Southwest Early Bird Checkin

[sb127]

Avonlady 1001, you probably checked each person in individually instead of using the Check All box at the beginning of the list of names on the reservation..

 

[goofy4tink]

The more people hear of the EBCI, and then hear of those checking in at 24 hrs and getting mid-B passes, the more people you will see paying for EBCI...SW has now achieved what they wanted to....higher fare without it looking like a higher fare!!! I feel really badly for those that don't realize what an impact the EBCI is going to have...and just do their checkin at 24 hrs, and end up in the C group. Boy, are they going to be shocked.

 

[tjmw2727]

So some folks checking in at T 24 (non early bird) are getting low A and others are getting low B.

Are those getting B on a continuing flight I wonder?

 

[Lewisc]

So some folks checking in at T 24 (non early bird) are getting low A and others are getting low B.

Are those getting B on a continuing flight I wonder?

Posters reporting mid B's are on flights that are likely to have a lot of connecting passengers who were eligible to get their BPs at least 1.5 hours before passengers originating in that city. SW is reducing the number f N/S flights to MCO so an increasing number of passeners wind up connecting in airports like BWI and MDW.

 

[tjmw2727]

Avonlady 1001, you probably checked each person in individually instead of using the Check All box at the beginning of the list of names on the reservation..

Not necessarily - I have used the "check all" box and gotten BP's that are separated by a number or two.

 

[Avonlady1001]

Avonlady 1001, you probably checked each person in individually instead of using the Check All box at the beginning of the list of names on the reservation..

I think you meant to respond to someone else? I checked my sister in who is traveling alone. There was only one box to check...she got B6 this morning at T24 exactly.

Although reading other responses since I posted, it's quite possible a lot of people do have connecting flights to MCO thru BWI & were able to check in earlier. I just assumed that many people did EBCI.

 

[miprender]

Not necessarily - I have used the "check all" box and gotten BP's that are separated by a number or two.

DITTO... we booked 6 flights under 1 confirmation number and I was on at T24 and you should have seen how different all our numbers were all over the place, but still A BPs (this was in April pre EBCI)

 

[twinklebug]

DITTO... we booked 6 flights under 1 confirmation number and I was on at T24 and you should have seen how different all our numbers were all over the place, but still A BPs (this was in April pre EBCI)

This happens when your request and another person's request hit the SWA server at the same time. The software can only check one person from your group in (granted it does it lightning fast) before continuing down the list to check in lucy, linus, sally and charlie in the same fashion. The database simply serves out the next logical boarding number to the next request. It has no clue if you're all together or not. It just answers the door and gives out the candy to anyone saying trick-or-treat. (OK, bad example: Charlie would be getting a rock)

Last year I had A59 and my kids had B 1 & 2 Amazingly enough, they found their way onto the plane.

 

[1stvisit0909]

Was it entire families, or just small groups? I have no issue with them boarding an adult with a child under 4 between A&B. It's when they permit the child and 5 adults all as a part of the same "family" to board together at MCO that I have an issue. There was a reason I stalked the computer at T-24 and now have paid for EBCI.



Now that is exactly how it's intended to be used - as a convince. Could you check to see if those behind you boarding used EBCI?

It was entire families on all three flights we watched board.

 

[1hero2princesses]

Ok so if I sign in 24 hours in advance and end up with B or C, it is possible we may not all be able to board at once? My kids are 6, 4 and 2. So they could tell me I could board with the 2 and 4 year olds but my 6 year old and husband would have to board later? I would be a little worried they could not sit together. My DS turned 6 two days ago and just started kindergarten. He is not exactly grown up! He would not be able to find the airplane bathroom, would probably be afraid to ask for a drink etc. I would not feel comfortable if one of us is not with him. At the age of 10 or so I would be ok but in an emergency a 6 year old would panic (ie. my brother once landed and they had to evacuate via a the shoot - no actual accident I am not sure what had happened). My DS would probably freak and start crying not knowing which way to turn. $50 more is a lot - boy I hope they allow us all to board between A and B if we don't get A. I am not sure I will fly southwest again. This just feels very sneaky to me. They didn't even announce it in advance. Yeah we don't charge for bags but hey you may not be able to sit with your small children unless you pay up. As, long as we can sit 3 and 2 I don't care where we are on the plane, I just don't want my son alone.

 

[TDC Nala]

With kids 6, 4 and 2 if you don't get an A pass, you can board after the A group but before the B group, with family boarding. If you are in family boarding, do not worry that your family will not be able to sit together, as only 60 persons, plus disabled preboards, plus anyone who is in the family line ahead of you, have boarded the plane before you did. Your seats might be in the rear of the plane but they will be together.

