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Southwest Airlines Offers "A" Boarding Group for $40
DALLAS, Jan. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines Customers LUV the coveted "A" boarding group, and now they have one more way to be among the first to board. Beginning today, Southwest Airlines will offer Customers the opportunity to purchase one of the earliest boarding positions at the gate for $40 per flight, when available. "At Southwest, we have developed boarding options that fit a variety of our Customers' needs—from EarlyBird Check-In to our Business Select… (southwest.investorroom.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Another great reason to have a pilots license.
The existence of fees charged by carriers is this: fares are too low to cover the cost of carrying a passenger from here to there and back.
The first thing carriers should do is charge by the mile. The farther one travels, the more they pay. Only makes sense.
Another idea would be to END advance purchase fares and all of the other complicated nonsense. Carriers should simply set the fares. All one price for first class. bus class and coach. Set the fares high enough so the carrier can turn a profit on each seat sold.
I did some checking with an inflation calculator. If a regular coach fare from say JFK to LAX was $400 RT back in 1985 that flight should now cost close to $900 now adjusted for inflation. Take it or leave it.
Perhaps if air carriers could charge appropriate fares, we would not have the screwball system we have now where among 140 seats on an aircraft there are 30 or 40 different pricing structures. If carriers knew what they were getting in advance perhaps they could do some simple accounting to make sure their margins are being met.
The first thing carriers should do is charge by the mile. The farther one travels, the more they pay. Only makes sense.
Another idea would be to END advance purchase fares and all of the other complicated nonsense. Carriers should simply set the fares. All one price for first class. bus class and coach. Set the fares high enough so the carrier can turn a profit on each seat sold.
I did some checking with an inflation calculator. If a regular coach fare from say JFK to LAX was $400 RT back in 1985 that flight should now cost close to $900 now adjusted for inflation. Take it or leave it.
Perhaps if air carriers could charge appropriate fares, we would not have the screwball system we have now where among 140 seats on an aircraft there are 30 or 40 different pricing structures. If carriers knew what they were getting in advance perhaps they could do some simple accounting to make sure their margins are being met.
Can you imagine my surprise when, after paying the $10 fee for auto-checkin on my SWA flight from MHT>MCO, I fetched aeat B11? It all became clear when the gate agent announced that seats A1 through A15 had been reserved for anyone willing to pay $40 for a "preferred seat."
I smiled, sat back, and watched to see who might pony up the extra $$ to get a head start on boarding.
By the time the pre-boards were all settled, NO ONE had lined up in the A1-15 queue!
I hope someone from SWA was watching and, when it happens often enough, they will see abandon this silly practice.
I smiled, sat back, and watched to see who might pony up the extra $$ to get a head start on boarding.
By the time the pre-boards were all settled, NO ONE had lined up in the A1-15 queue!
I hope someone from SWA was watching and, when it happens often enough, they will see abandon this silly practice.
Why pay $40 when all one needs is a pair of crutches or a walking cane.
I saw a woman with crutches deplane from a forward seat. As soon as she and her (looked like her husband) got into the terminal she stopped using the crutches and began walking normally.
On the way back...REmarkably, I saw the SAME COUPLE...There she was with the crutches. The couple got to board first along with the people with children( that pissed me off too)..Unreal...But hey. Since I don't hit girls, I felt like running up behind her husband and slew footing him.
I saw a woman with crutches deplane from a forward seat. As soon as she and her (looked like her husband) got into the terminal she stopped using the crutches and began walking normally.
On the way back...REmarkably, I saw the SAME COUPLE...There she was with the crutches. The couple got to board first along with the people with children( that pissed me off too)..Unreal...But hey. Since I don't hit girls, I felt like running up behind her husband and slew footing him.
I can't believe that the airlines have that much gall, to charge people $40 for their own INEFFICIENCY!
People with disabilities, should be boarded first, free of charge, then people in 1st Class, and then the coach passengers. Why should the flying public be raped with fees,
to compensate for the inefficiency of the carrier? Beats me, how people can just
plod along, like Cattle, and agree to such stupidity.
People with disabilities, should be boarded first, free of charge, then people in 1st Class, and then the coach passengers. Why should the flying public be raped with fees,
to compensate for the inefficiency of the carrier? Beats me, how people can just
plod along, like Cattle, and agree to such stupidity.
@Barbara: Interesting point. As for charging people with disabilities, I think they'd find themselves with a huge ADA lawsuit on their hands.
@Terry...wouldn't it be funny, if the flying public brought a class action lawsuit against the SWA, for descrimination? Think about it. If you don't have the $40, and someone else does, then you are being descriminated against, for not having the money for that "fee". Greed is so rampant in our society, today. The price of fuel has come down, and they are STILL looking for deep pockets! Unnnnbelieveable! :)
My Father owned a GTCC (Group Travel Charter Company)in the 60's flying Military personnel from NY to Frankfurt, for $99 each way. He saved the U.S. Govt. tons of money and he still made a profit! He didn't charge for overweight baggage, he didn't pork and gouge the Government, he did it because, as a retired Military pilot, himself, was fed up with the cost the Commercial carriers bled the Government for, and he was written up, in the Pentagon Newspaper, for his idea and the savings he brought to the Military budget.
When I see things, like this, my blood boils. There are no American companies today, that have Patriotic leadership. The CEO's love their six figure salaries, and private jets, and Patriotism has died in our Country. :/
My Father owned a GTCC (Group Travel Charter Company)in the 60's flying Military personnel from NY to Frankfurt, for $99 each way. He saved the U.S. Govt. tons of money and he still made a profit! He didn't charge for overweight baggage, he didn't pork and gouge the Government, he did it because, as a retired Military pilot, himself, was fed up with the cost the Commercial carriers bled the Government for, and he was written up, in the Pentagon Newspaper, for his idea and the savings he brought to the Military budget.
When I see things, like this, my blood boils. There are no American companies today, that have Patriotic leadership. The CEO's love their six figure salaries, and private jets, and Patriotism has died in our Country. :/