The Airline Experiment to Make Boarding Less Awful

Southwest Airlines is studying ways to squeeze more flights per plane—a big focus is on passenger boarding bottlenecks

Southwest Airlines is experimenting with ways to speed up boarding at four gates at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

ATLANTA—Passengers boarding Southwest Airlines Flight 2299 to Washington last week didn’t see the typical ads for credit cards or dreamy vacation spots on the walls of the jet bridge.

In their place were framed travel tips, including a heads up on Southwest’s quirky seating policy. “No assigned seats on board, pick any open seat!’’ one poster says. Disco music blared from portable speakers to keep people moving.

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