Southwest Hikes Priority Seating Price

Southwest Airlines has added a $40 pay-at-the-gate option for travelers with cheaper tickets who want to be among the first to group to board.

Dallas-based Southwest doesn’t offer assigned seats and the carrier Monday announced the latest option for coveted group “A” boarding. The boarding slots for cheaper tickets are assigned based on when a person checks in for the flight.

Business select fares cost the most but are refundable and include priority boarding. Other passengers can pay extra to reserve a boarding spot right behind elite fliers.

The latest plan offers passengers the chance to buy one of the earliest boarding positions for $40 per flight. The offer begins 45 minutes before the flight departs and will be announced at the gate if slots are available.

Southwest is the largest commercial carrier by far at the Albuquerque International Sunport, handling almost 50 percent of all passenger traffic there.

The latest data available show the airline handled 235,575 of the 407,937 passengers that went through the Sunport in November. The next biggest carrier, American Airlines, accounted for 57,803 passengers in that month.

Systemwide, Southwest reported that it flew 10,645,104 passengers in December 2012, compared to 10,917,993 the same month in 2011.