Southwest Gingerly Steps Towards Ancilllary Revenue Model

... and may be trips on the way.


Now here is a turnaround. Instead of being the innovator Southwest is taking a leaf out of the European LCCs and charging for an ancillary service - namely early boarding.

Southwest's new "Early Bird" check-in product sounds simple enough - but wait... hold on theer pard'ner - not so fast.

Check out the fine print of the program:

http://www.southwest.com/flight/early-bird-faq.html?int=HOMEWNEW01CHECKN090902

Holy Moli - this sounds pretty complicated:

Contrast this with Ryanair's total boarding policy which fits neatly into the following page. AND this includes their DBC policy AND it covers international passport requirements.

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/faqs.php?sect=chk&quest=boardingproc

I have to say that this only goes to show that the myth of Southwest as a non-legacy carrier is clearly just that - a myth.

Come on chaps - you can do better than this. WAY TOO COMPLICATED.

I thought Southwest is about Luv and KISS. This sure ain't it.