We visited family over Thanksgiving on the East Coast and flew Southwest to get there. This was our last open seating flight. I had thoughts.

Dear Southwest

You were great for so long. I loved flying with you. It was so easy and offered phenomenal fares. You went above and beyond to help passengers get to their destinations. It felt like we were all in it together. Yeah, those were the days. The days of peanuts – those days. But here we are – you’ve turned into just another airline. I’m actually relieved that you’ve moved to assigned seating. The current system is beyond screwed up and subject to abuse. I have to give you credit: early bird select was a great scam on your part. It makes it almost impossible to check in and get an A boarding number no matter how close to 24 hours you check in. So I buy my ticket and then you charge me MORE to get a “special” check-in number? Honestly, assigned seating will be a lovely change after dealing with the current mess.

Also, your app sucks. It used to be pretty nice but now? I’m lucky if it launches in time to check in. Oh wait, it doesn’t. Half the time the app won’t let me check in for precious seconds at the 24 hour point. So I absolutely get why people pay for early bird select. BUT so many people do it that there’s no guarantee you’ll get an A spot – if you’re lucky you’ll get. high B spot.

And hey, thanks for offering WiFi on board. Um yeah, when it works. Which is pretty hit and miss in my experience.

Oh and goodbye to free checked nags. I’d love to talk to the idiot who thought THAT was a good idea. It’s so much fun now in an aisle seat watching your head as people thrust huge bags into the overhead bins. The solution is so glaringly simple it blows my mind: charge for carry ons and make checked bags free. Duh!

I’ll always remember the good times we had, when it was easy to get free flights by flying a lot. I really hope when the new system goes into place you offer us better snacks than those awful pretzel-like things. Okay, that last bit is just me. Those things are just gross.