Reading Assignment - Do you love the low fares but hate the cattle car treatment of Southwest Airlines? Relief may be in sight:

"Southwest President Colleen Barrett said Southwest has been running tests to see if it can drop its open seating policy, which has distinguished Southwest from its competitors who offer assigned seating. It would take Southwest about a year to move to assigned seating, but Barrett said the airline is not currently planning to make a switch, but it is open to assigned seats."

Because SWA is making more longhaul flights, more fliers don't want to get stuck in a crappy seat while flying across the country. Of course, if they simply printed out their Group A boarding pass at home the night before, they wouldn't need to whine, would they?