Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[focusondisney]

No. It doesn’t matter what time zone you are in, you are checked in 36 hours (or whatever number hours) from your first flight. It’s impossible for the second flight to leave before the first flight so it is impossible for those starting on that flight to be checked in before those coming in on another flight - no matter where that first flight started. Coming from the east or coming from the west doesn’t change that.

I think what you're missing is that the timer (24 hours, 30 hours, 36 hours, whatever) is based on the local time of where the flight departs for everyone - doesn't matter where you are when you check-in. As a fairly extreme example, I'm checking in for a flight from US West Coast to Asia with a connecting flight to another city in Asia. The time in the connecting city is 17 hours ahead of where I'm starting but the people starting the flight there will not be checking-in 17 hours ahead of me - the time on the clock where I am sitting is irrelevant.

Not missing a thing. I totally understand how EBCI works… been flying & buying it for longer than I can remember. I’m saying… someone actually in Las Vegas, an earlier time zone, who bought Early Bird Check In will be checked in 36 hours before that flight. Someone starting in Honolulu will be checked in 36 hours before their Honolulu flight, which could mean their check in for the LV flight will be less than the 36 hours. You’re not getting that that could be after the people starting in LV’s 36 hour mark.

 

[SirDuff]

Not missing a thing. I totally understand how EBCI works… been flying & buying it for longer than I can remember. I’m saying… someone actually in Las Vegas, an earlier time zone, who bought Early Bird Check In will be checked in 36 hours before that flight. Someone starting in Honolulu will be checked in 36 hours before their Honolulu flight, which could mean their check in for the LV flight will be less than the 36 hours. You’re not getting that that could be after the people starting in LV’s 36 hour mark.

Okay, maybe we are talking about different things, because I totally don't understand the bolded. It is physically impossible for a flight from HNL to LAS to leave after the LAS-BNA if the OP was able to connect onto said LAS-BNA flight. The clocks might say different times in HNL versus LAS, but the plane will leave HNL before the other plane leave LAS; therefore, check-in time for the HNL flight will open before check-in time for the LAS flight (hence, EBCI will happen earlier). The EBCI system doesn't care (and doesn't know) where you are - it only cares about the clock time in the city where the flight is starting from.

Let's make an example where three people are taking the 18:20 flight from LAS on 15 October (and let's just make ECBI check people in 24 hours in advance for easier math).

Adam is currently in Las Vegas and will start the flight in Las Vegas. He will be checked-in at 18:20 Las Vegas time on 14 October, this is also 18:20 14 October for this local time.

Bobby is currently in London, UK and will start the flight in Las Vegas (he'll get there by some non-SW means). He will be checked-in at 18:20 Las Vegas time on 14 October, this is 02:20 15 October for this local time. He doesn't checked-in at 18:20 14 October local time - the system waits until that time is reached in Las Vegas.

Charles is currently in Honolulu and will start his flight in Honolulu connecting to that Las Vegas flight. His flight from HNL to LAS leaves HNL at 08:10 Honolulu time on 15 October. So, he is checked in for both flights at 08:10 Honolulu time on 14 October which is 11:10 on 14 October in Las Vegas. This is BEFORE (not after) the time that Adam (who is starting in Las Vegas) is checked in. Even if they weren't connecting flights (so the LAS-BNA flight had to be checked in separately), Charles would be checked-in (via EBCI) at the same time as Adam and Bobby (with slight difference based on ticket type and when they bought their ticket and EBCI).

 

[aokeefe]

I haven’t paid attention for the last couple of years if SW has been changing flights ahead of time or not.
In 2019, I could book the cheapest flight I could find within 2 weeks of my travel dates and I would always receive an email from SW that they changed my flight either slightly or dramatically and was able to switch to my desired date within 2 weeks of the original travel date.

My daughter wants to come down and visit the week after Christmas and that week is very expensive (pushing $800 round trip) but if I book a week before she wants to come and a week after she wants to go back home, the round trip price is under $200.

I realize that no one can predict what will happen with this specific flight but wondering if people are still getting emails that their flight have been changed pretty often.

We are flying to MCO around Christmas. There were flight changes right after initial booking (sorry- can't remember the exact date of release- probably last spring) but there haven't been any changes since (I check everyday)

 

[Traveling on cc points]

We are flying to MCO around Christmas. There were flight changes right after initial booking (sorry- can't remember the exact date of release- probably last spring) but there haven't been any changes since (I check everyday)

Thanks! I booked the cheap ticket and will see what happens. If they don’t get changed by mid November l, I’ll just book her flight on another airline.

I have a ton of SW points to use up before they get rid of open seating.
I probably should have just used them on the expensive flight but it seemed like such a waste of points when other airlines currently have much cheaper rates.

 

[jo-jo]

Has anyone flown out of Phila lately? Has curbside checkin/skycaps come back? We last flew over a year ago and they didn't have them then.

 

[teawar]

You might want to check your flight prices for spring break, because my flight from San Juan went down about $100 yesterday and about 8,000 points for another member in my travel party. (My flights for Christmas and Thanksgiving went up).

 

[wdwnomad]

Has anyone flown out of Phila lately? Has curbside checkin/skycaps come back? We last flew over a year ago and they didn't have them then.

I was there today and it is still not open.

Last time I flew them the bag drop was easy and quick.

 

[jo-jo]

I was there today and it is still not open.

