I am truly thrilled with the new boarding procedure...no more waiting in those awful A-B-C lines for 30 minutes before the plane even starts boarding. Finally, we get on the plane in the order in which we check in, but we still get to pick our seat on the plane. Perfect! Well done SWA!
My one complaint is the pre-boarding change. It sometimes seems that half the people on the plane are pre-boarding, regardless of whether or not they need to. So, I can understand how others get upset by the number of people that claim they need "extra time" getting on the plane. Southwest simply needs to enforce the pre-boarding rules. I flew often before and after kids. I do pre-board with my children, but not for the sake of getting a "good" seat. I have two 6-month old boys who travel to the gate with a stroller and 2 carseats because I cannot physically carry 2 babies to the gate. Let me tell you, it takes me a LOT of time to get from the gate to the plane seat with 2 babies. Breaking down strollers and carseats, carrying diaper bags, bottles and kids is not an easy task. Pre-boarding allows me some extra time to get all this done without being trampled by the line of people coming down the jetway and airplane aisle. Even with pre-boarding, I still find myself sometimes getting run over by the 'A' group and they certainly don't wait to let me get out of the way. Allowing those of us with an 'A' to board in normal order is out of the question. We would either be run over by the others behind us or we would be holding up the entire line of people. Just enforce the rules and only allow those who truly need extra time to board early.
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