early bird check in with southwest

[Corinne]

What they ought to do in that situation is allow all EBCI purchasers to board, even those in the B group, before family boarding. I wonder if they will make some adjustments to their boarding procedure now that more passengers are paying for EBCI and some are ending up with B boarding passes.

This is my thought exactly! The only reason I wanted an A boarding pass was to be boarded prior to family boarding. So now, I essentially paid for nothing. Since EBCI has become more popular, it is time for them to re-think their process.

 

[stormer]

What they ought to do in that situation is allow all EBCI purchasers to board, even those in the B group, before family boarding. I wonder if they will make some adjustments to their boarding procedure now that more passengers are paying for EBCI and some are ending up with B boarding passes.

We got B 1-4 when we flew out of Islip (NY) in February even though we did EBCI. The amount of people who boarded during family boarding (before us) was ridiculous. The announcement says it is only parents and children, but that did not happen. There were grandparents and other family members boaring with the families. There was one group traveling together (in matching Disney shirts) of 17 people and they were all allowed to board during family boarding. I complained that I paid an extra $40 and my family was boarding after so many people. I was told if I wasn't happy I could board with family boarding, which did me no good at that point becasue they were letting these people board at that point. I wrote a letter when I got home explaining it was not fair to let family boarding happen before people who paid for EBCI, but all they said was it is up to the descretion of the employee working as to who would be allowed to board with family boarding, no mention of allowing EBCI first.

 

[daughtryfan114]

We got B 1-4 when we flew out of Islip (NY) in February even though we did EBCI. The amount of people who boarded during family boarding (before us) was ridiculous. The announcement says it is only parents and children, but that did not happen. There were grandparents and other family members boaring with the families. There was one group traveling together (in matching Disney shirts) of 17 people and they were all allowed to board during family boarding. I complained that I paid an extra $40 and my family was boarding after so many people. I was told if I wasn't happy I could board with family boarding, which did me no good at that point becasue they were letting these people board at that point. I wrote a letter when I got home explaining it was not fair to let family boarding happen before people who paid for EBCI, but all they said was it is up to the descretion of the employee working as to who would be allowed to board with family boarding, no mention of allowing EBCI first.

I booked our flight in May. I added EBCI about 10 days before trip and got A60 B1 B2 B3. Our flight has been sold out for almost 2 weeks. Flying from PHL to MCO.

 

[stormer]

I booked our flight in May. I added EBCI about 10 days before trip and got A60 B1 B2 B3. Our flight has been sold out for almost 2 weeks. Flying from PHL to MCO.

If I were you I would tell them your numbers are split and you would all like to board with A60 so none of your party is stuck boarding after family boarding.

 

[Denise W]

The numbers aren't split, there are 60 numbers in each section, so B1 comes after A60! In addition, if your numbers are split, they will not allow the later numbers to board with the earlier number. However, the earlier number can wait and board with the later numbers.

Denise

 

[jayhawk74]

When flying SW, A1-15 are always saved for business select people, A-listers

Business Select and A-listers are two different categories. Business Select do get A1-15, and those can be bought up to 1 hour before the flight. A-listers are those passengers who do a certain amount of flights in a year on SWA and they get checked in automatically before the Early Bird.

 

[Disneynewtome]

Sorry to sound a little bit stupid but now do I understand that if I buy the early boarding from SW I do not need to check in at the 24 hour mark, all I need to do is when I checkout the resort will print my boarding pass or do I need them to print it the day before? boy I do sound confused!!!

 

[Mkrop]

The advantage is that it checks you in 12 hours before anyone who did not buy EBCI. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone that did not get an A pass using EBCI. For us, the real advantage is having the checking done while you do something else. Mainly the return flight home. I don't have to mess with my cell phone while in the parks.

If you got a B with EBCI just think how screwed the people are that did not buy it.

Our flight in July we got A57, A58, A59 and B3.

I booked our flight in May. I added EBCI about 10 days before trip and got A60 B1 B2 B3. Our flight has been sold out for almost 2 weeks. Flying from PHL to MCO.

See above, our youngest got the B3, so we asked if we needed to line up with him and we were told no, we could all line up with the As and have him go with us.

Sorry to sound a little bit stupid but now do I understand that if I buy the early boarding from SW I do not need to check in at the 24 hour mark, all I need to do is when I checkout the resort will print my boarding pass or do I need them to print it the day before? boy I do sound confused!!!

EBCI will check you in at 36 hours, no matter where you are or what you are doing. You can not print them out until the 24 hour mark or anytime after. If your 24 hour mark is 1pm, you can go to the front desk and ask them to print them at that time, you can ask them to print them at 9pm after you returned from a park, you could have them print them the next morning when you check in at RAC, or you could print them when you get to the airport from a kiosk.

That is the beauty of the EBCI, you do not need to be near a checkin device, computer or phone, at the 24 hour mark. SW checks you in and then you can print them later when it is more convient. Your boarding number stays the same.

 

[AshleyD1983]

I am glad to know how this works for the future. I didn't worry much about purchasing it because I knew we could board with family boarding if we were in the B group. Out of curiosity.... Does anyone know if there is an age cut off for the children that allow you to board via family boarding???

 

[tjmw2727]

I am glad to know how this works for the future. I didn't worry much about purchasing it because I knew we could board with family boarding if we were in the B group. Out of curiosity.... Does anyone know if there is an age cut off for the children that allow you to board via family boarding???

From the SWA website :
"An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the "A" group has boarded and before the "B" group begins boarding. However, those Customers holding an "A" boarding pass should still board with the "A" boarding group."

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?topic=boarding_school

 

[LisaS]

The numbers aren't split, there are 60 numbers in each section, so B1 comes after A60!

Family boarding occurs between A60 and B1 so I think that is what stormer meant by "split". There could be quite a few people boarding between A60 and B1 so in that situation (especially where the family paid for EBCI) I would ask if the family member with B1 could board with the rest of the family at the end of the A group.

 

[Friendofpluto]

I always pay the extra fee for early boarding. I purchased our tickets the first day they were open to public. On way home our number was B2, B3. It was really not much of an advantage waiting till after all the families were boarded. We were seated towards the back.

 

[LisaS]

I always pay the extra fee for early boarding. I purchased our tickets the first day they were open to public. On way home our number was B2, B3. It was really not much of an advantage waiting till after all the families were boarded. We were seated towards the back.

Getting boarding positions in the B group with EBCI is becoming more common unfortunately! EBCI boarding positions are assigned by fare class as well as by purchase date. Customers who purchase "Anytime" fares will get better boarding positions than those of us buying "Wanna Get Away" fares, even if we bought our tickets the first day they went on sale and purchased EBCI at that time.

On one recent trip we used the last of our SWA Awards for the flight and we bought EBCI months in advance of our trip. We got the worst boarding position of all of those who bought EBCI. I can only assume it's because we used an Award to pay for our flights.

 

[AshleyD1983]

From the SWA website :
"An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the "A" group has boarded and before the "B" group begins boarding. However, those Customers holding an "A" boarding pass should still board with the "A" boarding group."

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?topic=boarding_school

Thank you! I guess this will be our last year for family boarding.

 

[Disneynewtome]

From the SWA website :
"An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the "A" group has boarded and before the "B" group begins boarding. However, those Customers holding an "A" boarding pass should still board with the "A" boarding group."

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?topic=boarding_school

This not happen very often.I have flew SW many times and I have seen families with kids way older than 4 use the early boarding! And nothing is said!

 

[Hoopfamily]

When we flew SW 2 years ago it was a 6am flight out of MHT nonstop to MCO. They did not do family boarding, probably because nearly the entire plane was families with small children.