Aside from all the peripheral "benefits" of the new boarding plan, bonus points, drinks, 1st to board, let me tell you the true skinny. I am elite with UAL, AA and over the top 3X at SWA Rapid Rewards.

Put up the posts for line-up takes space. Space where we used to have seats. So the seats go away. So if one objective was that people didn't have to stand in line, great, now they stand around, because there is no place to sit. This takes brains?

The real road warrior does not, repeat not, want to board first. Why? Any bad smelling, fat bastard, or crappy kid can grab the seat next door, and you have a horrible flight. The true road warrior wants to board around #60, and choose his seat mate already in place. I always check if the flight is near full, and if it is, I always board late, even if I have an A1 seat. Ain't choice great.

I like the idea of frequent fliers getting auto boarding passes. This is the best and only part of the new process that is worthwhile to the business customer. 9 out of 10 I am in the air or not near a computer at the 24 hour mark. I need to have my wife or kids check me in, at their inconvenience and they let me know it.

Next time you do this, really talk to the frequent flier, not some snot-nosed Robert McNamara game theory quantitative analyst MBA.

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