Southwest will change boarding procedure in November

After months of experimentation, field testing and software tweaking, Southwest Airlines said it will soon implement a change in the way passengers board its planes. One of the hallmarks of Southwest’s service has been its open seating policy – some refer to it as a “cattle call” – in which passengers are not assigned seats, but simply choose the best one available when they board. With the new system, Southwest will maintain the tradition of no assigned seats: Passengers will still be able to take a seat of their choosing once they are on board, but they will be assigned places in line at the gate area for a more orderly boarding process.

Southwest said that starting in November, each passenger will get a unique letter and number combination on their boarding pass when they check in for a flight. There will be two groups of As (e.g., A1-A30 and A31-A60), two groups of Bs and one group of Cs. Passengers will be expected to line up in their respective letter groups according to the number on the boarding pass. The two A groups will board first, followed by the Bs and then the Cs.

To see a video of the new procedure, go to www.swamedia.com/swamedia/media_home.html.