Southwest Adds $10 Fee to Board Early

Airline with no assigned seats starts charging for first dibs
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 2, 2009 4:40 PM CDT
Southwest Adds $10 Fee to Board Early
Passengers exit a plane at the Southwest Airlines terminal in Burbank, Calif.   (AP Photo)

Southwest Airlines doesn’t assign seats, but now it will start charging for the privilege of finding the best one, the Dallas Morning News reports. For an extra $10, the new “EarlyBird Check-in” allows passengers to board first, or at least right after the Business Select and Rapid Rewards A-List customers.

Southwest is trying to build a customer base with its "no hidden fees" policy—it's losing out on millions by not charging baggage fees, for example—and says it won't charge a fee for a previously free service. As a result, it's creating fees for new services—such as the EarlyBird Check-in and another that allows customers to carry a small pet in the passenger cabin.
(More airline industry stories.)

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