Checkinsooner.com...just gave it a try...

[mdhkitten]

Just inputted confirmation number and name into Checkinsooner.com. They say they will get boarding passes from SWA at 24 hour mark before flight, both outbound and inbound. Free for guests. Anyone have experience with them??? Sounds too good, but if I don't have to putz around trying to get a boarding pass at POFQ at 9:50 AM when I could be at a park, then it's well worth free.

You can also check in online for SWA with your cell phone. I did this in November at the Coral Reef restaurant and it worked out perfectly! They show you the letter on your cell phone, and you just print out the boarding pass once you get to the airport. BTW, you do need to make sure and have your confirmation # with you, though.

 

[neville.aga]

OK, this is kinda silly. I saw this post last night and tried to answer the questions posed, but got my posting removed because the moderators thought I was advertising my site. I'm not. On top of that, I can't reply to the moderators as I don't have enough points to PM them. So... here I go again (hopefully this passes the censors!)

On Southwest not liking the site / shutting it down - I do not see it happening. A judge has already ruled against Southwest in a lawsuit with Boardfirst. This type of activity is seen (correctly) as a service, and people are free to use / not use the services they see fit.

As far as what you can do with a record locator, first and last name (the data checkinsooner asks for) - you can not cancel / modify a ticket - that takes the credit card holders name. If the credit card holders name is the same as the traveler, then you can cancel the reservation and apply the funds to your own travel, so you have to be sure that a person / company you are dealing with is reputable. I am not going to make any references to the reputability of checkinsooner here as the moderators would see that as advertising and shoot the post down. I'll encourage the members check it out for themselves.

However, the nutty thing is that people will use a WiFi at a coffee shop and use that connection to buy a ticket / check in online at southwest.com and that is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous. After all, the WiFi owner at the coffee shop can get your confirmation number easily and can cancel / change your ticket if they desire since they are brokering access between you and southwest.com. People don't seem to care. They will check their bank account balance at a coffee shop without a care and those same people are nervous about giving information to other 3rd parties. The point is, it is done all the time. You just have to know and trust who you are dealing with. The data checkinsooner asks for is not that sensitive in the spectrum of things (it is not like a social security number and identity theft). You just have to trust people you go into business with and determine if the service provided exceeds the level of risk involved. People make that calculation 100 times a day on everything from where to eat to where to bank. They do it almost unconsciously. This is the same calculus that should go into using a site like this one.

Neville

 

[slruud]

As the original poster for this thread, let me say the process worked just fine. I could monitor the checkin for my outbound flight, and saw that I was checked in minutes after the 24 hour limit. For my return trip, I just let it ride, and when I printed out boarding passes at MCO, we had A's, 3 and 4. Again as I said previously, no need to lug a laptop, stand in line at concierege, or look for and wait at guest services. For the price...free, well worth it. Won't need it for trip to San Francisco this weekend, but definitely for DL trip at end of February. You naysayers are entitled to your opinion, but the overall experience won me over.

 

[Lewisc]

Could you supply a link to the court decision? I thought the judge only ruled on a preliminary injuction.

It may be a service by SW has successfly blocked sites like travelocity from displaying their schedule. Many of the check in sites closed in response to letters from SW. Your "service" violates the terms and conditions of SWs website. Did you get a letter from SW? What were you told?

OK, this is kinda silly. I saw this post last night and tried to answer the questions posed, but got my posting removed because the moderators thought I was advertising my site. I'm not. On top of that, I can't reply to the moderators as I don't have enough points to PM them. So... here I go again (hopefully this passes the censors!)

On Southwest not liking the site / shutting it down - I do not see it happening. A judge has already ruled against Southwest in a lawsuit with Boardfirst. This type of activity is seen (correctly) as a service, and people are free to use / not use the services they see fit.

As far as what you can do with a record locator, first and last name (the data checkinsooner asks for) - you can not cancel / modify a ticket - that takes the credit card holders name. If the credit card holders name is the same as the traveler, then you can cancel the reservation and apply the funds to your own travel, so you have to be sure that a person / company you are dealing with is reputable. I am not going to make any references to the reputability of checkinsooner here as the moderators would see that as advertising and shoot the post down. I'll encourage the members check it out for themselves.

