Why isn't Southwest letting me print boarding passes? HELP!

[Liz]

It's 24 hours before our flight and I am trying to print boarding passes for our family and it's not letting me print them for any of us (3 traveling). It says something about a "security document" and I get this message:

Please bring your ticket along with this security document to the ticket counter or gate to receive a boarding pass from a Customer Service agent.

What does this mean? How on earth are we going to be able to sit together if we can't get boarding passes till tomorrow morning? Gosh, it's really important we sit together because I'm already worried about my daughter catching something on the plane and I'm making her wear a mask (she had a heart transplant). I wouldn't want her sitting next to some strangers. Any advice please????

[NotUrsula]

You've been SSSS'd. Random extra security.

There really isn't anything that you can do about the situation from home, but since you have medical issues, I wouldn't worry too much, because your daughter qualifies for a preboard sleeve on that basis.

Get to the airport a little bit early, because you will have to go to the ticket counter and show ID to get checked in. You will get whatever is available in terms of boarding passes at that time. You will also probably have to go through a secondary search at security, which takes a bit longer.

When you get to your gate, approach the agent and ask for a preboard sleeve for a medical preboard for your daughter. She and one adult will be allowed to board in the first group, before the A's. You can seat her at a window and wipe down the bulkhead and other hard surfaces to minimize her exposure as much as possible.

If you sit toward the front of the aircraft you will probably not be able to keep a stranger out of the third seat in the row, but if you sit near the rear you will probably not have any problem saving the seat as long as you politely explain the issue. (I've assumed that your party is two adults and one child. If you actually are the only adult travelling, all three of you will be allowed to preboard.)

[Liz]

Originally Posted by NotUrsula

You've been SSSS'd. Random extra security.

There really isn't anything that you can do about the situation from home, but since you have medical issues, I wouldn't worry too much, because your daughter qualifues for a preboard sleeve on that basis.

Get to the airport a little bit early, because you will have to go to the ticket counter and show ID to get checked in. You will get whatever is available in terms of boarding passes at that time.

When you get to your gate, approach the agent and ask for a preboard sleeve for a medical preboard for your daughter. She and one adult will be allowed to board in the first group, before the A's. You can seat her at a window and wipe down the bulkhead and other hard surfaces to minimize her exposure as much as possible.

If you sit toward the front of the aircraft you will probably not be able to keep a stranger out of the third seat in the row, but if you sit near the rear you will probably not have any problem saving the seat as long as you politely explain the issue. (I've assumed that your party is two adults and one child. If you actually are the only adult travelling, all three of you will be allowed to preboard.)

Thank you so much. We'll do all you suggested. We are actually three adults as my daughter is 20. So do you think they'll still let two of us board early or will she have to board alone since she's an adult? I have to admit I panicked a little because this is the first time this has happened to us and I've already been going nuts over H1N1.

[Manda]

Yes, don't worry about. Just get a medical pre-board for your daughter. Families of people with food allergies often use medical pre-board to board first to be able to wipe everything down to remove any allergens. I think this would be an obvious request for your daughter. Tell them that you need to pre-board to disinfect the area around her and make sure she's not sitting next to anyone that could risk her health.

[NotUrsula]

You may have a little bit of an argument because she is an adult, but I think with current flu concerns most gate agents would understand the concern of having an immune-compromised person seated next to someone that they know is healthy, and they will probably give you the extra sleeve. (They are usually a bit more understanding when you've been snagged by an SSSS. If you were in this situation because you just couldn't be bothered checking in early, it might be different.)

To make things easier in future, you should all register for Rapid Rewards if you haven't already. That way you can have the verification of your identities registered on your accounts, which makes it less likely that you will be flagged as SSSS.

PS: Before anyone points it out, I'm aware that the airline is not allowed to require the disabled person to disclose the nature of the medical condition in order to get a preboard sleeve. The daughter is good to go for sure, no questions asked. I only mean that there may be argument about allowing another adult to board with her; it is the sleeve for the second (healthy) adult that may require a bit of justification.

[a1tinkfans]

SW is a great airline.
You can call NOW and let them know your situation. Let them know that she is Healthy enough to fly, BUT you would like to somehow "mark" the reservation as a pre-board situation if at all possible. Rather than demanding, go in as Questioning HOW they can help you.
As far as who gets to go with her, she may be asked to board alone, it really is no biggie, have her bring a jacket, hat etc and just place them on the seats next to her. Most people understand that families are trying to stay together. As a frequent flier on SW, I am fairly convinced that you will have no trouble. As previously mentioned, get to the airport EARLIER and go straight to the "SW help desk" after checking in. They issue the blue sleeve pre-boards. There are a certain number they have, so do not delay.

BY the way, wishing continued Good Health to your daughter.
Have a MAGICAL time at Disney!!!

[leennp]

Just thought I would post a response to this as well in case anyone else get's same message I did, which sounds just like OP, you have not been checked in, present security pass to gate agent for boarding pass. This happend to me this at at T24 today, called southwest, got put on hold for 10 minutes, got customer service agent who told me I must have been just ahead of T24, and this is the message you get with new changes to website. Told me to check in again, I did, and was able to get boarding assignment and passes, but due to the delay on hold, ended up with B1-4. Not really what I wanted, irritated somewhat because web site used to just tell you it was too early to check in, which means I would have just kept trying until exact time, not waiting on hold because I thought something was wrong with tickets. So for us this message had nothing to do with security screening. Customer service agent said this change was made to allow peolpe to print a security pass as early as 6am day before flight, don't know why you would want that without a boarding assignment.

[safetymom]

Yes I had that problem last week. The agent suggested waiting a few minutes and try again. It worked. So try waiting a few minutes.