Southwest 1st time check in pre board ?

[spicemom]

We are flying Southwest from MCO home. We were all set to check in 24hr prior..until this new early bird issue. It's myself, DH, ds6 and dd4. I understand there's a family pre board between groups A and B? Does this allow the whole family or only dd4 and one adult? If it does only allow the two of us are those who family preboard guarantee seats together? If my dh and ds cannot board with family boarding, does it make sense to still do the 36hr check in for them? Thanks!

 

[bookwormde]

Yes your whole immediate family will be allowed to board together after the A group.

bookwormde

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

Curious how new thing will work with the Family going between A & B. The early bird thing says you will get to check in BEFORE the family groups. Well what if the early birds take up all the A's and go into the B group? That means the family groups will be moved back eve farther.

I don't think I like this new early bird thing being a family of 5 it's too costly to pay for. I'd rather be charged for the luggage. We don't have 5 pieces of luggage to pay for, only 2!

 

[crashbb]

Curious how new thing will work with the Family going between A & B. The early bird thing says you will get to check in BEFORE the family groups. Well what if the early birds take up all the A's and go into the B group? That means the family groups will be moved back eve farther.

I don't think I like this new early bird thing being a family of 5 it's too costly to pay for. I'd rather be charged for the luggage. We don't have 5 pieces of luggage to pay for, only 2!

Some of the articles have said "before families", but I don't think anyone has found anything on the SW site (or in the press release) that said "before families". Since they don't promise an A boarding pass, unless the move (or do away with) family boarding, families may be boarding before some EB people.

 

[mousefan1972]

We are also a family of 4 w/kids ages 4 and 6. We are flying SW in less than 2 weeks and I was not pleased at all when I heard about "early bird check in" (still not; but that's another post) Anyway, I called SW last night and was assured that our family will be allowed to board together between the A and B groups, unless of course we get an A pass and then we'd board with the A's. I am done with SW due to this. I would rather fly Delta or Jetblue out of Boston and pay a bag fee (only w/Delta) and get to pick our seats when I buy our tickets, than deal with this crap w/ SW. /rant over.

 

[n2mm]

We are also a family of 4 w/kids ages 4 and 6. We are flying SW in less than 2 weeks and I was not pleased at all when I heard about "early bird check in" (still not; but that's another post) Anyway, I called SW last night and was assured that our family will be allowed to board together between the A and B groups, unless of course we get an A pass and then we'd board with the A's. I am done with SW due to this. I would rather fly Delta or Jetblue out of Boston and pay a bag fee (only w/Delta) and get to pick our seats when I buy our tickets, than deal with this crap w/ SW. /rant over.

I agree! I bought my SW tickets on Monday. I got a great fare, but I usually fly Jetblue. I would've preferred SW ask me to pay $10 for a guaranteed seat assignment rather than a possibility of getting to board early. We don't fly with kids all of the time, but I do travel with my daughter and granddaughters (2yo and 4yo). I certainly would board with them in the family boarding zone if I needed to, especially since I buy their tickets and they are listed on my itinerary. I'm also done with SW after this recent announcement.

 

[seashoreCM]

Early bird does not guarantee an A boarding pass although it could make th e difference between an early B and a late B.

If you do early bird and get a B then some families wityout early bird will board before you do.

 

[spicemom]

Thanks for the input everyone! So, trying to get this straight, our family - all four of us- can board together as a family pre board? Between groups a&b that is? We will still try at the 24hr mark and see what we get. I agree, I was afraid to book with southwest, however hubby hears good reviews (for the most part) and wanted to try it..especially for the price. But now with this early check in, I won't be including them in future air travel. I prefer Jetblue and seat assignments, which I would be more willing to pay $10 a head for.

 

[Hannathy]

Early bird does not guarantee an A boarding pass although it could make th e difference between an early B and a late B.

If you do early bird and get a B then some families wityout early bird will board before you do.

Have we heard officially from Southwest how this will be handled? Have the announced the same number of "A"s will be available or as I predict the will sell more A's. If they truly want to make money off of this they will increase the number sold for 2 reasons. First the obvious, and second if people start getting high B's AND are after families(which will go back to trying to take complete extended families again) they will quit buying EB defeating the whole purpose.

If I had to bet I would say they will increase the A's to include what used to be a low to middle B. And get strict with the family boarding again.

 

[crashbb]

Have we heard officially from Southwest how this will be handled? Have the announced the same number of "A"s will be available or as I predict the will sell more A's. If they truly want to make money off of this they will increase the number sold for 2 reasons. First the obvious, and second if people start getting high B's AND are after families(which will go back to trying to take complete extended families again) they will quit buying EB defeating the whole purpose.

If I had to bet I would say they will increase the A's to include what used to be a low to middle B. And get strict with the family boarding again.