However, the nutty thing is that people will use a WiFi at a coffee shop and use that connection to buy a ticket / check in online at southwest.com and that is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous. After all, the WiFi owner at the coffee shop can get your confirmation number easily and can cancel / change your ticket if they desire since they are brokering access between you and southwest.com. People don't seem to care. They will check their bank account balance at a coffee shop without a care and those same people are nervous about giving information to other 3rd parties. The point is, it is done all the time. You just have to know and trust who you are dealing with. The data checkinsooner asks for is not that sensitive in the spectrum of things (it is not like a social security number and identity theft). You just have to trust people you go into business with and determine if the service provided exceeds the level of risk involved. People make that calculation 100 times a day on everything from where to eat to where to bank. They do it almost unconsciously. This is the same calculus that should go into using a site like this one.

Neville

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Just out of curiosity - what is the big deal with getting an A pass anyway? You still have to wait for everyone to board, there are generally TONS of preboards to MCO, and everyone on the plane gets the same service anyway. Is it a concern of not getting on the plane? Or a need for your whole family to be side by side? DH and I often travel SWA out of BUF and have often gotten 'C' passes with no issue - and no stress of printing out passes at the crack of dawn. Anyway - just curious on the motivation.

For me the motivation on making sure I get an A boarding pass is that I suffer from some motion sickness, and I do best if I sit in the wing area. I feel much better about things if I can get on board and make sure I am sitting where it works best for me. Works best for everyone around me, too.

 

[neville.aga]

Could you supply a link to the court decision? I thought the judge only ruled on a preliminary injuction.

It may be a service by SW has successfly blocked sites like travelocity from displaying their schedule. Many of the check in sites closed in response to letters from SW. Your "service" violates the terms and conditions of SWs website. Did you get a letter from SW? What were you told?

I have not heard from Southwest. In fact, I have contacted both Southwest and American telling them what I am doing and asking to work with them (put verbiage we mutually approve of on my site, etc) and they have not contacted me back.

As far as violating the terms and conditions - read what I wrote about the WiFi at Joes coffee shop. If Joe charges you $10 to access the internet and you surf to southwest.com - guess what, you just violated the terms and conditions of southwest.com. The language is so broad that if you pay cox for internet access at home and cox provides you a link to southwest.com for a profit, you are again in violation. Examples abound. Many companies use proxy servers to control internet access. This provides a company a centralized way to log and choke off employees from going to sites not approved. The companies that sell proxy servers do so at a profit and, of course, violate southwest’s Ts & Cs if they provide a pass-thru connection from a flyer to southwest.com. There is nothing fundamentally different in using a proxy server to access southwest.com and using checkinsooner to do the same. The only difference is the checkinsooner request is a time-shifted proxy. Some people on this thread have said just let the Disney concierge check you in. Guess what - that also violates their terms. After all Disney inc is making a profit (your hotel and park stay is not free) by doing a service for you on Southwest.com. Their position on the subject is just unrealistic and unworkable.

 

[CarolA]

I have not heard from Southwest. In fact, I have contacted both Southwest and American telling them what I am doing and asking to work with them (put verbiage we mutually approve of on my site, etc) and they have not contacted me back.

As far as violating the terms and conditions - read what I wrote about the WiFi at Joes coffee shop. If Joe charges you $10 to access the internet and you surf to southwest.com - guess what, you just violated the terms and conditions of southwest.com. The language is so broad that if you pay cox for internet access at home and cox provides you a link to southwest.com for a profit, you are again in violation. Examples abound. Many companies use proxy servers to control internet access. This provides a company a centralized way to log and choke off employees from going to sites not approved. The companies that sell proxy servers do so at a profit and, of course, violate southwest’s Ts & Cs if they provide a pass-thru connection from a flyer to southwest.com. There is nothing fundamentally different in using a proxy server to access southwest.com and using checkinsooner to do the same. The only difference is the checkinsooner request is a time-shifted proxy. Some people on this thread have said just let the Disney concierge check you in. Guess what - that also violates their terms. After all Disney inc is making a profit (your hotel and park stay is not free) by doing a service for you on Southwest.com. Their position on the subject is just unrealistic and unworkable.

1. WHY SHOULD SW OR AA "partner" with you? Are you paying them? (And why should AA even consider this)

2. You have GOT to be kidding that by using my internet provider I am violating the terms of SW. Talk about creative interpretation...

 

[Lewisc]

I asked if you had a link to the court decision regarding the Board First case. I guess you don't.

You agree your service violates the terms and conditions of SWs website. A person gets a speeding ticket for going 90. Their defense is no one is driving 55. About the same logic.

You can't really believe using your service is the same as a traveler using an internet cafe or an ISP using a proxy server. You can't be that stupid, don't assume we're that stupid.

