I rode Southwest once in my worklife many years ago

and I cannot imagine I would ride it every again - it is a Cattle Call - the boarding process is a nut case.

AS has expanded too fast 2 or 3 years ago and suffered from that bringe ever since.

I never rode them as paid passenger but rode them several times on award ticket segments - usually flying between Vancouver and California cities. I thought their service went downhill big time too, judged by our last experience at LAX this past August. The concourse was like a zoo - every flight was delayed by 1 to 2 hours while the weather seems perfect. Must be one of those mid air mechanicals wrecked havoc on the schedules.