Almost there! Check-in questions. (SWA)

[daisyx3]

I just printed out our boarding passes for our flights tomorrow morning and I have two questions:
1) we did early bird check in months ago, and we got good numbers but there are gaps--flight #1 is 21,22,23,24, but flight #2 is 18,19,21,23. I'm thinking not a biggie (and in fact our layover is so short we'll get lucky to pick any seats at all) but just curious about why the skips.
2) I seem to remember last time (2010) our boarding passes were in our magical express packet that was hung on our door the night before. If not, do they print them out when we drop our bags at bell services our checkout morning? We fly out at 6:20 PM, but again we did early bird so I know our numbers will be guaranteed.
Daisyx3

 

[goofy4tink]

I just printed out our boarding passes for our flights tomorrow morning and I have two questions:
1) we did early bird check in months ago, and we got good numbers but there are gaps--flight #1 is 21,22,23,24, but flight #2 is 18,19,21,23. I'm thinking not a biggie (and in fact our layover is so short we'll get lucky to pick any seats at all) but just curious about why the skips.
2) I seem to remember last time (2010) our boarding passes were in our magical express packet that was hung on our door the night before. If not, do they print them out when we drop our bags at bell services our checkout morning? We fly out at 6:20 PM, but again we did early bird so I know our numbers will be guaranteed.
Daisyx3

1. Nothing to be concerned about. Since it's basically a computer assigning those numbers, there is always the chance of someone else getting stuck in the middle of your group.
2. I have flown home on SW many times...and have yet to have any boarding pass left for me. I have always had to go down to RAC and get them printed up that morning. Even if you do get something left on your door the night prior to departure, you still have to go down to RAC and check the bags and get 'real' boarding passes. Not an issue.

 

[daisyx3]

Thanks! That first set of flights is the nerve wracking one....only 25 minutes between flights. I hope we can at least get 2 and 2. I plan to sit as close to the front of flight #1 as possible so we can hustle off the plane and find the next one. I just chose the option that got us to WDW the earliest, and then noticed the small gap. Oh well, 24 hours from now we'll be in the air!
Daisyx3

 

[goofy4tink]

Thanks! That first set of flights is the nerve wracking one....only 25 minutes between flights. I hope we can at least get 2 and 2. I plan to sit as close to the front of flight #1 as possible so we can hustle off the plane and find the next one. I just chose the option that got us to WDW the earliest, and then noticed the small gap. Oh well, 24 hours from now we'll be in the air!
Daisyx3

With A21, 22, 23, and 24, you should be able to snag seats in the first 5 rows. The medical preboards will board before you, as well as any unaccompanied minors. But, there usually aren't many of them. Then A1-15 is reserved for business select/full fare people...again, not usually many of them either. I have had A16 before and been the 4th person boarding!!
The gates for your flights will most likely not be too far apart. And if you're in the front of the plane, you should be able to get to the next gate quickly. I would actually have one adult make a mad dash to that gate to get into the line if at all possible.
Have a great trip!!!

 

[Bobo912]

Since SWA became a RAC participant, our boarding passes have been left hanging on our door with our ME packet every time, most recently this past Dec. The first time was before ECB was available, but I had already checked in from my phone. From what I've heard from others, this doesn't always happen, but since you're already checked in it doesn't matter. When I travel to other locations on SWA, I usually just print my boarding passes at the airport.

 

[pigletto]

I hope it's ok to piggy back on this question. We are also going to be taking a flight with a layover. If I opt to add the EBC do I pay the fee for each section of the flight? I know I pay it on the outgoing flight, and on the return flight for each member of our party. But will I also have to pay to check in to the second leg of the outgoing flight? Essentially that would be paying the fee 3 times for each member and if that is the case I will take our chances and check in myself.
Thanks to anyone that can answer and have a wonderful trip Bobo912!

