Is Early Bird Check In worth it on SW?

[magicaldisney]

plus it's the only flight of the day going to MCO so I ant imagine they can oversell it as people aren't going to give up a ticket if they can't leave till the next day.

Ah, but here is where you are mistaken. Many travelers will put cushion time into their travels for this exact thing happening, not because they expect it to happen, but because they want it to happen to earn the voucher. This happens all the time and some travelers look forward to it.

 

[Gracie09]

There is no other flight or connecting flight to MCO the rest of the day...we are flying out if a small, unpopular airport...hence the only one flight a day compared to 8 at the next closest airport which is a major city. I have friends that went Last week on the same flight and there were empty seats. I'm pretty confident with my logic.

The willingness of people to volunteer to give up their ticket has no bearing on sw overselling the flight. They oversell assuming a certain percent of people just won't show up. If they all do, people will be denied boarding, volunteer or not. I personally wouldn't chance it but I am risk adverse and do silly things like take out trip insurance and print out my adrs with reservation number just in case there is an issue

 

[sam_gordon]

Oh I agree...I got great advice from both sides though. Not everyone felt it was necessary. I just find it amusing that some people almost seem to get upset or crabby with me for choosing not to spend the money for EBCI. Like I'm going to be forcing people on my flight to let my family sit together and am trying to cheat the system in some way. That's all. Thanks again for all the advice...it is this thread that actually did help me solidly my decision to not pay for EBCI. I will be sure to report how it went.

The bolded is the key. There have been PLENTY of stories of people trying to force others to give up seats because families "MUST sit together". So please explain how a bunch of strangers would know that you won't do that.

 

[telecomguy]

Not to break up the argument, but I went ahead and bit the bullet and bought EBCI last night because I want to be sure we get to sit together. I don't want any uncertainty with it.

I think on the way back we should be a little better, since we're flying home on 12/10 which is a Tuesday, and on a 737-800 which has a little more seating. I'm also hoping my wife will be a little better seeing as how she will have one flight under her belt.

 

[sam_gordon]

Not to break up the argument, but I went ahead and bit the bullet and bought EBCI last night because I want to be sure we get to sit together. I don't want any uncertainty with it.

I think on the way back we should be a little better, since we're flying home on 12/10 which is a Tuesday, and on a 737-800 which has a little more seating. I'm also hoping my wife will be a little better seeing as how she will have one flight under her belt.

EBCI does NOT guarantee you will sit together. It just increases the CHANCES of getting seats together.

 

[telecomguy]

EBCI does NOT guarantee you will sit together. It just increases the CHANCES of getting seats together.

Sorry, guess I should have chosen my words a little better. I am aware there is no guarantee.

 

[sam_gordon]

Sorry, guess I should have chosen my words a little better. I am aware there is no guarantee.

OK. Not everyone is, so I wanted to make sure you were aware of the situation.

 

[jayhawk74]

I think on the way back we should be a little better, since we're flying home on 12/10 which is a Tuesday, and on a 737-800 which has a little more seating. I'm also hoping my wife will be a little better seeing as how she will have one flight under her belt.

I went on the SWA employee website and looked at going from MCO to BWI on 12/10. Today (11/7) it shows 41 seats available on the -800, but SWA is forecasting 1-5 seats to be available. Doing the EBCI should at the worse get you seats together in the back.

 

[Rpsemont]

I checked in today exactly 24 hours ahead of time and ended up with B32 so I'll probably do EBCI next time if I have any problems.

I checked in LATE for my flight last Monday - I ended up with B37.
I got a window seat, 4th row of the plane, with an empty seat in the middle.
On my flight down, I had B13 and sat in the front row on the aisle (I was surprised there was overhead space!)

I checked in DH without EBCI last week and he got A16!!! Go figure!!

Sam Gordon,
this first sentence was another posters - I messed up on the quotes. As far the rest of the post....
B37 was for an MCO-BDL flight at 9:30 on a Monday (11/4)
B13 was a BDL-MCO flight at 3:10PM on a Thursday (10/31)
A16 was a BDL-MCL flight at 8:20 on a Thursday (10/31)
and I got A33 for an MCO-BDL for Tuesday 11/5 at 9:30AM.

 

[maxiesmom]

I went on the SWA employee website and looked at going from MCO to BWI on 12/10. Today (11/7) it shows 41 seats available on the -800, but SWA is forecasting 1-5 seats to be available. Doing the EBCI should at the worse get you seats together in the back.

Hey, would you be willing to check GRR to MCO non stop on December 12? I'm curious as to how full that flight will end up being, as it is a fairly new route for Southwest.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

Hey, would you be willing to check GRR to MCO non stop on December 12? I'm curious as to how full that flight will end up being, as it is a fairly new route for Southwest.

