The last time we spoke of Southwest, they were changing their open seating policy. Pre-boarding for families now comes after the A group, passengers are numbered within their letter class in order of check-in. Families were upset. Suddenly, they were told they were not as important anymore.
But…now they’ve made another bunch of rapid changes. They’ve created three different fare tiers. We’ve assembled them below, from lowest to highest…
- Wanna Get Away
- 1 Rapid Reward Credit
- No Change Fees(Fare Differences May Apply)
- Standby Not Permitted
- Nonrefundable
- Reusable
- Business
- 1 Rapid Reward Credit
- Same-Day Flight Changes at No Cost
- Refundable
- Reusable
- Business Select
- 2 Rapid Rewards Credits on flights exceeding 749 miles, 1.25 credits on shorter flights
- Same Day Flight Changes at No Cost
- Refundable
- Reusable
- One Complimentary Alcoholic Drink
- Boarding Priority in the ‘A’ Group.
No longer will the Southwest website show the various fares from lowest to highest. It will divide them into these three tiers and show the lowest fare within the tier. Now, you have a nonrefundable ticket you have to upgrade to change, a business ticket that is refundable and allows standby, and a business select ticket that throws in a drink, extra reward points, and priority boarding.
Priority boarding will not sit well with the families who are already alienated by the new boarding process.
Trying to catch Frequent Fliers has also produced some changes in its Rapid Rewards program. Fliers who complete 32 one-way flights in a 12-month period will be put into a special ‘A-List’ programs. If you get to this point, they will check you in automatically and hold boarding passes.
Rapid Rewards members can also redeem two Standard Awards for a Freedom Award, which, aside from blackout dates, allows redemption as on many more flights than the Standard Award. Southwest once let Award Tickets be redeemed on any flight.
Not everyone, despite the hype, is happy about this. In Southwest’s blog, the comments are piling up, both pro and con…Many con. The biggest complaint is that Southwest, known for treating passengers the same, regardless of fare…with open seating giving everyone the chance to board, is now adopting the same ‘elitist’ attitude of other airlines…and calling it a perk.
Now, if you pay more money up front…perhaps you deserve extra perks. That is what the old chestnut, “You Get What You Pay For,” refers to. But it should not be at the expense of others. Eliminating preboarding for families inconveniences everyone, for one.
“As promised Southwest has made value added improvements that will differentiate our product without changing our core business, and these announcements are a direct result of that,” their CEO said. Is that really true? What do you think?