Chip Taylor

Specialization and division of labor

Airline boarding pass edition:

For years, Leo Elias set his alarm clock for midnight whenever he was booked to fly on Southwest Airlines the next day. Jangled out of bed, he would stumble over to his computer to print out a boarding pass. It was the ritual he and other Southwest passengers had to endure to ensure that they would be among the first to board, with their choice of seats and an empty overhead bin for their bags.

Because Southwest doesn't issue seat assignments, passengers board in the order in which they check in and get their boarding passes. The first 45 passengers to check in board first, followed by a second group of 45, with a third group following them.

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He now uses the services of Boardfirst.com. For $5 per flight, Boardfirst.com checks passengers in and assures them of boarding with the first group.

"Time is money, and at the convenience end of it, when you're paying a hundred or so dollars for a flight, an extra $5 more isn't that much more," said Elias, a Phoenix-based human resources manager.

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Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart said he was "bewildered" by the niche. "Is someone that busy that they don't have time to print out the boarding pass for themselves for free?" he said. He added that the airline discourages its customers from sharing their flight and personal information with sites other than Southwest's.

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