuse of passengers upgrading their boarding pass assignments. If we're a "B", we routinely see "C" boarding passes that the boarding agent had already collected at the podium. If we're an "A", passengers holding "B"s had already been permitted to board.
The airline's policy should include an announcement at the gate that passengers must line up in their assigned class, will not be permitted to board, and will be escorted to the back of their assigned class if they attempt to board before their assigned class is called.
For their part, boarding agents should enforce the ABC system, and not allow passengers to board ahead of their assigned class.
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