By Daniel Kline | The Street
Southwest Airlines does not offer some of the perks that other airlines offer.
The airline does not offer business- or first-class seating, so it can’t reward its most loyal passengers by bumping them up to better seats.
In fact, the airline has built its entire system around a fairly democratic seating policy, where everyone gets treated mostly the same. Nobody gets an assigned seat and most passengers get their places in the three-tiered regular boarding system when they check in 24 hours before their flights.
Top-tier members of Rapid Rewards, the airline’s loyalty program, do get checked in earlier than other passengers. And if an A-List or higher member does not get an A group boarding position, they can board after the As and before the B group.