One nice thing about Marriott Titanium membership is the complimentary United Silver upgrade. It provides free checked bag and access to preferred seating. I don't fly United that often due to its limited flights out of CVG, but it is now my second choice after Delta because I'm lifetime Gold. Southwest was great when we flew out of MCI, but the number of 'handicapped' and family boarders kept increasing, so the early boarding cost wasn't worth it. It is interesting that most of those 'handicapped' boarders were able to disembark on their own with no assistance.
I've been wondering if all the media coverage of the SWA
Miracle Flights has anything to do with this seat assignment change. While those seeking ambulatory miracles still can get on first, they may be assigned to seats in the back, making the scam less important. Southwest has to pay for all those wheelchairs (reported as $15-$20 each), for both departure and arrival, even if they are not used on arrival.
Again if it is true as SWA claims that "The research is clear and indicates that 80% of Southwest customers, and 86% of potential customers, prefer an assigned seat,” this si a no brainer and should have been done decades ago.
SWA is not a low cost carrier, they are a low end mainline carrier.