Has anyone used boardfirst.com on Southwest Airlines?

[princesspumpkin]

Don't worry, I was in your same predicament February '05. There were 12 of us on the Disney cruise and I printed all of our boarding passes on the ship at the internet cafe. I do believe that the internet cafe is open 24/7. When we went, you couldn't print boarding passes on SWA until 12:01 of the day of your flight. I went to the internet cafe at midnight (for a 4pm flight) and printed most of them out (I couldn't find a few of my traveling companions' reservation numbers so when everyone woke up at 6am, I asked them and went back to the internet cafe and printed the rest of the boarding passes.) They were all A's.

 

[mitsguy2001]

I don't want to sound rude. But all that I was really asking about was specifically about boardfirst.com. I wasn't asking for reasons why people think it's a waste of money; to me, I think it is very much well worth the $5, and I'd be willing to pay far more than that. But that is only if it is safe, reliable, and legal. So far, no one seems to know the answer for sure. That is ok, since maybe no one used it. I was not interested in suggestions such as using the internet cafe or having a friend log me in. Neither of those suggestions work for me. Again, I don't want to sound rude, but this thread has really gone off on a tangent. Thank you to anyone who tried to help.

 

[DonnaL]

I can only speak from my own experiences with boarding and SW. We've NEVER had a problem getting seats together. And we've flown SW on numerous occasions. Sometimes it's just DH and myself. Other times we've got four or six of us. Granted when we have six we may be across an aisle or seated either behind or in front of each other, but, never have we been all over the plane. I will say we've always had A's, but, on our last trip we did not do online checkin 24 hours before. We waited until we got back to SSR that night and it was probably 13 or 14 hours before and we still got A's. I thought maybe the flight wasn't full, but, when we got on board I was surprised because there was only 3 or 4 seats not filled after boarding was complete. I know a lot of people say there are always a lot of preboards. I have found that to be the case on only one trip. I also think it depends a lot on the time of year you travel.

 

[Chattins]

I don't want to sound rude. But all that I was really asking about was specifically about boardfirst.com. I wasn't asking for reasons why people think it's a waste of money; to me, I think it is very much well worth the $5, and I'd be willing to pay far more than that. But that is only if it is safe, reliable, and legal. So far, no one seems to know the answer for sure. That is ok, since maybe no one used it. I was not interested in suggestions such as using the internet cafe or having a friend log me in. Neither of those suggestions work for me. Again, I don't want to sound rude, but this thread has really gone off on a tangent. Thank you to anyone who tried to help.

Even though you didn't want to sound rude, YOU DID!!

I've read thru this whole post and everyone gave you helpful ideas and offered to help in any way. Dis board members (most of the time) will go out of their way to help someone else. It's unfortunate that you didn't get your "specific" question answered - but please have enought respect not to dismiss those who responded to your question.

 

[pamjb]

Mitsguy.

You asked a question. We didn't know the answer. We gave you alternatives. Several of us even offered to book online for you. No charge and you wouldn't have to give us your credit card number. Perhaps you took someone up on the offer. I personally tried to help you. Not only on this issue, but your issue about lost luggage. Why? Because I like to have people have a great time at Disney. Whether it be friend, relative or stranger. Perhaps I am a glass half full kind of person, and you are a glass half empty. Maybe that is why you posted this same question on the cruiseline forum and got pretty much the same answers.
All I can say is enjoy your trip whatever happens. We just wanted to help you, not cause you more agita.

 

[Lewisc]

I don't want to sound rude. But all that I was really asking about was specifically about boardfirst.com. I wasn't asking for reasons why people think it's a waste of money; to me, I think it is very much well worth the $5, and I'd be willing to pay far more than that. But that is only if it is safe, reliable, and legal.

I already posted that boardfirst violates the new terms and conditions on SW website and that the other sites that perform a similar service have already shut down. I wouldn't call it reliable since SW may shut it down at any time.

Doris volunteered to get you a BP for free.

Sorry but you do sound rude.

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi All,

I have a question, or what I really need is advice.

My family 18 of us will be on the Wonder for Thanksgiving 2007 & will be coming home hopefully (Delta )on Sunday Nov 26th supposedly the busiest time to travel.

My question is if, someone from home prints our boarding pass 24 hours in advance, can they fax it to me on the Wonder, or better yet, can I go to the airport without it & ask to have them reprinted?

Thanks for any information, I have been wondering about this.

