SW early board. How do they decide?

[tam.daelynn]

So is it an automatic thing? do they give ppl who book their flights on opening day with EB the first spots? Then as ppl book over the months they go further down the list? Or is it complete randomness?

I have early board check in for The family to mco. I booked EB on the way back but 2 of the EB aren't showing up it's not showing my husband or daughter having it.

we will be on a cruise and can't book at the 24 hour mark. Would it be pointless to add EB now? My daughter is 6 so I think they go in the family line?

Im not sure what to do

 

[rwdavis2]

You should have gotten an email receipt for the Early Bird Check In purchase. Does it show you have for everybody? If it does not call Southwest.

 

[PlutoPony]

EBCI is not automatically added to your ticket, it's only added if you pay for it. And the charge is for 1 way so if you want it going and coming you have to pay for it for both ways/ticket. Should show up on your reservation (although SW's IT doesn't have a particularly good rep so who knows), this is one you should probably call SW to check on.

Whether to add EBCI is obviously a personal decision, depends on how important it is for you to be checked in earlier than those who don't pay for it.

ETA: it's unclear just how EBCI is ordered when they run the check-in at 36 hours out. It's known to be some combo of date purchased and cost of ticket (higher price better than lower price) but the exact algorithm is unknown (per occasional discussions on FlyerTalk among the SW FF'ers)

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm not sure what you're looking at. My email from SW, my itinerary one, says EBCI has been added to your itinerary. My dh and I are on the same itinerary, dd is on her own (she's flying one way).

 

[beccasmom]

We always try to purchase EBCI when we buy the flight tickets. We have found it sometimes makes a difference between getting A or B, but sometimes not. It all depends on how many folks are adding EBCI and how far in advance they book.

We purchased EBCI for our flights to/from WDW (August) in February when we booked our trip. We were A19 through 22 on the outbound flight and A-24-27 on our return flight.

We flew into Las Vegas Wednesday; we purchased the tickets in June, but didn't add EBCI until 3 weeks ago. Our positions were A45-46, which was also fine.

 

[Boopuff]

I believe I read somewhere that EBCI position is based on when you bought your ticket. Also EBCI starts at A11 since A1-A10 are for the super-special-I -fly-all-the-time people. So the first person to buy EBCI would/should get A11 and so on. The people who wait until the 24hour mark get what comes after all the EBCI people. But with at 6 year old you should board AFTER A group. You can not bump the family up to to board with anyone at a "higher" boarding position. Also family boarding can be at the discretion of the FA so airports like Orlando often suspend family boarding since the entire plane could be "families"

 

[LisaS]

At 36 hours out, the system assigns boarding positions in this order: A1-A15 are reserved for those who booked a Business Select fare. Next, starting with A16, it assigns boarding positions to passengers with A-List status. Next are those who booked an "Anytime" fare plus EBCI and then the "Wanna Get Away" fare plus EBCI passengers. For the last two groups, the boarding assignment is based on the timestamp of their EBCI purchase. If there are no A-List passengers on the flight, the lowest boarding position an EBCI passenger can get is A16.

Shortly before boarding, if there are fewer than 15 Business Select passengers booked on the flight, the gate agent may offer any open boarding positions in the A1-A15 group for $30-$40 per passenger.

 

[DebbieB]

I bought my EBCI for my May trip right after the dates came out. I got A26 one way and A27 the other, wanna get away ticket.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

Just to confuse it a little more, DH and I bought out SWA tickets for the DVC member cruise with points, and paid for EBCI at that time. A couple of months LATER, our DD decides to join us and we paid cash for her WGA ticket and added EBCI at that time.

She was A27 and we were A54&A55.

So even though we paid for EBCI at least 2 months before her ticket, she got a better boarding position than we did.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I believe I read somewhere that EBCI position is based on when you bought your ticket. Also EBCI starts at A11 since A1-A10 are for the super-special-I -fly-all-the-time people. So the first person to buy EBCI would/should get A11 and so on. The people who wait until the 24hour mark get what comes after all the EBCI people. But with at 6 year old you should board AFTER A group. You can not bump the family up to to board with anyone at a "higher" boarding position. Also family boarding can be at the discretion of the FA so airports like Orlando often suspend family boarding since the entire plane could be "families"

1) A1-A15 not A1-10
2) Those boarding positions above are not for the "super-special-I -fly-all-the-time people". They are actually Business Select..which is a fare class which is selected when you buy your ticket. You can also pay an upgrade fee at the gate if you bought a Anytime fare or Wanna Get Away fare at the gate should there be slots available (normally there are in the A1-A15).
3) A-List and A-List Preferred (those are the frequent fliers) I believe have higher priority than EBCI

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Just to confuse it a little more, DH and I bought out SWA tickets for the DVC member cruise with points, and paid for EBCI at that time. A couple of months LATER, our DD decides to join us and we paid cash for her WGA ticket and added EBCI at that time.

She was A27 and we were A54&A55.

So even though we paid for EBCI at least 2 months before her ticket, she got a better boarding position than we did.

