Well, we've found another way to add stress to parts of our lives that simply should not be stressful. This is an old observation I've had since moving to Nashville and using airplanes more frequently to get where I'm going, but it's been exacerbated recently with a new policy.
I'm talking about Southwest's online check-in, and already-existing stress to check in early has been exacerbated by the new assigned boarding number.
If you're not familiar with this, what happens is you order your ticket and you're good to go, but you can check-in for your flight starting 24 hours before takeoff. Now, why this is necessary, I'm not exactly sure, but I can guarantee that Southwest has a strategic business purpose behind this move somewhere. So you have the choice to check in online starting 24 hours before takeoff, or you can show up to the airport and do the check in (which, I mean, makes sense since "checking in" means you showed up, and you don't necessarily have to show up if you check in online...) in person.
The advantage of the online check-in used to be that you'd be put in a group - A, B, or C - where A people typically checked in 24-12 (*this figure is completely my guesstimate, from my own experience) hours early, B people checked in 12-0 hours before online, and the C group checked in when they showed up at the airport. Since Southwest has open seating, people in the A group got to pick their favorite seats before the B and C groups. Now, when you check in - online or otherwise - Southwest assigns you a number, and that is the order you board in. So if I have number 31, I'm the 31st person to choose my seat. So, whomever checks in at exactly 24 hours, zero seconds prior to takeoff gets his or her pick of the entire plane.
Let me emphasize the fact that no matter what group you were in or what number you get, you still get to ride the plane. Yes indeedy, kiddos - you will still get on that plane even if you are the very last possible number.
I never did, nor do I now, understand the incomprehensible need to be among the first people to check in. What's the big deal? Unless you waltz into the airport with 15 minutes til takeoff, there is no way you're going to be dead last - someone, somewhere, is going to be slower than you. And as long as you check in before a crunch-time window of, say, 8 hours prior to boarding, you're still probably going to be on that plane before half of the other passengers. That gives you half a plane's worth of seats to pick - I'm sure you can find a suitable place to sit. People I love are afflicted by this self-imposed (and, if you ask me, completely nonsensical) stress. My dad used to hound me to make sure I checked-in online early, and when my family came to visit they made a pretty big deal about getting their numbers. My roommate has made me check in for her when she wasn't going to be near a computer at exactly the 24-hours-prior mark.
This just adds stress to the travelling process, which shouldn't be stressful unless you are travelling out of the country or are on a deadline. So, why stress yourself out? I say you should liberate yourself from the inexplicably obsessive need to be number 1 and just go with the flow, check in when you think about it, and enjoy the ride!
Angry retorts from aforementioned loved ones will be happily accepted in the comments section - go!
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3 comments:
Hmm, I do not have any anger for this. I do get stressed though if I don't check it right away. I think it's because I like to get things out of the way that I absultetly have to do. And I do like to have a low number. HOWEVER, I always found it completely redic when people would wait in line an hour before the flight even got into the airport, before numbers were put into place. So, I thank Southwest for the letters AND numbers.
The end.
Your loved one,
Babs
i don't want to out you or anything, but i think your lack of understanding here might be related to the fact that you are traveling alone. when you are part of...say...a family traveling on a plane that needs to sit together, on-line check-in is totally necessary. as for the lonely of us, i personally like the check-in as early as possibly so i can get a window seat. i never get up during a flight and i can look out the window and avoid the annoying fat man sitting next to me.
true, to some extent. there IS family check-in, after all, which allows families to go all together after the first 60 people board. plus, what babs and i did when we travelled together was to check in just early enough to have okay (but not back-to-back) numbers, and then the first person in saved the other person a seat. people don't really start sitting next to each other until the majority of the rows have 2 people (an aisle and a window) in them already. it worked just fine!
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