We love Southwest Airlines, but yesterday’s announcement that they are offering “Early Bird Check In” for “only” $10 each way has us scratching our heads.  What do you get for this privilege? Possibly nothing. Because Southwest doesn’t offer seat assignments, the time you are allowed to board the plane makes the difference between an aisle seat over the wing and a middle seat by the bathroom. But here’s what Southwest has to say about the new fee: “While EarlyBird Check-in doesn’t guarantee an A boarding position, it improves your seat selection options to help you get your favorite seat.” Southwest also is touting the ability to potentially snag space in the overhead bin. To which we say, “Wow!!! We get to pay for something that should just come with the price of a ticket.”  For an airline that has prided itself on not pandering to these kinds of gimmicks, this is disappointing.  Â

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Southwest Airlines, airlines, airports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.