I'd be inclined to agree with you, except that they are very clear that EB doesn't guarantee you an A boarding pass. I suspect that, initially they won't increase the number of A's, but may (probably will) do so (or, somehow, move the family boarding to behind wherever the EBs end).

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

 

[Hannathy]

I can see them doing that very easily. Moving family boarding to after ALL the EB's have boarded no matter how many - really only way to get people to fork out money for them- And getting strict with family boarding. They can do this without changing anything. The GA will just get a print out of what number the last sold EB is and that is where they will stop the boarding and allow families. It also allows flexibility and income for SW limited only by how many are willing to pay for the privilege.

 

[mousefan1972]

I agree! I bought my SW tickets on Monday. I got a great fare, but I usually fly Jetblue. I would've preferred SW ask me to pay $10 for a guaranteed seat assignment rather than a possibility of getting to board early. We don't fly with kids all of the time, but I do travel with my daughter and granddaughters (2yo and 4yo). I certainly would board with them in the family boarding zone if I needed to, especially since I buy their tickets and they are listed on my itinerary. I'm also done with SW after this recent announcement.

I am glad I'm not the only one. This change really upsets me. I know SW needs to generate revenue and that they can't do bag fees thanks to all of their commercials stating "Why do they hate your bags?", but IMO this was not the best way to do it. I will gladly pay a bag fee if it means I can choose our seats and guarantee that my kids won't be separated from us. Even paying for Early Bird Check in does not guarantee an "A" pass. Ridiculous.

Thanks for the input everyone! So, trying to get this straight, our family - all four of us- can board together as a family pre board? Between groups a&b that is? We will still try at the 24hr mark and see what we get. I agree, I was afraid to book with southwest, however hubby hears good reviews (for the most part) and wanted to try it..especially for the price. But now with this early check in, I won't be including them in future air travel. I prefer Jetblue and seat assignments, which I would be more willing to pay $10 a head for.

That is what the SW agent told me on the phone Thursday night. I will find out for sure when we fly in 10 days. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

 

[ccgirl]

Actually, you may not be able to preboard at all. I fly from PVD to MCO often and sometimes it is only children 2 and under along with their immediate family that can preboard. As you can imagine, a flight to MCO can have many children so I think they take that into account when determining the age of preboard?? I just didn't want you to get your hopes up for a preboard if they don't do it.

 

[twinklebug]

Whether you get to board as a family or a pair (one adult with the younger child) will depend on the agent at the ramp.

from the sw site: http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/checkin.html

An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger will board between the “A” and “B” boarding groups. If you have an “A” boarding pass, please feel free to board with that boarding group.

In your case, I'd pay the EB fee for your Son and DH to board early (they'll be on before you) This way not only will you be sure to have them seated together, but chances are you'll all be together, unless he selects a prime location to plop down hehe.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I am glad I'm not the only one. This change really upsets me. I know SW needs to generate revenue and that they can't do bag fees thanks to all of their commercials stating "Why do they hate your bags?", but IMO this was not the best way to do it. I will gladly pay a bag fee if it means I can choose our seats and guarantee that my kids won't be separated from us.

Then, respectfully - don't fly Southwest. If your location tag is correct, you have several airport and multiple airline options. All those other airlines DO allow you to select your seats. Keep in mind, though, that anything - equipment change, delays, computer glitch - can 'unassign' those seats. All that's guaranteed is passage from point A to point B on the given day, and not even that if the conditions are beyond the airline's control.

Curious how new thing will work with the Family going between A & B. The early bird thing says you will get to check in BEFORE the family groups.

Does it say that exactly? Because checking in isn't the same as boarding.

 

[ironz]

I posted this in response to another thread, and it is directed at people who are eligible for the family boarding (having a child 4 or under):

Take a deep breath and STOP. Now think about it rationally. For YOU, with children 4 and under, NOTHING HAS REALLY CHANGED.

Before EBCI....you were going to sign on at T-24 or whenever you chose, and....you "may" have gotten an A boarding pass, or if there were a bunch of people coming from earlier connecting flights, you may have ended up with a B pass. So you would have boarded with "A" if you got that, but if not, you are eligible for the family boarding between A1-60 and B1-60. So your worst case scenario is still board BEFORE B1-60.

NOW...you don't even have to pay the EBCI extra $. You can sign on to check in at T-24, and....you "may" get an A boarding pass (you don't know that they are all going to be gone!), or you may get a "B" or even "C." But...guess what? Your worst case scenario is STILL that you are eligible for family boarding between the A's and B's.


For right now...there has been no indication that I have heard of that they are going to extend the "A" group to include all of the EBCI. I'm watching this on flyertalk as well. I seriously do not think they are going to push the family boarding back, but if they do, it won't be far back, because they really don't want you separated. It would cause chaos with people trying to situate their kids, etc., and just hold up the boarding process, etc. SW doesn't want to take 30-40 minutes to board a plane. They want that much time at the gate, total.
More likely, they will start limiting EBCI or charging more, or something.