I have not heard from Southwest. In fact, I have contacted both Southwest and American telling them what I am doing and asking to work with them (put verbiage we mutually approve of on my site, etc) and they have not contacted me back.

As far as violating the terms and conditions - read what I wrote about the WiFi at Joes coffee shop. If Joe charges you $10 to access the internet and you surf to southwest.com - guess what, you just violated the terms and conditions of southwest.com. The language is so broad that if you pay cox for internet access at home and cox provides you a link to southwest.com for a profit, you are again in violation. Examples abound. Many companies use proxy servers to control internet access. This provides a company a centralized way to log and choke off employees from going to sites not approved. The companies that sell proxy servers do so at a profit and, of course, violate southwest’s Ts & Cs if they provide a pass-thru connection from a flyer to southwest.com. There is nothing fundamentally different in using a proxy server to access southwest.com and using checkinsooner to do the same. The only difference is the checkinsooner request is a time-shifted proxy. Some people on this thread have said just let the Disney concierge check you in. Guess what - that also violates their terms. After all Disney inc is making a profit (your hotel and park stay is not free) by doing a service for you on Southwest.com. Their position on the subject is just unrealistic and unworkable.

 

[Daisimae]

You can also check in online for SWA with your cell phone. I did this in November at the Coral Reef restaurant and it worked out perfectly! They show you the letter on your cell phone, and you just print out the boarding pass once you get to the airport. BTW, you do need to make sure and have your confirmation # with you, though.

This is what we do. I put the confirmation # in the notepad section of my cell phone, so I don't have to carry around another piece of paper with me.

 

[neville.aga]

1. WHY SHOULD SW OR AA "partner" with you? Are you paying them? (And why should AA even consider this)

2. You have GOT to be kidding that by using my internet provider I am violating the terms of SW. Talk about creative interpretation...

I dont want to hijack this thread and take it off topic, so I'll leave it with that on
#1 it is in the best interest of travelers, the airlines and myself to do so, and
#2 I'm not kidding. Read the language.

 

[Lewisc]

#1--One of the purposes of online checkin is so the airline knows the passenger is still planning on taking the flight. That's accomplished if the passenger checks in, asks a relative to check them in or even asks a hotel employee to do it. It really doesn't tell the airline anything if the passenger signs up for a service shortly after making a reservation. A service such as yours isn't in the best interest of SW, if it was they wouldn't be fighting it.

#2--You must be kidding if you don't see the difference between a passenger using an internet café to check themselves in and using a service.

You admit your service violates SWs TOS

The funny thing is legal uncertainty is a required condition of your business model. Once any legal ambiguity is resolved free, automated services will be widely available. SW will have to change their system.

I dont want to hijack this thread and take it off topic, so I'll leave it with that on
#1 it is in the best interest of travelers, the airlines and myself to do so, and
#2 I'm not kidding. Read the language.

 

[neville.aga]

This will be the last post I put on this subject and on this board. I never knew a group of Disney veterans could be so hostile. You all can dump all you want, but I am not going to be a party to it anymore. I spend nearly every weekday in an airport and as such I need tools to help me with my travel. People that buy my service are not twice a year to Disney types, but the people who spend 3-5 days a week in airports. As I built this service I thought it would be nice and simply give it away to the twice-a-year to Disney folks, but I can see that was a bad idea from all your hostile language.

I wanted to stay away from a discussion like this here on this thread, but I can see I am going to need to address these points.

1. WHY SHOULD SW OR AA "partner" with you? Are you paying them? (And why should AA even consider this)

Why partner? Simple, it is in the airlines best interest. We all agree there is some amount of risk in another party having access to a record locator. As it stands now there is nothing preventing multiple sites from springing up claiming to do a service (online checkin is one service, but there are others) based on you giving your record locator or similar information. There is no guarantee these sites will do what they say, protect your data in an industry standard manner, or flat out be a fraud site. By working with a handful of trusted partners and establishing a framework for collecting and securing this data, flyers can be confident in dealing with a name-brand airline service site. It is not in Southwest's interest for freesouthwesttravel.com or something like that to come up and then their customers use it and it is just a fraud site, screwing up these people’s reservations or something along those lines. By creating a framework with input from sites, airlines and others where everyone agrees on what constitutes a basic level of protection and security then customers can be more confident when dealing with a site that is logo verified by this standard, the airline can be confident these sites will work with them in a manner that they understand and will not screw up anything on their end, and finally sites that provide travel services will not have to explain until we are blue in the face that we are doing something valuable and legitimate. Everyone wins.