Patricia

 

[pamjb]

The bad news.....SW won't accept fax copies of boarding passes.
The good news......You can reprint the boarding passes at the airport. You will get the same boarding letter as your relative that checked you in online.

I didn't realize you were talking about Delta. Since this was a SW thread. My bad.
Because Delta has assigned seats, you don't have to print your boarding passes ahead of time. That is only an issue with SW, which has "cattle drive" seating. On Delta, you can check in when you get to the airport. Either curbside with a skycap, at the ticket counter, or even at a self-serve kiosk.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I have been told that MCO has so many preboards that often even people with A passes can't sit together.

That's a gross exaggeration.

But if you look at mitguy2001's other thread (bringing one's own luggage to the DME bus) combined with this one, you'll see he seems to be taking hearsay from unknown/unidentified sources as fact and ignoring the information provided by the extremely knowledgeable and helpful DISers.

I don't want to sound rude. But all that I was really asking about was specifically about boardfirst.com. I wasn't asking for reasons why people think it's a waste of money; to me, I think it is very much well worth the $5, and I'd be willing to pay far more than that. But that is only if it is safe, reliable, and legal.

Look at the information you've gotten so far: Nobody who's read your post has used boardfirst, so nobody knows if it's safe or reliable. People HAVE posted that it violates Southwest's own rules, which makes it iffy at best as far as I'm concerned. Say you pay boardfirst, they get you the A passes then while you're at sea Southwest is able to stop them from providing this service and refuses to honor any boarding passes issued by boardfirst? Then you're out the money AND you end up with two C boarding passes because you didn't know any of this happened until you get to the airport and end up at opposite ends of the plane, in middle seats?

Again, I don't want to sound rude, but this thread has really gone off on a tangent. Thank you to anyone who tried to help.

Once you start a thread, you can't control its tangents. One thing you, as the original poster, CAN do is ask the moderators to lock/close the thread.

 

[Lewisc]

I didn't notice it was the same poster.

Anyone who doesn't "trust" DME shouldn't even think of trusting a company that continues to promote a service that violates SW's terms and conditions and is subject to be shut down with no advance notice.

and yes the OP is being extremely rude.

But if you look at mitguy2001's other thread (bringing one's own luggage to the DME bus) combined with this one, you'll see he seems to be taking hearsay from unknown/unidentified sources as fact and ignoring the information provided by the extremely knowledgeable and helpful DISers.

 

[princesspumpkin]

I'll be on a Disney cruise at the time. I don't think that they'll be able to check me in. Or, if you have experience with DCL checking people into Southwest flights 24 hours in advance, please let me know. Thanks.

I answered this question, hoping that it would help if you didn't get the boardfirst info that you were looking for. Since it seemed that boardfirst was a little questionable, and DCL printing boarding passes was proven, I thought that this info was helpful. Maybe you should cancel your ressies for SWA and rebook first class with another airline. That way you would be guaranteed to get on first and sit with each other and get off first. I know that you didn't ask for that info, but I actually meant to be rude

 

[TDC Nala]

It's worth the $5 to me. And I heard that at MCO it is not possible to sit together with a B pass, and sometimes not even an A pass, so it's worth it to me as long as it is safe, legal, and reliable.

Where'd you hear that? I travel alone, but from what I have observed over several trips a party of two should not have a problem with an A or B pass.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Maybe you should cancel your ressies for SWA and rebook first class with another airline. That way you would be guaranteed to get on first and sit with each other and get off first. I know that you didn't ask for that info, but I actually meant to be rude

Oh, if only more of us were this honest! Okay, fine, I'm in: I, too, meant to be rude. I'll go you two further - I also meant to be cynical and critical. How'd I do?

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Okay, this thread has gotten a little out of control, so I'm going to close it.

It appears that the consensus regarding boardfirst.com is that its reliability is dependent on SW's terms of service, which could be modified to prohibit companies such as boardfirst.com from obtaining the boarding passes. Right now, the service appears to be "safe, legal, and reliable", something that could change unexpectedly (i.e., while a customer is on vacation and away from internet access) and leave someone expecting an A pass with a C, hence the suggested alternatives.

To me, if the legality of the service could change unexpectedly, it doesn't seem very safe or reliable. Maybe that's it in a nutshell.

ETA: This link to a thread on flyertalk was forwarded to me by a DISer. Of note are post #s 49 and 71. If Boardfirst hasn't been shut down yet, it may soon.