BUT FOR RIGHT NOW...those with small kids are not all that affected. It pains me to see so much needless worry. I feel for you and your anxiety, but plane travel isn't really all that crazy. I fly about 10-14 flights a MONTH (including some on SW), and just DO NOT see all these issues people stress about. Reading posts here, you'd think there are issues with multiple parties on every flight. It really isn't so.

 

[B&Pdisneymom]

I have not flown SW in a long time, and always had a non-stop flight when we did. We are a family of 4. DS12 and DD11. I am not eligable for EBCI, so I will be checking in at t 24. If I happen to get an A or B pass and we do get to sit together, when we stop in Denver, do we have to get off the plane and reboard?? Maybe there are alot of people in Denver who have EBCI???

 

[Lewisc]

From SW's website:

An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger will board between the “A” and “B” boarding groups. If you have an “A” boarding pass, please feel free to board with that boarding group

The official policy is one adult and kids 4 or younger (under 5). Don't waste your time calling. The GA calls the shots. Too many famlies and family boading might be limited to kids 2 and younger. You're the only family on the plane? They might let your entire group board after the As. Half the plane is famlies going to WDW? Policy may be exactly enforced.

Some of us are "over thinking".

1. SW won't be increasing the number of A BPs. Almost all of the gates have the new boarding signs.
2. SW won't let passengers with B EB BPs board before famlies. A SW rep on FT already said the GA will have no idea which passengers were assigned a BP via EB and which passengers got their BP via OLCI.
3. I'll speculate GAs might have to be strict with family boarding and maybe even with pre-boards.
4. I'll speculate SW will increase the cost of EB if the program becomes so popular that EB passengers routinely wind up with B BPs.
5. SW doesn't want a system that results in a young (under 4 year old) child being seperated from an adult. Family boarding rules might be enforced more often but I doubt SW will get rid of it.

 

[dudspizza]

It pains me to see so much needless worry. I feel for you and your anxiety, but plane travel isn't really all that crazy. I fly about 10-14 flights a MONTH (including some on SW), and just DO NOT see all these issues people stress about. Reading posts here, you'd think there are issues with multiple parties on every flight. It really isn't so.

This is the piece everyone should take out of this. There is so much drama here on the DIS and the Internet in general. Thousands of flights take off every day void of the drama that is shown here.

Everyone just take a deep breath and relax. It will be fine!

Duds

 

[goofy4tink]

I have not flown SW in a long time, and always had a non-stop flight when we did. We are a family of 4. DS12 and DD11. I am not eligable for EBCI, so I will be checking in at t 24. If I happen to get an A or B pass and we do get to sit together, when we stop in Denver, do we have to get off the plane and reboard?? Maybe there are alot of people in Denver who have EBCI???

Why aren't you eligible for EBCI?
As far as having to get off the plane in Denver and reboard, I can't tell you. Does your plane just stop in Denver and board more passengers? Or is it a connecting flight, where you have to get off the plane and onto another one to continue your flight? If the plane is just stopping to get more people, then you don't even get off. But, if it's a connecting flight, then you should have a boarding number already assigned to you when you check in for the original flight.

Now..here's what I think. I think that SW will sell as many EB boarding passes as they can. But, there are only so many A spots...what is it, about 60? So, that means that A1-15 go to business select. The best you can do other than that is to get A16. So, we have A16-60. Then, those boarding with children 4 and under will get to board, then those in the B group (B1-60) and then the C group.
If there are more than 45 passengers booking the EBCI, then there will be EBCI numbers in the B group. I can't imagine that SW is going to make the A group any larger. It just wouldn't make any difference. There are only so many seats on the plane....they aren't going to make 120 of them A and then 30 B's and 30 C's.
There is sure to be a period of adjustment here. My issue with the whole thing??? SW should have put this system into play the day before the new schedule came out. And, because I can see future issues with many people paying extra to checkin at the 36 hr mark but being given BPs in the C group (down the road), it is going to really anger passengers.
It's too bad that they didn't start this at the same time as the latest schedule and to have put a limit on how many EB BPs are available. I would say that once the A's are gone, they're gone..no EB that puts you into a B spot...period.

I will say that in all my flights, and there have been plenty, with SW, I have only seen groups have to split up when they are at the end of the C group. Families haven't had to sit apart..at least not kids. Most families understand that their entire group of 10 isn't going to be able to sit as a group on the plane...some of them will have to sit apart from the group. Dear heavens, that happens even on airlines that have assigned seating. There are only so many open seats available unless you book on the earliest date possible.
All this uproar really is a tempest in a teapot.