The airline will end its open seating policy on Boeing 737 jets in early November.
( AP ) -- The Dallas-based airline says it is making changes to its longtime open seating policy to assign a specific pecking order to travelers waiting to board their Boeing 737 jets.
Starting in early November, customers of Southwest Airlines Co. will be assigned a letter-number combination on their boarding passes, which will reserve their spot in their boarding group. According to a Southwest statement, when a gate agent calls a boarding group, passengers will take their place in their numerical order.
Southwest has tested the new boarding system since last month at San Antonio International Airport after it quit a flirtation last summer with assigned seating in San Diego.