This is how desperate the media is for distractions...

[rainbow4321]

Guess it's a chimp lapdog thing...avoid this week's death/destruction and world issues getting worse and worse..quick, let's send more than TWELVE media people to get in the way of business/vacation travelers and make it headline news that they are being told where to sit on a plane (OMG!Gasp!)...Guess this is Dallas' media way of avoiding any REAL news.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/071106dnbusSouthwest.17abe9d.html

The test tangles with a key part of Southwest's iconic culture – the first-come, first-served "cattle call" open-seating policy that's beloved by some customers and reviled by others.

<snip>

Because of confusion from passengers accustomed to the regular way of boarding a Southwest flight, not to mention the distraction of media attention, it would be difficult to draw conclusions from the first day's performance.

Check-in at the gate was hectic, with more than two dozen reporters and photographers observing the trial. Putting the company's own stamp on the process, Southwest employees attached pink hearts marked with seat numbers on passenger boarding passes.

If Southwest officials decide to proceed with assigned seating, the system won't go into place for several years.