As far as American and the other airlines, I am not going to go into here why people use checkinsooner for American and other airlines. There are many reasons to check in online and early and they do not have to do with an A boarding pass. There are many people who use and are thankful for the service that do not fly Southwest at all. If you are interested in more, read the site.

You can't really believe using your service is the same as a traveler using an internet cafe or an ISP using a proxy server. You can't be that stupid, don't assume we're that stupid.

You have GOT to be kidding that by using my internet provider I am violating the terms of SW.

No, I'm not kidding. And no, I'm not doing creative interpretation. Here is their text from their site:

"Southwest's web sites and any Company Information is available to you only to learn about, evaluate, or purchase Southwest's services and products. Unless you are an approved Southwest travel agent, you may use the Southwest web sites and any Company Information only for personal, non-commercial purposes. For example, third parties may not use the Southwest web sites for the purpose of checking Customers in online or attempting to obtain for them a boarding pass in any certain boarding group... You may not use any "deep-link," "page-scrape," "robot," "spider" or other
automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology which does the same things, to access, acquire, copy, or monitor any portion of the Southwest web sites or any Company Information."

Let's start with the 2nd part of that talking about roboting and spidering.
Google does this daily. They, along with msn, yahoo, and others are daily 'roboting' and 'spidering' southwest's site on a continual basis, and they do this for profit, not so that google can learn about, evaluate, or purchase Southwest's services and products, but simply so Google can index the internet for profit and sell ad space. Check it out: go to google.com and type “site:southwest.com”. That is a clear violation. Why are there not hordes of people sending nastygrams to google daily?

Now look at the first line, "Southwest's web sites and any Company Information is available to you only to learn about, evaluate, or purchase Southwest's services and products... you may use the Southwest web sites and any Company Information only for personal, non-commercial purposes." Their attitude on this subject is that southwest.com exists solely for southwest to communicate with its customers (flyers). My ISP "uses" Southwest.com. They do not use it to purchase a ticket, but to market to people in my area saying sign up with us and we will deliver sites like southwest.com to you faster. In the same manner Joe's coffee shop "uses" southwest.com. If an entity is brokering access between southwest.com and a flyer, that entity is using southwest.com and they are doing so for financial advantage. I promise you there are many times I have bought a TMoblie WiFi day pass for $10 inside my home airport, and all I did with that day pass was log onto Southwest.com, buy a ticket for future travel, and check in for a flight the following day. In those situations I did not buy internet access to surf aimlessly - there was a very specific reason for buying and it all revolved around communicating with southwest.com. I see no other way to look at that except TMobile is making a $10 profit off of me based on my need to communicate with southwest.com at a specific time and place. Just because you don't use a hotspot in that manner does not mean that I do not. Why don't we go and shut down TMobile hotspots?

Next, "For example, third parties may not use the Southwest web sites for the purpose of checking Customers in online". Pretty specific. If you call Dad (an obvious 3rd party in a transaction between southwest and a flyer) and ask him to check you in online, you are in violation. How else do you see that? Same goes for the concierge, your secretary, your Uncle Joe and checkinsooner. I have no problem being in the same bucket here with Dad and Uncle Joe. If Southwest wants to be ridiculous in their policy I can't help them.

Finally, "or attempting to obtain for them a boarding pass in any certain boarding group" - checkinsooner does not guarantee any certain boarding group. Read the site. All we guarantee is that a person is checked in within 3 minutes of their flight being opened for online checkin. Southwest is free to distribute their A passes any way they see fit. They can distribute them by playing video poker at the checkin kiosk for all I care. I obviously do not control that.

The Wright amendment was a bad law. Nevertheless it was/is the law of the land. Southwest waged an all-out war last year to remove what they saw as a barrier to their business and bad policy. Why were naysayers not out there telling Southwest just to sit there and take it? The central point: Just because someone else likes or does not like something does not make it wrong!!

A service such as yours isn't in the best interest of SW

Southwest airlines is *NOT* my customer. My customer is the traveling public. People get to decide, not corporations or the Government. This is not China.

You admit your service violates SWs TOS

The only thing I admit is their ToS are short-sighted, as pointed out above.


To the naysayers out there, obviously I am not going to count you as customers anytime soon. That is fine; I am not troubled by that. However, I am very troubled that there is this notion out there some people hold that online travel service sites are doing something wrong by the service being offered. There is nothing wrong being done by these sites. I have a personal goal of educating the traveling public to that point. I hope that by sharing these examples people can see there is a valid need that is being filled in a legitimate way, and make their own decisions about what products and services are valuable to them based on their specific need, and nothing else.