Southwest Early Bird Check In: Can you just pay for 1 person?

[DMRick]

Well I just printed our boarding passes for tomorrow. We got A36-A38. My dh has to check in at the airport. For some reason, he always gets flagged and can never check in online with Southwest or Airtran.

I was worried that this would mess up the other 4 of us for EBCI, but it worked fine even though we were all on the same confirmation number.

So...now I wonder if they will give me my $10 back for his since he didn't get to use it. And...yes, I'll be saving him a seat.

Now I just have to wait for tomorrow!

Why wouldn't he still get to use it, just because he has to check in in person? Wouldn't they still give him a lower number in person?

 

[HeatherC]

You know..that's a great point! I never even considered it. I guess I was thinking he would get assigned a number when he actually checked in like all the times in the past. Usually my kids and I get an A pass and he winds up getting a B or C and we just save him a seat.

But that is true...if we paid for Early Bird Check In, maybe they will let him board with us. But if they give him a C boarding pass...I want my $10 back. LOL!

 

[scard192]

I'm a little surprised a preboarder was allowed to stay in an exit row seat! As far as I know, back before the "family with small children boarding between the As and the Bs" started - preboarding was limited to: medical needs (can't sit in the exit row), families with small children (can't sit in the exit row), and unaccompanied minors (can't sit in the exit row).

I'm surprised too. A few years back SW changed their official policy about preboarding. If you pre-board for any reason you are not allowed to sit in the exit row. My experience had been that an FA in the front of the plane let the FA blocking the exit rows know when general boarding had begun.

 

[LisaS]

Please let us know how Southwest handles this. I would hope that they assigned your DH a boarding position as part of EBCI and that he will get a number next to yours once he gets his boarding card.

 

[bunny]

On our last trip, we had 2 regular tickets and 2 free RR tickets. For RR tickets you can't get EBCI. I did pay for it for the 2 regular tickets. I have 2 small children, so my husband and our youngest boarded first. We were worried about RR tickets, since we got a low B for those. My husband boarded and then saved 2 seats for us, so we could sit together. He did go almost all the way to the back. He didn't have any problems at all doing this. I initially tried to pay the EBCI for all the tickets and then realized you can't do that for the free tickets.

 

[LidoDeck]

On our last trip, we had 2 regular tickets and 2 free RR tickets. For RR tickets you can't get EBCI. I did pay for it for the 2 regular tickets. I have 2 small children, so my husband and our youngest boarded first. We were worried about RR tickets, since we got a low B for those. My husband boarded and then saved 2 seats for us, so we could sit together. He did go almost all the way to the back. He didn't have any problems at all doing this. I initially tried to pay the EBCI for all the tickets and then realized you can't do that for the free tickets.

I did add EBCI to our RR tickets (two people, round-trip) without any problems. These were flights in late September and I added EBCI right after it was announced (Sept 3rd?)

 

[kaytieeldr]

My husband boarded and then saved 2 seats for us, so we could sit together. He did go almost all the way to the back.

Smart. I have to admit, I don't understand the reluctance - especially on a nonstop flight directly to one's destination - to sit toward the back of the plane. Everybody crowds up front - but don't the back wheels touch down first? Sure, it's only a difference of seconds, but still... and don't most planes fully unload in under ten minutes?

 

[snooty3]

Can you give me an idea of how the whole early bird check in works. Do you still have to check in on line 24 hours ahead of time or do they give you a number when you book your flight and pay for EBCI? Thanks for any information you can share.

 

[TDC Nala]

I remember we also had a post where some persons who boarded with a disabled passenger were permitted to save around 60 seats for their group at the front of the plane. The OP should have no problems purchasing one Early Bird checkin and saving seats for the remainder of the party. Fair or not, Southwest apparently will not tell you you can't save, possibly unless someone asserts their right to one of the seats you're trying to save.

I love the open seating, but not if rampant seat saving is going to be permitted and even encouraged by the airline.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Can you give me an idea of how the whole early bird check in works. Do you still have to check in on line 24 hours ahead of time or do they give you a number when you book your flight and pay for EBCI? Thanks for any information you can share.

Here's how it works. You pay your $10 when you book your ticket (or later if you didn't make the decision right at the time when you booked it). At 36 hours before your flight is scheduled to take off, SWA automatically checks you in and assigns your boarding position. You do not need to do anything else until you get to the airport. If you want to, you can go online any time after 24 hours before your flight passes to check your boarding position and/or print your boarding pass, but with EBCI you can skip all of this if you want and just get your boarding pass at the airport when you check your bags. If you're not checking any bags then you're better off printing your boarding pass at home so you don't need to wait in the line at the airport and you can head straight over to security, but your boarding position will be the same regardless of when you print your boarding pass.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Can you give me an idea of how the whole early bird check in works. Do you still have to check in on line 24 hours ahead of time or do they give you a number when you book your flight and pay for EBCI? Thanks for any information you can share.

You can either purchase EBCI when you purchase your tickets or anytime up to 25 hours before your flight. However, the earlier you purchase EBCI, the smaller your boarding number will be.