 

[SaraJayne]

1. Nothing to be concerned about. Since it's basically a computer assigning those numbers, there is always the chance of someone else getting stuck in the middle of your group.
2. I have flown home on SW many times...and have yet to have any boarding pass left for me. I have always had to go down to RAC and get them printed up that morning. Even if you do get something left on your door the night prior to departure, you still have to go down to RAC and check the bags and get 'real' boarding passes. Not an issue.

If you have SW boarding passes left on your door the day before, those are your "real" boarding passes and there will be no need to have different ones printed by RAC.

 

[SaraJayne]

I hope it's ok to piggy back on this question. We are also going to be taking a flight with a layover. If I opt to add the EBC do I pay the fee for each section of the flight? I know I pay it on the outgoing flight, and on the return flight for each member of our party. But will I also have to pay to check in to the second leg of the outgoing flight? Essentially that would be paying the fee 3 times for each member and if that is the case I will take our chances and check in myself.
Thanks to anyone that can answer and have a wonderful trip Bobo912!

You only pay it twice ~ outbound and inbound, regardless of flight segments. Some people say they only pay for one way, but I've never been offered that choice, it's always been $20 per person per flight.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Thanks! That first set of flights is the nerve wracking one....only 25 minutes between flights. I hope we can at least get 2 and 2. I plan to sit as close to the front of flight #1 as possible so we can hustle off the plane and find the next one. I just chose the option that got us to WDW the earliest, and then noticed the small gap. Oh well, 24 hours from now we'll be in the air!
Daisyx3

I'm not sure that 25 minutes is even a legal connection time; you are cutting it really close, even if the planes are next to each other at the gate. That said, your second flight will already be boarding (and may even be close to finishing), by the time you get to it, so your boarding numbers aren't really that important. Hopefully your first flight will be on time.

 

[daisyx3]

Yeah I was really surprised at the small gap, but it was an option that SWA presented us when they bundled the flights together. I plan to make sure the flight attendant knows about the change (in case we are the only ones, which I doubt) so the other flight doesn't leave. I have already briefed the family that we may all be in center seats for that second flight, and not to leave anything on the plane, etc.
My early bird was $10 each going, and $10 each coming home, regardless of the plane change. Well worth it for SWA.
Daisyx3

 

[Carina]

Will your luggage make it to plane #2 with only 25 mins between flights?

 

[goofy4tink]

If you have SW boarding passes left on your door the day before, those are your "real" boarding passes and there will be no need to have different ones printed by RAC.

Others have told me differently. Besides, doesn't it bother anyone to have legal boarding passes just hanging there, out in the open???
Not to mention....the vast majority of guests have to go down to check their bags anyway. What's the big deal if you have to get boarding passes issued as well.

I've flown home on SW multiple times, with and without EBC, since SW became a participating airline. Not once have I had anything left the day prior to travel other than my DME pickup notification letter. I have never had boarding passes left for me. Neither has my dh. Perhaps we are on some kind of 'list'!!!

 

[LWQuestie]

Others have told me differently. Besides, doesn't it bother anyone to have legal boarding passes just hanging there, out in the open???
Not to mention....the vast majority of guests have to go down to check their bags anyway. What's the big deal if you have to get boarding passes issued as well.

I've flown home on SW multiple times, with and without EBC, since SW became a participating airline. Not once have I had anything left the day prior to travel other than my DME pickup notification letter. I have never had boarding passes left for me. Neither has my dh. Perhaps we are on some kind of 'list'!!!

I usually fly carry-on only, but my last trip had me using the RAC service for the first time, so here's my experience, FWIW. I have received boarding passes in the ME envelope on my door several times in a row. It was a surprise the first time it happened. Those were the real, actual boarding passes, and I used them to board the plane. Did not print out anything else out at the airport.

When I used RAC, the boarding passes were in the ME envelope as previously, but the RAC person also printed out boarding passes as part of the baggage checking process. It must be part of their programming/training, because I had shown the agent that I already had printed out boarding passes.

It doesn't bother me to have them in the envelope. After all, what could anyone else do with them? Make a fake ID and show up at the airport to take my flight? I don't think that's very likely.

