Southwest’s new boarding process didn’t take this into consideration

Southwest Airlines’ new boarding process may be just like all the other airlines now, but it’s still taking the carrier and its customers some time to adjust.

As Southwest shifted to assigned seats and charging for checked bags, many passengers complained they were struggling to find overhead bin space near their seats in the last month or so.

To that end, the airline said it’s making some tweaks to how boarding works and how overhead bin space is allocated.

According to an email from Southwest’s Chief Customer and Brand Officer Tony Roach to customers, the airline is working to balance its boarding groups to make traffic flow onto the airplane more smoothly.

It’s also adding larger overhead bins to many of its planes, with plans for 70% of its aircraft to have space for 50% more carry-on bags by the end of the year.

At the same time, by the end of the month, Southwest will finish installing decals in some overhead bins, noting that they are reserved for customers who paid for extra-legroom seats.

Still, Southwest says its business model transition is generally going well.

“Overall, we’re happy with the implementation and Customers are responding well to it too,” Chris Perry, a Southwest Airlines spokesperson, told USA Today in an email. “If we see things in the live environment that can smooth the Customer Experience, we’ll continue to consider additional tweaks.”