It's been a long time since a SWA flight was the best way for me to get anywhere, so I haven't flown them in quite a while. How do they do it now?
Three groups, A, B, & C, each ordered 1-60.
Boarding order:
Preboards (People needing assistance or extra time, i.e. wheelchairs, etc.) Must have arranged to be a preboard earlier, not at the gate.
A1-60
Families with small children, Uniformed military personel, A list and A list preferred who weren't in the A1-60 group
B1-60
C1-60
How boarding order is assigned:
People who pay for business select are A 1-15.
People who have Alist or Alist preferred status (Depends on points earned or legs flown during the year) get next assigned automaticly by the computer system to a boarding position depending on the order of ticket purchase.
Then People who paid $20-$25 for Earlybird checkin get assigned depending on order of ticket purchase.
Remaining boarding positions are assigned by order of checkin which opens 24 hours prior to the scheduled flight time.
If one cares about what seat one has, it's worth it to pay for Earlybird or be ready to checkin right at the time checkin opens.