BY ROY BERGER -- "If they don't like it, let them go ahead and fly another airline."

Whoa! I didn't expect that when I asked a flight attendant last Monday on my Southwest Airlines flight how the public response has been to the airline's new boarding and assigned seating changes.

Can anyone say New Coke?

Over the past five years what was once the most customer-friendly domestic airline has been chipping away at its clientele--and its reputation.

Bags fly free? Gone. Efficient, cattle-car boarding? Gone, replaced by a surcharge allowing flyers to improve their boarding group. Cheaper fares? Mostly gone, too. Then, on January 27, came the end of Southwest as we once knew it: Assigned seating overturned the entire apple cart that once was so full of goodwill and customer service.

Jogging your 1985 memory, Coca-Cola, then the big dog in the soft drink industry, decided it was time for something new and spent massively to develop and then market what it labeled New Coke. It was a colossal failure right from the get-go and the company reversed itself after 79 days under a fusillade of complaints from Coke enthusiasts.

Now the airline whose New York Stock Exchange symbol since 1977 has been LUV is no longer feeling that love from many of its faithful flyers. Early returns on the new format from many Southwest loyalists have not been good. Everything that made Southwest different is gone, replaced by the same formula used by Delta, United and American, carriers that Southwest once mocked mercilessly.

I've been a Southwest customer since 1999, the year I moved to Birmingham, Alabama. As president and chief executive of travel assistance provider Medjet, most of my travel was domestic. We had sales offices in multiple cities and customers around the country. Delta dominated the Birmingham market, but Southwest was a friendly and cost-effective alternative. It also allowed me to avoid Delta's hub at Atlanta/Hartsfield, where business travel goes to die.

I was with Southwest in the days of color-coded, numbered boarding cards. I would get to the airport a couple of hours pre-flight and get on a line that didn't exist until I got there trying to grab number one. That assured me of my exit row seat--aka Southwest Airlines first class. Then the game changed: First came A/B/C group-boarding passes assigned at check-in. Then it was 24-hour check-in on your phone. Then you could purchase a 36-hour check-in assuring you of that A Group boarding, a choice seat and overhead bin space.

I retired in 2018 and moved to Las Vegas. My Southwest loyalty moved with me. The largest carrier in Vegas, Southwest took us anywhere in the country and Hawaii, most times nonstop.

In more than a half-century of airline travel, my best airline perk has been my Southwest Companion Pass. I've qualified every year since 2015 and it's become my best flying friend. This benefit literally saves me thousands a year and is truly appreciated. And unless I miss my guess, and I hope I do, it probably won't be around much longer as Southwest will try and monetize it like it has done with everything else.

I've remained an A-List Preferred the past couple of years although I now earn my status through a Southwest-branded credit card. That's the epitome of good news/bad news. What that entitles me to with the new system is important. In addition to assigned seating, Southwest has also gone to priority seating offering more legroom in the first six rows and exit rows. It's available for purchase depending upon the fare basis and ticket cost, but can run up to $100 for a segment. As an A-List Preferred, I can go to the seat map at booking and grab my exit-row aisle seat with no upcharge. I may not like New Coke, er, Southwest, but I like that benefit.

And while that protects me in advance and I don't have to scramble at boarding knocking over anyone in my way to get the seat I want as per the old system, there are now a couple of very selfish negatives with the new game.

The only thing better than an exit row aisle seat is an empty middle seat to compliment it. I was particularly good at protecting that unoccupied seat in Southwest's heyday. The New Coke format doesn't let me do that anymore. The airline gives out the seats now. I had an offensive-lineman-sized body next to me on one of my flight legs last week. New Coke indeed.

Because I'm still A-List Preferred, my experience overall so far has been okay. What we are hearing and reading from the public tells a little different tale, however. People are confused. And frustrated. Casual travelers who used to board a LUV flight and grab the seat they wanted now have to hunt and peck. The overhead bins fill up quickly and late borders find overhead space rare. One recent traveler was sitting in Row 5 and the closest available overhead space was back in Row 20. That's an incredibly uphill push when trying to deplane.

Of course, Southwest has an answer for that. No matter what boarding group number you're assigned, $30 gets you "priority boarding" before anyone else. More cha-ching for New Coke.

I've flown five legs since the change was made and, as I say, my A-List Preferred status has offered some protection. Others flyers? Not so much. Along with complaints about overhead bins, Southwest has other issues to ferret out.

If you pay the basic published fare, you do not get to pick a seat until 24 hours before the flight or at check-in. That has created havoc for budget-minded families who can't get seats together. One family recently had their two- and a five-year olds assigned to seats, not together, and away from Mom and Dad. Similar situations occur over and over every day in Southwest's New Coke era. It was never an issue in the open seating days.

And then there is the plain corporate Southwest stupidity. Recently, a flyer who paid for an elite seat had a middle-seat passenger next to him. Yet there were 100 available seats on the flight. He moved back a row, which was totally empty. A flight attendant saw his move and demanded that he return to his assigned seat. "We can't leave until you are in your own seat," she said.

JoeSentMe reader and fellow Southwest A-List Preferred member William Horak also tried the new model over the last couple of weeks. He offered a succinct analysis.

"Southwest will probably work out the problems with their new system," he said. "The bigger problems are that they are offering an inferior product compared to [traditional] airlines. I don't believe they will succeed with the new charges. Brand loyalty is dead now for Southwest unless they make some major changes."

In other words, that sassy flight attendant from my flight earlier this week might be surprised at how many former Southwest loyalists will "go ahead and fly another airline."

ABOUT ROY BERGER
Roy Berger writes the twice-monthly Sunday Morning Coffee blog, which covers life, love, politics and sports. He has written for JoeSentMe.com about travel insurance, attending baseball fantasy camps and his decision to live in Las Vegas.