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If you’ve ever flown with Southwest, you know the drill. You’re assigned a boarding position that starts with the letter A, B or C, and a number that’s between 1 and 60. The boarding process typically starts with the gate agent telling everyone who is “Boarding Group A” to queue up in numerical order. People who “need extra time to board” get to board first, followed by those who have boarding numbers A1 through A30, then A31 through 60. Families with small children under age 6 are next, followed by the B group (1-30, 31-60), and then the C group (1-30, 31-60).

The system, of course, has its challenges – More recent decisions make getting “A” boarding nearly impossible unless you pay more for the privilege. Questions and sometimes accusations about who ACTUALLY needs more time vs. who’s working the system reign supreme. And, of course, there’s the whole “saving seats” issues.  But for now, it is what it is.

Except when it isn’t.

Southwest’s alternative boarding process

It doesn’t happen all the time, but apparently Southwest has a slightly different but noticeable “alternate” boarding process up its sleeve. It was discussed on Reddit the other day, in their r/Southwest subreddit. I doubt they’re “official” differences from the norm, but it sounds as if sometimes gate agents have to play things by ear and not go by the book for reasons we may or may not know.

This is the “alternate” boarding process we’ve heard about, along with suggested potential reasons why they might happen:

Calling A1-10, then A11-20, then A21-30, etc.

• If the jet bridge is particularly hot (or cold), it’s more time in the airport or on the plane, than being stuck in the queue in a sweltering or freezing jet bridge (a gate agent confirmed they sometimes do this)
• Calling fewer people at a time could also prevent a backup if they’re using a shorter jetway.
• Someone suggested it could be a way for the gate agent to slow things down and have the time to check boarding passes more carefully, for whatever reason(s).
• It was noted that gate agents often used that sort of boarding during Covid, as an attempt to spread people out and not have to be so squashed together on the jet bridge (granted, not done now for that reason, but still an interesting tidbit).

As an aside, one Redditor said they’ve also experienced the gate agent calling A1-15, then A15-30, then A31-60. The only suggestion for this one was it makes Business Select feel more important. 😉

How about you?

My husband and I have never experienced boarding other than the typical one mentioned in the first paragraph. How about you? Have you ever experienced an “alternative” boarding order on Southwest?

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