quick question about southwest check-in ebc

[surfergirl602]

I asked this on the transportation board, but it seems quiet over there, so I thought I'd ask here since families are traveling this time of year.

I am flying by myself with my three small children. Can I buy early bird check in for myself and do regular check in for my kids and have them board with me? (If I get an A instead of boarding with the family between A and B) I've never flown southwest before and I can't seem to find the answer to this anywhere. Thanks!

I hope this makes sense!

 

[jpeka65844]

Not completely sure but I would think that would not be allowed. Unless your children are all flying as lap infants, SWA considers them all adults. So you'd basically be paying for yourself and allowing three other "adults" to board for free with you. If you put it like that, then you're allowing them to basically jump line, probably angering other people who DID purchase the EBCI and now have 3 less seats to choose from.

I'm traveling solo with DS4 next week and I purchased EBCI for both him and me. It's just the right thing to do.

 

[surfergirl602]

Thank you - I'm not sure how this EBC works. The website doesn't really explain it well!

 

[Pumbaa_]

eachperson boards based on their position in line

if you have small children, and do not have an 1 pass for everyone, then you would board with families btw a and b

Check in right at the 24 hour mark for all 4 of you. odds are you will make the a group for everyone

good luck!

 

[deva]

Family boarding between A and B will still get you seats together. I'd save the $$ and try checking in right at 24 hours. You'll end up with A or right after.

 

[surfergirl602]

Family boarding between A and B will still get you seats together. I'd save the $$ and try checking in right at 24 hours. You'll end up with A or right after.

Not necessarily. The flights to our destination were completely booked, and if we didn't have boarding passes in the A group, if we had waited until the family boarding, we would not have all had seats together. The flight attendants were having a hard time getting everyone a seat.

 

[surfergirl602]

Thanks! I got the EBC for everyone!

 

[deva]

Not necessarily. The flights to our destination were completely booked, and if we didn't have boarding passes in the A group, if we had waited until the family boarding, we would not have all had seats together. The flight attendants were having a hard time getting everyone a seat.

Maybe I am missing something, but I thought that they board in groups of 50. So the A group is 50 people and then they board the families and then the B's, then the C's.

Do they take the people that pay and put them AHEAD of the A's? I thought that paying basically bought you an A spot. So if 30 people paid, the first "non-paying" passenger to check in at 24 hrs would get A31. Meaning that if you were family boarding the most you'd have in front of you is 50 people. If this is the case you would be able to get seats together with just 50 people ahead of you (maybe not right up front, but you'd find them).

What am I missing?

 

[pooh4evr]

EBCI - checks you in at 36 hours instead of 24- we used it few weeks ago and were A18-22 , then A 28-31 - it was nice not to have to worry about checking in for our flight home at the 24 hr mark. So basically the people who pay the $ get checked in first. and no you can't baord your kids with you unless you are family boarding- either pay the $ or check in at exactly 24 hrs for both flights.