Southwest Early Bird Check-in?

[Alderbrook]

So I see that for a fee of $10 per person SW is offering to assign you your seating group 36 hours before your flight. That's pretty expensive. Does anyone know when this started? We are flying with a group of 5 people & would like to sit together. I already don't like that I can't pre-select my seats with SW, but now they're asking you basically to pay to make sure you board first.

If I don't pay for this service & check in 24 hours before, is there a chance that SW will overbook their flight & we'll get screwed? I remember there being a show on A&E about Southwest & it seemed they always had overbooked flights & this kind of scares me.

[Ted in Halifax]

This has been going on for quite a while ... I think this doesn't relate to overselling the plane, so no need to get nervous .. its just another way to create revenue ... other airlines do it (i.e airtran).

[Alderbrook]

I know AT does it, but it's only $6 a seat & you actually book a seat, not just a priority in seating order.

Does anyone actually pay this or just wait until 24 hours?

[vacation_junkie]

So I see that for a fee of $10 per person SW is offering to assign you your seating group 36 hours before your flight. That's pretty expensive. Does anyone know when this started? We are flying with a group of 5 people & would like to sit together. I already don't like that I can't pre-select my seats with SW, but now they're asking you basically to pay to make sure you board first.

If I don't pay for this service & check in 24 hours before, is there a chance that SW will overbook their flight & we'll get screwed? I remember there being a show on A&E about Southwest & it seemed they always had overbooked flights & this kind of scares me.

They do not oversell the plane....it just gives you a better boarding position...and the ability to not have to worry about sitting at your computer waiting for the 24 mark.

We got our boarding positions this morning for our flight tomorrow! We are A28,29,30!!

Before the EB check-in..we would be on at the 24 hour mark and usually got mid B's...now I don't want to chance it because you never know how many other people are doing the EB'ng before you!!!

[Alderbrook]

Actually most airlines in the US overbook flights, it's common practise to make up for noshows, which is why I was wondering if I don't do EB & just wait until the 24 hr mark.

How long have they been doing this? Everyone I know that has flown with them recently (Feb 2010) has not used the EB & just told me to go on right away at 24 hrs & do the online checkin.

[Diamondintheruff]

I guess it comes down to how important sitting together is for you. You're talking about $100 for five of you both ways. I'd do some serious thinking on that. If you already know you can be at the computer at 24 hours out than I would risk it and not get it. I didn't get it last time I flew with them and don't plan to at the end of the month when I'm flying with them again. However, it is just me. So I have no one in particular to sit with. If I had my kids, I know people would move so that I could sit with them. I mean who wants to sit beside someone's 7 year old when their Mom is 6 rows up?

On my last flight with SW (which I did not EB) I had a window seat. At the end of the boarding a lady came on and made a huge deal about having to have a window seat. The staff came on the loud speaker and asked if anyone would give up a window. I did. I got a $50 voucher mailed to me the next week.

I might be flamed but you might want to consider having just a couple of you getting and saving the seats for the rest of your party. I know I've gone to sit somewhere on SW and had the person say "Sorry I'm saving it for my family". Just something to think about.

[vacation_junkie]

Actually most airlines in the US overbook flights, it's common practise to make up for noshows, which is why I was wondering if I don't do EB & just wait until the 24 hr mark.

How long have they been doing this? Everyone I know that has flown with them recently (Feb 2010) has not used the EB & just told me to go on right away at 24 hrs & do the online checkin.

I fly about 15-20 times a year for business and have never had an issue with flights being overbooked!

My sister just flew Buffalo to Orlando 2 weeks ago and they went online at the 24 hour mark and had low C..boarding positions..they had a party of 5 and were split up...which the kids didnt mind but my sister did :)

I'd rather pay $10 for each of us and get on and off sooner then later. For us it was a given. We paid $448 for the 3 of us return...so taking on $60 was worth it for us.

[vacation_junkie]

I guess it comes down to how important sitting together is for you. You're talking about $100 for five of you both ways. I'd do some serious thinking on that. If you already know you can be at the computer at 24 hours out than I would risk it and not get it. I didn't get it last time I flew with them and don't plan to at the end of the month when I'm flying with them again. However, it is just me. So I have no one in particular to sit with. If I had my kids, I know people would move so that I could sit with them. I mean who wants to sit beside someone's 7 year old when their Mom is 6 rows up?