Maybe that was because you used SWA points to buy your tickets??

ETA: That's the only thing I can think of is that because you used points but bought the other ticket not using points that the ticket bought not using points was given higher priority with regards to assigning boarding positions.

 

[stitchlovestink]

I believe I read somewhere that EBCI position is based on when you bought your ticket. Also EBCI starts at A11 since A1-A10 are for the super-special-I -fly-all-the-time people. So the first person to buy EBCI would/should get A11 and so on. The people who wait until the 24hour mark get what comes after all the EBCI people. But with at 6 year old you should board AFTER A group. You can not bump the family up to to board with anyone at a "higher" boarding position. Also family boarding can be at the discretion of the FA so airports like Orlando often suspend family boarding since the entire plane could be "families"

The A1 to A15 spots are for A listers (those are the frequent flyers) and for ANYONE who purchased a business class fare.
Also, SW doesn't allow the gate agents to skip family boarding. It's listed on the website and doesn't say subject to availability or if offered. We fly out of BWI which has become SW hub. 75% of our flights to MCO are families. They have never skipped family boarding either way. Why??? Because skipping family boarding causes MORE DELAYS in departure trying to get people to move to accommodate those with younger children!

Just to confuse it a little more, DH and I bought out SWA tickets for the DVC member cruise with points, and paid for EBCI at that time. A couple of months LATER, our DD decides to join us and we paid cash for her WGA ticket and added EBCI at that time.

She was A27 and we were A54&A55.

So even though we paid for EBCI at least 2 months before her ticket, she got a better boarding position than we did.

there is a rumour out there when something like that happens, it is because someone who had EBCI recently canceled their ticket and you were the first person to buy a ticket w/EBCI. So your newly purchased ticket took the canceled ticket's spot. Instead of everyone getting bumped forward a number when someone cancels, the next EBCI purchaser hops into that canceled ticket holder's spot.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The A1 to A15 spots are for A listers (those are the frequent flyers) and for ANYONE who purchased a business class fare.

A1-A15 is only for Business Select..you have to pay for that fare or get an upgrade at the gate. A-Listers do not get boarding positions A1-A15 (they could IF they paid for the Business Select or did the upgrade at the gate which anyone can do that).

 

[LisaS]

The A1 to A15 spots are for A listers (those are the frequent flyers) and for ANYONE who purchased a business class fare.

A1-A15 are for Business Select passengers. The lowest position an A-List passenger can get if they did not purchase a Business Select fare is A16. Any boarding positions in the A1-A15 group that are still open just prior to boarding may be offered for sale by the gate agent at $30-$40 per person.

there is a rumour out there when something like that happens, it is because someone who had EBCI recently canceled their ticket and you were the first person to buy a ticket w/EBCI. So your newly purchased ticket took the canceled ticket's spot. Instead of everyone getting bumped forward a number when someone cancels, the next EBCI purchaser hops into that canceled ticket holder's spot.

That can only occur once you are within 24 hours of departure. At 36 hours out, the system assigns boarding positions to Business Select passengers, A-Listers and those who purchased EBCI. At 24 hours out, everyone else can check-in. If anyone who has received a boarding assignment cancels their flight, their boarding position goes back into the pool and the next person to check-in gets it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Here is info from SWA website:





(In this case Priority Boarding does not mean A1-A15 as that is for Business Select).

 

[georgina]

DH and I flew out of MCO today. We booked with points so 2 separate confirmations. We each checked in yesterday at the 24 hr mark on our phones; I got A 37 and he got B 31! I went back to double check that I did not have EBCI (I definitely did not) so there must have been that many people all hitting check in at 3:15 yesterday that we were 55 people apart.

 

[supersnoop]

DH and I flew out of MCO today. We booked with points so 2 separate confirmations. We each checked in yesterday at the 24 hr mark on our phones; I got A 37 and he got B 31! I went back to double check that I did not have EBCI (I definitely did not) so there must have been that many people all hitting check in at 3:15 yesterday that we were 55 people apart.

No, some with with A-List or EBCI got their boarding position at 36 hours but then cancelled or changed their flight between then and 24 hours, thus opening up an early spot for some lucky person.

 

[supersnoop]

Just to confuse it a little more, DH and I bought out SWA tickets for the DVC member cruise with points, and paid for EBCI at that time. A couple of months LATER, our DD decides to join us and we paid cash for her WGA ticket and added EBCI at that time.

She was A27 and we were A54&A55.

So even though we paid for EBCI at least 2 months before her ticket, she got a better boarding position than we did.

Does she fly a lot? With A-List, I usually get A20-A35.

 

[Allison]

From the Southwest website:

Is there an order in which EarlyBird Check-In Boarding Passes are reserved?

Yes. Customers who have purchased Anytime Fares will receive priority over Customer’s who purchase Early Bird with other fare types. Boarding positions are assigned based on the time stamp of the EarlyBird Check-In purchase relative to passengers within the same fare class.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

Does she fly a lot? With A-List, I usually get A20-A35.

She was 15 at the time and flew less than DH and I.