 

[SaraJayne]

Others have told me differently. Besides, doesn't it bother anyone to have legal boarding passes just hanging there, out in the open???
Not to mention....the vast majority of guests have to go down to check their bags anyway. What's the big deal if you have to get boarding passes issued as well.

I've flown home on SW multiple times, with and without EBC, since SW became a participating airline. Not once have I had anything left the day prior to travel other than my DME pickup notification letter. I have never had boarding passes left for me. Neither has my dh. Perhaps we are on some kind of 'list'!!!

No, it doesn't bother me in the slightest that there are boarding passes hanging on the door. What is someone going to do with them if they would be so inclined to steal them?

I've never *not* had our boarding passes printed and left for us, so my experience is the complete opposite of yours.

 

[daisyx3]

Will your luggage make it to plane #2 with only 25 mins between flights?

I sure hope so! I bought these on the first day SWA opened up the fares for today. We can't be the only people on the plane to Baltimore who are then going on to Orlando, during spring break time. Hopefully my little yellow ME tags will scream "move me! move me!"
We all have shorts in our carry ons so if the bags are delayed a flight or two, they will still get to the resort by this evening and we will be fine.
Daisyx3

 

[aubriee]

Others have told me differently. Besides, doesn't it bother anyone to have legal boarding passes just hanging there, out in the open???
Not to mention....the vast majority of guests have to go down to check their bags anyway. What's the big deal if you have to get boarding passes issued as well.

I've flown home on SW multiple times, with and without EBC, since SW became a participating airline. Not once have I had anything left the day prior to travel other than my DME pickup notification letter. I have never had boarding passes left for me. Neither has my dh. Perhaps we are on some kind of 'list'!!!

For some reason they are not consistent with it. I had the boarding passes left on my door last May, Sept, and Feb, but for my Nov/Dec trip I had to go down to RAC and get them. I always leave the room about 7:00am on my last day to get my bags checked, so left the room the same time each trip. May and Sept was at CSR and Feb was at POFQ. Nov/Dec (when it was not hanging on the door) I was back at CSR, so it's not just a certain resort either. For each trip I still had to go down to check my luggage. I had to show them the boarding passes and ID and they tagged my luggage. I just didn't have to have them print boarding passes. Since I still had to check luggage, I didn't see that it really saved much time. They are the real boarding pases though and I was surprised the first time it happened last May. I got the envelope with the DME pick up info one morning. Then early the next morning, as I was taking my luggage out to go to the RAC desk to check in for my departing flight, I found the envelope hanging on door with my boarding pass already in it.

 

[Minnesota!]

Others have told me differently. Besides, doesn't it bother anyone to have legal boarding passes just hanging there, out in the open???
Not to mention....the vast majority of guests have to go down to check their bags anyway. What's the big deal if you have to get boarding passes issued as well.

I've flown home on SW multiple times, with and without EBC, since SW became a participating airline. Not once have I had anything left the day prior to travel other than my DME pickup notification letter. I have never had boarding passes left for me. Neither has my dh. Perhaps we are on some kind of 'list'!!!

We have never, ever...not even once!...had boarding passes left for us! We always have to go to the RAC at the hotel and handle it there.

I wonder why it's so hit or miss...?

 

[mb187143]

we have had boarding passes with our express check out documents every trip since Sept. '10. We've flown Southwest each of those times, so no experience with other airlines, but that was the case for our stays at AKL, the Poly, CBR, POR, and POFQ since Sept. 2010. Never got a new one printed when we took our bags to RAC, just showed them the one we had hanging on our door, and our IDs. This was our experience both with and without EBCI. And no, it doesn't concern me one bit to have this information hanging on our door for a few hours in the middle of the night, since on our last day i'm usually up by 7 and grab it then anyway. Didn't bother my parents either for our trip in Sept. 2011.

No idea why it's inconsistent for some and others seem to have had this every time, like we have, but it's interesting for sure.