Checking in online to a Southwest flight
RACE TO GROUP A
Ridiculous! This post may be a bit off topic but it just boggles my mind that I just checked in online to a Southwest flight that leaves a full TWENTY-ONE hours from now, and I landed in GROUP B position 19.
WHAT IN THE WORLD?? That really is insane, in my opinion. I was never a huge fan of their strange, herding process, and became even less of a fan when their prices started to be around the same as the other airlines. But now that the prices are equal or higher in some cases, AND the herding thing has taken on a new complication with numbers, I’m not a fan at all.
For me to get stuck in Group B at position 19 means that in the three hours since check-in opened (24 hours ahead), over 60 people woke up, rubbed the sand out of their eyes and checked in. Position 19 isn’t so great, either. That means all 60 Group A-ers and another 18 Group B-ers will get to board before me. That’s a huge bummer!
The icing on the bitter cake is this whole no pre-boarding nonsense. I have to travel with my 4 month old son, and Southwest has decided it’s no longer necessary for those of us with kids to pre-board. Luckily I have only one child. If I had, say, two or three, it’s not guaranteed we would get to sit together. So instead of me sitting next to my crying child, it would be YOU.
So anyway, I’m pretty miffed about this, if you couldn’t tell. This has become an issue of who has the fastest fingers and internet connection. I want to scream at Southwest: bring back assigned seating! Bring back real business class. If you need a method to determine who goes first, reward those who pay extra, not those who have Blackberry’s with high-speed internet and nothing to do in life other than wait for check-in to start.
Cheers.
