Southwest Changes Boarding Rules

Southwest Airlines has eliminated their free-for-all boarding procedures, but they haven't gone reserved just yet.

One of the things passengers on Southwest Airlines have always grumbled about is the free-for-all boarding rules in place for passengers. This week, the airline has implemented a system-wide change in the way it will allow passengers to board.

In tests done at the airline's San Antonio terminal, Southwest experimented with further fragmenting its A, B and C boarding lines. Instead of just assigning a letter grouping and letting all within that grouping fight for a place in line to board, the airline has decided that passengers should line up in the precise order in which they checked in. This means if you're the 35th passenger to check-in for group A, your boarding pass will say A35 on it. You would line up to board in your group, behind the 34 people who checked-in before you.

So while this does eliminate the cattle-call like boarding procedures the airline is famous for, it does make it even more important that you check in as soon as you can. Online, this means 24 hours in advance of your flight. The sooner you check in, the further forward in the line you are.

Makes sense.

So while you still have to pick your seats on the plane, if you are an early check-in passenger, you'll get the best seats.

And Southwest has even gone a step further and put together a visual explanation of its new policies online at www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool.

Have any of you had a chance to take the new boarding rules for a test spin? Let me know.