Why I Love Southwest’s Upgraded Priority Boarding

Author: VS

Tired of being the last to board? Tired of being uncomfortable on a flight? Then, you may need to read this!

Whenever I travel on Southwest Airlines, I always make sure to get priority boarding. This means that, if available, I may be one of the first to board in positions A1-A15.

(Note: Southwest Airlines has open seating, which means that seats aren’t assigned to you. It’s first come, first serve. Depending on when you check-in for your flight, you will receive a boarding position. If you happen to check-in late, you may be stuck in the C position which means you’d be one of the last to board.)

Some people may ask what the point of this is since Southwest already has open seating. Also, it’s not like Southwest has a business class section that priority boarding guests can sit in. Despite all this, I STILL choose to purchase priority boarding for the following reasons –

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(1) FRONT ROW SEATS

I love sitting in the front row. I love being one of the first to get on and leave the plane. This is especially true when I have to fly internationally. Earlier this month, I traveled to Cabo, Mexico and it was nice being the first to off the plane in line to get through Customs.

Also, there’s simply so much leg room space. I can cross my legs; I can extend them out. I can comfortably travel without having to keep changing positions in my seat.

A couple downsides to this is that you can’t store carry-on bags beneath the seat in front of you (since, obviously, there is no seat in front of you) and also, there is no tray table (because again, there is no seat in front of you that a tray table is attached to).

I don’t mind this though. I usually put all of my bags in the overhead compartment anyways. And I don’t need a tray table; I just hold onto the snacks and drinks they give me and discard the garbage right away.

But, for those who do mind, no need to worry! Be the first to sit in the middle row seats with the emergency exit.

(2) EMERGENCY EXIT SEATS

The only other area on the plane with just as much legroom as the first row seats are the middle row seats with the emergency exits. Usually, if the front row seats are taken, then I head straight there.

(Note: sometimes you’ll notice people hogging up the front row seats by taking up the window and aisle seats hoping no one will sit in the middle seat. It annoys the heck out of me, but I can’t say I haven’t done this in the past. Haha.)

The only downside, I suppose, is that in the case of an emergency (God forbid), you would have to be the one to open the emergency exit and this, although seemingly simple, is a great responsibility and could be burdensome.

(3) IT’S RELATIVELY CHEAP

If you were to upgrade economy seats to business class seats in other airlines, it would cost hundreds (or, often, thousands) more depending upon which airlines you take. However, on Southwest, this isn’t the case. It’s only ~40 bucks to upgrade to priority boarding. This is worth it for me because I often take Southwest flights to California and flight tickets are relatively cheap to begin with. On average, I pay 70-90 bucks for a one way ticket. Most of the time, I just use my points to travel. And even with upgraded boarding at 40 dollars extra, it’s still cheaper than a lot of other airlines.

(4) I HAVE THE SOUTHWEST PRIORITY CREDIT CARD

Recently, I upgraded my Premier Credit Card to the Priority Credit Card. It was only 50 bucks more than what I was paying as the annual fee and the perks are definitely worth it.

One of the perks is that I get four upgraded priority boarding passes for free per year! So, I was able to travel to Los Angeles and Cabo earlier this month very comfortably for free! The way it works is that when you use your credit card to purchase the priority boarding passes, then you get a credit for the amount by the next billing statement (although this time around I got credited back only a few days after the purchase).

Right now, they have a promotion where if you spend $4000 in 3 months, then you get 40,000 bonus points. On top of this, you get 7500 bonus points annually, $75 dollars in travel credit annually, and 20% off in-flight purchases and WiFi.

To apply for the card, click here. And, of course, if you sign up using my link, I get referral points as well!

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Happy travels!

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