Southwest early bird check in?

[time4Mickey]

We will be traveling with 4 kids 3-9 years old and in the past have been able to board early. Do we need to pay the extra for guaranteed early boarding? We don't really care where we sit as long as it is together. Thanks for any information.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Familes with kids 4 and under now board between the A and B boarding groups. They do not board first. As long as you check in at exactly 24 hours before your flight you should get decent enough boarding numbers to get seats near each other. EBCI does not guarantee an A boarding pass as more people are paying for it. However, if you check in and don't get A's, you will be able to board before the B's so you should be fine.

 

[pezheadmeg]

Leaving Orlando I would pay it. I did for myself, but I'm the only one flying and $10 on top of a peak airfare just means I won't be having a cocktail either flying down of flying home.

The last 2 times I flew out of Orlando, family boarding was only kids 2 and under. So with a 3 year old, you wouldn't get in with family boarding. It doesn't have to always be families with kids five and under.

Also, the last time I flew the same flight I'm flying in 5 weeks. I checked in less than 20 minutes after the 24 hour mark. Still I ended up with B's.

For my 7 am flight out on a Monday morning, I didn't bother with the EBCI. I somehow doubt that flight's going to be super full. Plus, I'll just get up at 7, and do the check-in from home as I make my first cup of coffee for the morning.

 

[time4Mickey]

Both of our flights are 7 am flights. Are those typically less full than later ones? Thanks for the information.

 

[ToddyLu]

Our early flight was full out of New Orleans on SW last Oct. We always do the EBCI for convienence. That way I don't have to worry about checking in no matter where I am. The calling at 24hr really made me a nervous Nelly, worse than trying to get 2 studio SV at AKV from 12/01-12/10.

 

[Jestocost]

Both of our flights are 7 am flights. Are those typically less full than later ones? Thanks for the information.

Depends where you are and what dates you are flying.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Both of our flights are 7 am flights. Are those typically less full than later ones? Thanks for the information.

Chances are they will be sold out. Fortunately though, early morning flights don't come from another city, so there won't be anybody on board already when you board, so there should be a good selection of seats available.

 

[Pinnie]

Chances are they will be sold out. Fortunately though, early morning flights don't come from another city, so there won't be anybody on board already when you board, so there should be a good selection of seats available.

Depends on where you are flying from! Last week my DTW - MDW flight left DTW at 6:30 a.m. It arrived in Chicago at 6:20 a.m. (*Time change.) I got off to change planes to MSP, but a majority were staying on to head elsewhere. So even though it looked like an early flight to those leaving MDW, it wasn't.

ALL seats on my flights last week were full. Many of us purchased EBCI. On the way home from MSP, even with EBCI, I got B 23.

Plan accordingly.

pinnie

 

[IndianaPrincess]

Leaving Orlando I would pay it. I did for myself, but I'm the only one flying and $10 on top of a peak airfare just means I won't be having a cocktail either flying down of flying home.

The last 2 times I flew out of Orlando, family boarding was only kids 2 and under. So with a 3 year old, you wouldn't get in with family boarding. It doesn't have to always be families with kids five and under.

Also, the last time I flew the same flight I'm flying in 5 weeks. I checked in less than 20 minutes after the 24 hour mark. Still I ended up with B's.

For my 7 am flight out on a Monday morning, I didn't bother with the EBCI. I somehow doubt that flight's going to be super full. Plus, I'll just get up at 7, and do the check-in from home as I make my first cup of coffee for the morning.

The thought of separating me and my son at 3 years old... sounds wonderful!!!



Seriously though, that is nuts.

 

[clanmcculloch]

Orlando flights are typically filled with a lot of families. It's not unheard of for family boarding to be skipped entirely or for the gate agents to restrict it to one adult with the child 4 or under meaning if you have a second adult in your party he/she would board in assigned boarding position with your other kids. I wouldn't assume that family boarding will be something you can use for your entire family. If you can then great, but if you can't then you need to be prepared for a plan B which is getting decent boarding positions.

Since you don't care what part of the plane you'll be in then you'll probably be find without paying for EBCI provided you can check in right at T-24. You may end up in a couple separate rows but you should have no trouble with a child having to sit alone. If you want to be sure that your ENTIRE party together (isles across from each other or one isle in front of the other) then I'd say pay for EBCI. If you can't check in RIGHT at T-24 then I'd suggest you pay for EBCI.

 

[goofy4tink]

With airlines, SW included, selling fewer flights nowadays, each flight is either overbooked or pretty close to full. So...if you want to be sure that you will be among the early boarders, regardless of the ages of your children, I would book EBCI. More and more people are doing just that...which puts those checking in at the 24 hr mark further and further back in the boarding process. And as someone else mentioned already, some airports aren't doing family boarding simply because there are so many families boarding in between the A and B groups.
I would certainly book EBCI for your flight out of MCO. And possibly even book it for your arrival flight into MCO. So nice not to have to worry about being online at the 24 hr mark or counting on being able to board in between the A and B groups.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

The thought of separating me and my son at 3 years old... sounds wonderful!!!

I bet the person you sit him next to with jump up and offer to trade with you! Seriously though, I traded with someone on my last flight so that they could keep their family together, and I saw the same thing happen on another flight. When people aren't off in their own little worlds completely oblivious to their surroundings, they tend to be pretty helpful.

I've been debating paying for the early bird check in myself. Our flights went down in price - I wish I could use the excess funds to pay for the early bird check in.

 

[JenC025]

I'm wondering if I should bother the flight I'm looking at is from PHL with one stop- flight leaves at 9:30am end of august

 

[kmermaid]

I'm wondering if I should bother the flight I'm looking at is from PHL with one stop- flight leaves at 9:30am end of august

My guess would be that flight will be full. Both our flights were full these past 2 Saturdays leaving and arriving at PHL.

 

[time4Mickey]

Thanks for all the advice. We decided to go ahead and get it both ways. Our flights were really cheap so it still wasn't bad. You would be surprised how many people really are willing to help you out if you aren't assigned seats together. That is why we fly SW. One trip to florida on United, I payed LOTS of money to be able to confirm our seats together. I even called and made sure that it would be set. The day before we left, they changed seat assignment, never gave a reason. I immediately called and was told nothing could be done until we got to the airport. So we arrived early and NO ONE would help us. They didn't see any reason why my 2 and 3 year old boys couldn't sit by themselves and not together. I actually had other passengers say "thats ok, I'll take care of him" Who in their right mind wants to take care of someone elses 2 or 3 year old not quite potty trained child? Anyway we love SW. At least 3 of us are able to sit together.