On my last flight with SW (which I did not EB) I had a window seat. At the end of the boarding a lady came on and made a huge deal about having to have a window seat. The staff came on the loud speaker and asked if anyone would give up a window. I did. I got a $50 voucher mailed to me the next week.

I might be flamed but you might want to consider having just a couple of you getting and saving the seats for the rest of your party. I know I've gone to sit somewhere on SW and had the person say "Sorry I'm saving it for my family". Just something to think about.

For shame..for shame :scared1: Kidding! :eek:$100 is a bit much for a party of 5..we are a party of 3 so its easier to snatch one row. For a party of 5..that may be a good idea...2 do early boarding..and save the rows across from eachother..just dit in the isle seat, throw some stuff on the seats and people aren't as temped to slide in...

[Alderbrook]

I may just do that & only pay for a few of us. Should I pay for it for my son? He's 4 & I don't think they would let my 4 year old sit with strangers, as long as either my husband or I sit with him we're good to go. We're travelling with my parents & they don't care if they sit with us, they just want to be able to sit together.

We're only flying down with SW, not home, so we're paying $50 if all of us get it. We're booked with AirTran on the way home & I paid the $6 to preselect our seats with them.

I just think it's kind of crappy the way SW is doing this. If everyone pays the $10 on the whole plane to do EB then someone is bound to get B & C regardless, what a waste of $10. They should just let us pay $10 & pick our seats since there's no guarentee we'd get A seating just because we pay for EB.

[Diamondintheruff]

I may just do that & only pay for a few of us. Should I pay for it for my son? He's 4 & I don't think they would let my 4 year old sit with strangers, as long as either my husband or I sit with him we're good to go. We're travelling with my parents & they don't care if they sit with us, they just want to be able to sit together.

We're only flying down with SW, not home, so we're paying $50 if all of us get it. We're booked with AirTran on the way home & I paid the $6 to preselect our seats with them.

I just think it's kind of crappy the way SW is doing this. If everyone pays the $10 on the whole plane to do EB then someone is bound to get B & C regardless, what a waste of $10. They should just let us pay $10 & pick our seats since there's no guarentee we'd get A seating just because we pay for EB.

Well if your son is four than you qualify for the pre-boarding. You get to board the plane even before the passenger that has A-1.

[Alderbrook]

Well if your son is four than you qualify for the pre-boarding. You get to board the plane even before the passenger that has A-1.

I wondered if he would qualify for a "young child" but I can't find any info on their website that tells you what a young child is. We assumed it must be people with toddlers & babies on their laps?

[formill]

Well if your son is four than you qualify for the pre-boarding. You get to board the plane even before the passenger that has A-1.

I thought now young children board after the "A" group? When we did EB we paid for all 7 of us not just one or two and saved seats. Just me maybe but I can't save seats when you are not supposed to. I wish we could just pay for an assigned seat and be done with all this!

[NikP]

My sister just flew Buffalo to Orlando 2 weeks ago and they went online at the 24 hour mark and had low C..boarding positions..they had a party of 5 and were split up...which the kids didnt mind but my sister did :)

Low C's ??? at the 24 hour mark. This is certainly shocking. What day and what time of day did your sister fly out? Just wondering if this factors into the C boarding pass. Also 2 weeks ago was Easter wasn't it?? Maybe that is why they were given C passes.

[ccgirl]

Family Boarding is for children 4 and under and their immediate family (grandparents not included). They board between A and B not before A. Only those with medical needs can board before A. If you do not pay for EBC for your entire party and attempt to save seats, someone can also sit in them. I have also been on planes where they have decreased the family boarding to ages two and under due to the high number of young children on the plane. I have gotten C passes for my family of 4 and have never split up. We had to sit further back in the plane but no big deal. I can't remember when you're flying but if it's not Thanksgiving, Christmas or Spring Break relax and enjoy and just check in at the 24 hour mark. Even with C's, it sound like you really only need 3 seats together and that should not be a problem.

[Alderbrook]

Family Boarding is for children 4 and under and their immediate family (grandparents not included). They board between A and B not before A. Only those with medical needs can board before A. If you do not pay for EBC for your entire party and attempt to save seats, someone can also sit in them. I have also been on planes where they have decreased the family boarding to ages two and under due to the high number of young children on the plane. I have gotten C passes for my family of 4 and have never split up. We had to sit further back in the plane but no big deal. I can't remember when you're flying but if it's not Thanksgiving, Christmas or Spring Break relax and enjoy and just check in at the 24 hour mark. Even with C's, it sound like you really only need 3 seats together and that should not be a problem.

