The new boarding system is stupid and more trouble than it's worth. Leaving Salt Lake City, the gate worker didn't even bother to check that people were in the right number order, so I ended up at the end of the line when I shouldn't have been. Returning from St. Louis at least the numbers were respected, but then I had to ask myself -- what exactly is the point of this? What makes this better than the old way? Answer: NOTHING; it's not better. In fact, it's worse! If there are no official assigned seats, you're still lining up to choose whatever is available. You still get an A, B, or C boarding group, so you're still going to be further ahead or further behind in line to choose based on that. The only difference is that if I arrive at the airport in time to queue up in the B line, and be the 4th person, under the old system, I was rewarded for being on-time or early. With this new system I can get there an hour early and it won't matter because as a B60, someone who just barely makes it before boarding with an B7 gets to board way ahead of me. The genius behind SWA was it's "first-come-first-served" process, and the cheaper prices that came with that. But with your fare increases and your crazy boarding rules I may as well fly another carrier where I can go online and choose the seat I want, show up whenever I want, and not have to get in a line with my number like a 4th grader. SWA needs to seriously rethink these changes; you're destined to lose a LOT of customers. Have you forgotten that what made SWA so great was how DIFFERENT you were from all of the other airlines?????
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