When you purchase EBCI, SW will check you in automatically at T-36 hours. There will be no need for you to be at your computer at T-24 hours to check in, it's already been done for you. After T-24 hours, you can check your boarding pass number and print your boarding passes.

Here's more information at SWA:

http://www.southwest.com/flight/early-bird-faq.html

 

[Pixieflip]

Wow, amazing things are learned here on the Dis! Though we don't always fly, SWA is usually our best fare from here. Just booked on SWA last week and had no idea this was an option. We are a group of three, my mom, my DD12 and me. It really wouldn't be as fun if we had to sit away from each other. Thanks for all the info, especially the link above.

Love the Disboards.

 

[keishashadow]

As someone who flies SW a couple of times a month throughout the country (and is always one for the 1st 25 folks to board as a result) I have to say that on the vast majority of their flights this really isn't a problem. People tend to be pretty good natured and most people don't really abuse seat saving to any extreme. I think SW's stance on seats may be based on the fact that while seat saving may happen sometimes, it doesn't happen all the time.

IMHO SW's customer service, reliable schedules, numerous, affordable routes, lack of bag fees and overall flexibility are such a great value that I'm not concerned about seat savers.

But that may just be the case for me. If it was an issue I just wouldn't fly on them - hey I may love them to death but I realize that SW isn't for everyone. That's why we have all those other airlines out there.

I'd say if you're saving one seat, no biggie. Now 4 seats? That's probably a bit much and could frustrate your fellow flyers.

problem is many flights to MCO are comprised of 1st time or very infrequent flyers who may not know 'protocol'

I remember we also had a post where some persons who boarded with a disabled passenger were permitted to save around 60 seats for their group at the front of the plane. The OP should have no problems purchasing one Early Bird checkin and saving seats for the remainder of the party. Fair or not, Southwest apparently will not tell you you can't save, possibly unless someone asserts their right to one of the seats you're trying to save.

I love the open seating, but not if rampant seat saving is going to be permitted and even encouraged by the airline.

could be the one i posted from early Dec., 2 early boards & their companions saved 6 rows (36 seats total if u include the 1st bulkhead seats) by 'strategic positioning' between aisles w/arms outstretched...w/FAs stating it was 'ok' when they were challenged by others behind me. fyi, the earlier response i set forth here was the explanation i was given by SW when i complained.

 

[Jestocost]

w/FAs stating it was 'ok' when they were challenged by others behind me. fyi, the earlier response i set forth here was the explanation i was given by SW when i complained.

But then it also would appear the SW would be 'OK' with any of the later passengers ignoring the savers and sitting down in the saved seats.

Rather than taking on seat savers proactively, it appears that SW is happy to only get involved when there is a dispute between a saver and someone who chooses to sit in a "saved" seat. I can only imagine that this is because doing the former would involve some kind of confrontation on many flights, where as the latter happens only rarely. It seems to me that the latter also could get a lot uglier, but I guess they're willing to take that chance.

 

[keishashadow]

But then it also would appear the SW would be 'OK' with any of the later passengers ignoring the savers and sitting down in the saved seats.

Rather than taking on seat savers proactively, it appears that SW is happy to only get involved when there is a dispute between a saver and someone who chooses to sit in a "saved" seat. I can only imagine that this is because doing the former would involve some kind of confrontation on many flights, where as the latter happens only rarely. It seems to me that the latter also could get a lot uglier, but I guess they're willing to take that chance.

at risk of beating this to death, as i read the email, 'a claimed seat' is off the table

general-boarding Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat.

With this in mind, as long as there is no Safety concern, it would be acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for his/her family member or traveling companion who may be in a later boarding group.

jmho, this will eventually blow up in SWAs face via an altercation; probably complete w/youtube video

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

at risk of beating this to death, as i read the email, 'a claimed seat' is off the table

general-boarding Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat.

With this in mind, as long as there is no Safety concern, it would be acceptable for a Customer to "claim" a seat for his/her family member or traveling companion who may be in a later boarding group.

jmho, this will eventually blow up in SWAs face via an altercation; probably complete w/youtube video

This will definitely lead to one family member paying for EBCI and saving seats for the others who didn't. Should get interesting...

 

[bavaria]

When EBCI was first announced several of us offered to pitch in and purchase Safetymom a ticket on SW just so that she could report back on the drama.

Unfortunately she drank the DIS SW kool-aid and came back with a report just brimming full of pixie dust. I believe that there was even a tale of pink unicorns floating around the aircraft at one point.

 

[keishashadow]

When EBCI was first announced several of us offered to pitch in and purchase Safetymom a ticket on SW just so that she could report back on the drama.

Unfortunately she drank the DIS SW kool-aid and came back with a report just brimming full of pixie dust. I believe that there was even a tale of pink unicorns floating around the aircraft at one point.

Are you sure she didn't say a bull?

 

[bavaria]

Well, if you had paid ME the money to go fly SW from MCO and report on seat saving and any ensuing chaos, I am quite certain that the term 'bull' may have been present in my report.

I am immune to the effects of any DIS/SW kool-aid!!!!

 

[keishashadow]

i can't imagine a big enough vat of kool aid for that to happen