We fly Sept 18-26, not high season at all. My cousin just flew at the beginning of Feb, party of 5, did not do EB & they all got A boarding with just doing the 24 hr check in & all sat together, which is why I'm not sure if it's worth it? Like I said, as long as someone sits with my son we're fine, my husband would probably like to sit on his own & have some peace & quiet without my son :) & as long as my mom & dad are together, we're good.

I just think if they're going to charge you $10 you should be able to pick seats, not possible boarding position!

[papertraveller]

Thanks everyone, this thread is very instructive. We're flying SW for the first time out of Buffalo in August, and then again in October. The key reason I've taken early-boarding check-in is so that we don't have to worry about our return journey. We won't have a computer with us, and this way we can be assured of having a reasonable boarding number.

Honestly, I'm so tired of the hassles at Pearson that I'm looking forward to this being a more reasonable process. Guess we'll see!

[minnie56]

We travelled SW in March (NOT March Break)
We were 8 people...checked in 24 hrs prior and were pretty much all over the aircraft. We were anywhere from #29-45 in B.

I don't like being herded like cattle..sooooo for us, I think when we fly from Buffalo it will be with Jetblue. If I am paying, I want seat assignment.:confused3

[Alderbrook]

We travelled SW in March (NOT March Break)
We were 8 people...checked in 24 hrs prior and were pretty much all over the aircraft. We were anywhere from #29-45 in B.

I don't like being herded like cattle..sooooo for us, I think when we fly from Buffalo it will be with Jetblue. If I am paying, I want seat assignment.:confused3

Is there any other airline that does this? We've flown with lots of airlines & this is the first time we've done SW. We would have done JetBlue but their price down was OUTRAGEOUS & AT had a terrible arrival time so it didn't leave much option.

[minnie56]

Not that I am aware of.
It will be fine, when the price with JB is so much more, SW makes perfect sense. Either pay the extra for early check in or make sure you are right on 24 hrs prior for online check in. :thumbsup2

[ccgirl]

Honestly, I was nervous the first time we flew but that has been it. As I said, we have never purchased EBCI and have flown quite often. For those that don't have a computer 24 hrs in advance and are at the parks, you can go to guest services and they will do it for you. I find the airline staff super friendly and the planes very comfy. Again...I have never had trouble finding 3seats together even with C boarding passes. I agree that EBCI should let you purchase your seats as well. What if everyone purchases EBCI? There would be no advantage to that and you would be paying to get a C boarding pass. I think this whole idea is crazy quite frankly.

[joandegennaro]

Sorry, but can anyone explain what is going on here with SW. From what I am reading if you book 4 seats on a SW flight it's a crap shoot as to where you sit? What exactly is A vs B vs C? Don't they assign you seats when you check in at the counter? What is this talk of "saving" seats? Any and all explanations is appreciated. We are new DVC members and will most likely travel out of Buffalo when we fly. While for my family DH, DD 17 DD 12 and myself it is no longer a need to sit together it is something we would prefer to do.

[Alderbrook]

Sorry, but can anyone explain what is going on here with SW. From what I am reading if you book 4 seats on a SW flight it's a crap shoot as to where you sit? What exactly is A vs B vs C? Don't they assign you seats when you check in at the counter? What is this talk of "saving" seats? Any and all explanations is appreciated. We are new DVC members and will most likely travel out of Buffalo when we fly. While for my family DH, DD 17 DD 12 and myself it is no longer a need to sit together it is something we would prefer to do.

With SW you don't get to choose your seats like you do with lots of other airlines (ie with Airtran you pay $6 pp to choose what seat you want on the plane when you book). SW has some weird boarding procedure where at 24 hrs before you fly you can do online check-in & you get a boarding group assignment, either A, B or C. If you get A you board first & choose where you sit, next is B & then they board & pick where they sit & finally C, they get last pick at where to sit & basically get whatever is left over, there is no seat assignment whatsoever. Now SW offers "early bird check-in" which costs $10 & if you choose to pay that per person, 36 hrs before you fly, they essentially do the online check in for you. It's basically first come first served so if you can't get to a computer at exactly 24 hrs before & have to wait to do online check-in you run the risk of getting boarded in group C. Some people don't care where they sit, but we have a group of 5 (my son is 4) & we would all like to board 1st so we can choose to sit together. If we get "C" we run the risk of not having all of us sit together.