57 seats available for sale today - out of 143
predicted to go out with 1-5 seats open

 

[maxiesmom]

57 seats available for sale today - out of 143
predicted to go out with 1-5 seats open

Thank you! Sounds like it is pretty popular!

 

[Debbie 0607]

About a week ago we were at Orlando. Checking in exactly 24 hours before, on our way down to Orlando, we got like a B10 & B15 seats. Returning from Orlando, checking in exactly 24 hours before, we got seats A20 & A24. I checked in while at one of the Disney parks, using my phone for return flight, no problem. I couldn't make myself pay extra to board early. We had a party of 9 people, family, in our group and had no problems sitting together on SW on both flights. (The rest off our group had B boarding on both flights.)

 

[LilyWDW]

About a week ago we were at Orlando. Checking in exactly 24 hours before, on our way down to Orlando, we got like a B10 & B15 seats. Returning from Orlando, checking in exactly 24 hours before, we got seats A20 & A24. I checked in while at one of the Disney parks, using my phone for return flight, no problem. I couldn't make myself pay extra to board early. We had a party of 9 people, family, in our group and had no problems sitting together on SW on both flights. (The rest off our group had B boarding on both flights.)

Here is the thing though and why a lot of us suggest it. Yes, what you experienced can happen (obviously, it happened to you lol). However, that doesn't always happen nor would I say, depending on the flights themselves, does that happen very often anymore. So here on these boards we are sure to give the worst case scenario and explain what COULD happen to people so they are prepared for it. I have always been a "plan for the worst and hope for the best" sort of person because then I KNOW I can handle anything that comes up.

 

[Sandi]

Hey, would you be willing to check GRR to MCO non stop on December 12? I'm curious as to how full that flight will end up being, as it is a fairly new route for Southwest.

You got your answer, but I'm hopeful that you'll post your experience after your flight. DH and I are flying SWA out of GRR for our March Disney trip.

I purchased EBCI for both of us -- not that we need to sit together, but I wanted the certainty that we'd get checked in early without my having to do it and because DH would prefer an aisle seat near the front.

 

[Promomx2]

How do you check to see how full the flight is?

 

[maxiesmom]

You got your answer, but I'm hopeful that you'll post your experience after your flight. DH and I are flying SWA out of GRR for our March Disney trip.

I purchase EBCI for both of us -- not that we need to sit together, but I wanted the certainty that we'd get checked in early without my having to do it and because DH would prefer an aisle seat near the front.

I will definitely share how everything goes! I purchased EBCI too, because I really don't want to end up separated from my nephew. At 22 he probably wouldn't care too much, but I know he likes the window seat.

I guess I'm weird too in that I get claustrophobic when I fly, but I like being towards the back. The fewer people who can see me if I have a little melt down, the better.

 

[aubriee]

. I guess I'm weird too in that I get claustrophobic when I fly, but I like being towards the back. The fewer people who can see me if I have a little melt down, the better.

I'm claustrophobic and the exact opposite. I need an aisle seat as close to the front as possible Looking up that long skinny tube from a back seat is just not something I can do. I feel like I can't breathe back there. I would never fly Southwest for that very reason. I'd rather fly an airline where I can pay for my seat and be pretty much guaranteed the seat I need. Yeah, I know they may have equipment changes and my seat may get changed, but I keep a close eye on my flights and at least try my best to guarantee the seat I need. Which is why it frustrates me when some family that didn't pay for their seats gets on and expects everyone to move for them. Even on my solo flights I'll book early and pay for my seat, to make sure I get the aisle seat I need and invariably I get asked by someone to move to a middle seat in the back of the plane, so they can sit by a family member. Nope, not happening! I chose an airline where I could choose to pay for my seat and they had the same chance and chose not to pay.

My mom also likes the aisle seats, because as long as she sits on the right side of the plane, she can stretch her bad left knee out. My husband on the other hand likes a window seat. Consequently I always try to book seats close to the front of the plane with him in a window seat and me in an aisle seat on the left and my mom in the aisle seat across from us. That leaves the middle seat between my husband and me vacant. Since most flights fly full now, we know someone is probably going to be in that middle seat, but that's fine. We aren't trying to have an empty seat to use. We just both want certain seats. My husband usually listens to the MP3 player and goes to sleep with his head against the window ASAP, while I read on my Kindle. However, as soon as the person in the middle realizes that we are together, he wants to exchange that middle seat for my aisle seat. No thank you!

 

[LilyWDW]

I guess I'm weird too in that I get claustrophobic when I fly, but I like being towards the back. The fewer people who can see me if I have a little melt down, the better.

I am also claustrophobic about flying! Only for me, I prefer a window seat midplane or forward. I need to see that there is something outside of the metal tube! My poor mom would always get stuck with a middle seat because we also don't want to subject some poor stranger to having to sit next to me.

 

[DebbieB]

I checked in this morning for PIT-MCO at 24 hours, got B8.