Last time I flew them the bag drop was easy and quick.

Too bad, we are traveling day after Thanksgiving. Was hoping not to do the luggage shuffle shuffle two step.

I wondered why it hasn't returned?

 

[wdwnomad]

My guess would be it is not worth it anymore. Southwest has reduced their schedule overall out of PHL considerably over the years. The airport expanded Terminal E just for them when they entered the market. They used to have all the gates at the end of the terminal. They no longer have 2-3 of those gates.

 

[focusondisney]

We’re in Buffalo & curbside check in has not returned for any airline. We only travel on SW & Jetblue. Both of those have lots of self service kiosks for printing boarding passes & self tagging luggage. Then it’s a quick minute to drop your luggage so I think they just don’t need extra employees to accept curbside luggage anymore.

 

[kristenrice]

I had an experience on our SW itinerary yesterday and I have a question for the SW experts…

Our flight was from GRR-MCO with a 50-minute layover at MDW with a plane change. I knew that might be a “tight” connection, but I also knew that the gates are relatively close together at MDW. Just before we boarded, I checked which gate we would need to go to when we arrived at MDW. Then I saw that we would be arriving at that same gate. When we got on the plane and the FA’s did their “spiel”, there was no mention of “…continuing service to XXX…” in regards to our flight. When we landed, we all disembarked and I overheard one of the passengers ask the FA if he could just stay on the plane since he was continuing on to MCO. The answer was no.

I’m curious…why would SW not list/run this flight as a “one stop, no plane change” (direct) flight? Why did they have so many people deplane, only to line up again I and re-board?

Also, it was a “miracle” flight…only TWO groups (less than 5 people) had preboarded each flight! Only 2 wheelchairs were used and both groups waited in their seats until the plane emptied before they deplaned. It was a “miracle”….I don’t think I have taken a SWA flight out of MDW in the past 5 years that didn’t have at least a dozen wheelchairs lined up to preboard.

 

[jenmsmith]

I had an experience on our SW itinerary yesterday and I have a question for the SW experts…

Our flight was from GRR-MCO with a 50-minute layover at MDW with a plane change. I knew that might be a “tight” connection, but I also knew that the gates are relatively close together at MDW. Just before we boarded, I checked which gate we would need to go to when we arrived at MDW. Then I saw that we would be arriving at that same gate. When we got on the plane and the FA’s did their “spiel”, there was no mention of “…continuing service to XXX…” in regards to our flight. When we landed, we all disembarked and I overheard one of the passengers ask the FA if he could just stay on the plane since he was continuing on to MCO. The answer was no.

I’m curious…why would SW not list/run this flight as a “one stop, no plane change” (direct) flight? Why did they have so many people deplane, only to line up again I and re-board?

Also, it was a “miracle” flight…only TWO groups (less than 5 people) had preboarded each flight! Only 2 wheelchairs were used and both groups waited in their seats until the plane emptied before they deplaned. It was a “miracle”….I don’t think I have taken a SWA flight out of MDW in the past 5 years that didn’t have at least a dozen wheelchairs lined up to preboard.

Did you have a different flight crew for the MDW-MCO leg?

 

[DebbieB]

I think it was a coincidence that it was the same plane. It sounds like it didn’t have the same flight number, they aren’t marketing it as a one stop. With different flight numbers, everyone has to scan in again with a separate boarding pass.

 

[EACarlson]

Did you have a different flight crew for the MDW-MCO leg?

This is a very important question. If there was a crew swap, which would make sense since MDW is a crew base, then everyone would have to get off while the new crew does their pre trip inspection.

 

[kristenrice]

Did you have a different flight crew for the MDW-MCO leg?

Nope! Same crew. It was the first flight of the day from GRR-MDW and the plane had spent the night at the airport.

 

[disneylover81]

I'm getting ready to book flights on Wednesday's release day for our June 2025 Alaskan cruise. Just kind of browsing now at the current flight options so I could get an idea of what these will look like and not impressed. We fly from MEM and there's no nonstops and the layovers are 4+ hours. I priced AA, Alaska and Delta since they already have their June schedules out and I just can't get over the prices by the time I added luggage and picked a seat, they were all around $1,800 for 2 tickets. I don't know what SWA will cost yet, but I know our luggage is free and I will have CP for next year soon so I guess it'll be worth the long layovers to save money. My parents, 2 sisters and their husbands are also going on the cruise and none of them will have CP. They tend to just buy WGA tickets with EBCI, but I always get Anytime or BS. We are all so different when it comes to traveling.

 

[FreeTime]

Our flights from the Midwest would have been $900 RT each on SW to Seattle for our Alaskan cruise a few years ago. We were able to do $1200 in C+ each. I continue to see SW fares becoming higher and higher. Dont bank on a huge savings but hopefully you get it.

 

[Jasper&Bowie]

SW flights for me the end of January are $115 cheaper than American. Times that by 4 tickets, I think I will deal with the 2 hour layover in Nashville.

 

[Lsdolphin]

Anyone else having trouble accessing the SWA site to book a flight? My SWA app just shows a fall screen without my current flights showing.

 

[FreeTime]

Anyone else having trouble accessing the SWA site to book a flight? My SWA app just shows a fall screen without my current flights showing.

I’ve been having this happen for a week now. I have to close the app. Reopen and login for it to fix.