Their stupid system is flawed though. If you have say 200 people on a plane & everyone chooses to pay $10 for early bird check-in it's a waste of $$$ since not everyone will benefit from getting group A, not everyone can get boarded first. Why pay $10 if you're only going to get C anyways?

Hope that explains it.

[joandegennaro]

This alone will stop me from flying with SW, while I don't need to sit with my kids I do prefer it. I know that a co-worker uses this airline but she does have small kids. Is there consideration for families with young kids? I know it wouldn't apply for my family but just wondering.

[Alderbrook]

This alone will stop me from flying with SW, while I don't need to sit with my kids I do prefer it. I know that a co-worker uses this airline but she does have small kids. Is there consideration for families with young kids? I know it wouldn't apply for my family but just wondering.

Apparently they do let families with small children board first, but not grandparents so essentially, we would be split up because we are travelling with my parents.

We have never flown SW because of their boarding procedures & I've always managed to get cheaper flights with other airlines, but for this trip, SW had the best arrival time. I could have flown AT on the way down for $69 but it got us into MCO at 7:30, by the time we actually get into the hotel room we're looking at 9 pm so that didn't work so for $12 extra pp SW was the best option regarding arrival times, so we're going to bite the bullet & try them out. We're only flying down with them, not home so it's just one way we have to worry about.

[pumpkin21]

A friend of mine flew SW at March break. She did not pay the $10, her family of 4 was split up and almost did not get on the flight. Another family was asked to have their toddler sit in their lap to accommodate the flight holding her family of 4. However, my friend's sister's family of 4 DID NOT get on the flight -they were told the next flight they could take from Buffalo to Orlando would be in 3 days!!! They ended up getting SW credits, renting a car and driving from Buffalo to Cleaveland. Flying from Cleaveland to Chicago and then Orlando in order to spend March Break in Orlando. All this because SW had overbooked and they had not paid the $10 and did not preprint their passes 24 hours in advance. What a horrible way to start a vacation to Disney.

[Alderbrook]

That's terrible! I've heard so many horror stories about travelling at March Break. Friends of ours got stuck in Pittsburg once because of a winter storm. 2 Parents, 4 kids & the mom on chemo that she had to be back for. They ended up renting a car & driving thru a storm to get home. The husband is a teacher so they are limited to when they can travel but they said they will never do March Break again.

I think we're just going to pay the $10 (even though I disagree with it) & never fly with them again. We're not planning on going to Disney again for quite a few years & if we do, we'll probably start driving again because my son is at an age where he should be able to tolerate time in the car. The only reason we're flying is because my son has always been awful in the car, but I think he's manageable again.

At least we're only 1 way with SW & it will only cost us $10 per person instead of $20!

[tink1969]

I just purchased the early bird check-in. They don't charge for bags so I don't mind.

[NikP]

I broke down and bought it too. I had already purchase it for our return, but thought I could just check us in myself for the trip down till I started reading this thread. There are 10 of us and we would like to sit together. I think I made the right choice.:confused3 7 more sleeps till we go to Buffalo...

[Alderbrook]

I just bought it now, not very happy about it, but at least it's kind of peace of mind I guess.

[Yzma and Kronk]

Also, with SW if you book their top two fare categories (most expensive flights or if nothing else is available) "Business select" is one - those people get first priority with boarding even before those who pay the $10. Boarding priority also depends on the price you paid on SW.

DH just flew to Vegas on a full flight. He paid the highest price in Business select category due to last minute and he was given A1. I'm sure a bunch of people paid the $10. and boarded behind him.

[ccgirl]

To the PP that stated a famly was forced to put their toddler on their lap...that means they did not purchase a seat for the toddler, they were hoping there would be empty seats so rather than paying for a seat they took a chance and "lost". SW is not the only airline that overbooks their flights. I've actually had less luck with other airlines. I have been flying SW for years and have never been split up from my family. That was with C boarding passes. To those that are nervous flying with them, be sure to post back your experience.