If there are a lot of people in the family boarding line it is possible they will say one adult per eligible child. You have two eligible children. Therefore both adults could board. They won't make the 6 year old board alone, so that child can board with you.

 

[cbsnyber1]

I really hate it, but I think I'm gonna pay the $40 & do EBCI for me, DH, DD4 & DS1. I just can't stand the stress. I know one thing, though, unless the SW flights are super cheap & adding $80 on for this nonsense STILL comes out cheaper than Jetblue, this is the LAST time I fly SW.

I also elected for EB just to avoid the stress of checkin and getting low B or C. Even with the extra $10, I'm paying only $89 each way nonstop from Pittsburgh so it was well worth it. I can't wait to see where we end up.

That said, I think SW has opened up a can of worms with EB. Too many what ifs going on. They might as well start assigning seats and raise fares a bit - that would make everyone happier than this mess.

 

[Hannathy]

I also elected for EB just to avoid the stress of checkin and getting low B or C. Even with the extra $10, I'm paying only $89 each way nonstop from Pittsburgh so it was well worth it. I can't wait to see where we end up.

That said, I think SW has opened up a can of worms with EB. Too many what ifs going on. They might as well start assigning seats and raise fares a bit - that would make everyone happier than this mess.

Nope wouldn't make me happier! I don't care if I sit with my family, I'll take the $10! Give me cheap ala carte fares and let people pay for what they feel is important to them be it baggage or seat assignments.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

I think this whole thing is a big rip off. I had to pay an additional $80 for my December trip. I also paid an additonal $60 for a Feb trip. I am too afraid not to do it. Between Disney and Southwest raising prices in economic hardtimes I am completley disgusted.

 

[bicker]

Give me cheap ala carte fares and let people pay for what they feel is important to them be it baggage or seat assignments.

This is the sentiment that serves as the (very strong) foundation for all the surcharging and new add-on fees we're seeing these days. It is the general case in today's consumer marketplace.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I think this whole thing is a big rip off. I had to pay an additional $80 for my December trip. I also paid an additonal $60 for a Feb trip. I am too afraid not to do it. Between Disney and Southwest raising prices in economic hardtimes I am completley disgusted.

You're aware economic hard times affect businesses as well, right, and not just individuals? Disney raises its prices every year - its costs go up (energy costs go up, employees get pay increases [frequently per contract], supplies like sheets cost more, wholesale food is more expensive...) and it's unreasonable to expect them to NOT pass on cost increases to the consumer.

Can you please explain why you're afraid to not pay for early bird check in? It's optional, of course - no passenger is required to pay the extra money for the convenience.

Perhaps some upset passenger can convince Southwest to cancel their upcoming reservation and refund their original payment due to this percieved unfair playing field (not directed at the quoted poster, just a summary of the 'anti' opinion noted on various threads). The passenger should remember, though, that it's likely that any replacement airfare will cost more, and that even on airlines with assigned seating, those actual seat assignments are NOT guaranteed.

 

[KSBelle]

I just checked in online (from home). We are on a flight tomorrow that originates in Denver and then stops in KC , where we will get on, and then on to Orlando.
I chose not to do EBCI for the flight down and got A 34 & A 35.
However, I did sign up for EBCI for the flight home and I did this for the CONVENIENCE only.It is worth it to me not to have to go to Guest Services in the middle of my last park day to check in. No other reason!
I'll post back in 9 days and we'll see how I did.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

With all due respect, don't be so naive! Disney has increased holiday charges on rooms and now holiday surcharges on many meals because they can, period. Please don't poor Disney me. It's laughable. You can love Disney( and Southwest) which we do, and still be critical of some of their policies. The real issue here is SW's new policy, which is in reality a fee. I just spent over $400 a ticket to fly to Florida. Some of these tickets were much more. The idea of having to pay a fee to make sure my family can sit together and not randomly looking for middle seats all over the plane is ridiculous I believe this is what will happen on flights during holidays for the poor people who don't or can't pay for the additional fees.

I never said anything about cancelling our reservation. There are no other direct flights to Florida from our airport other than SW. They have a captive audience!

You're aware economic hard times affect businesses as well, right, and not just individuals? Disney raises its prices every year - its costs go up (energy costs go up, employees get pay increases [frequently per contract], supplies like sheets cost more, wholesale food is more expensive...) and it's unreasonable to expect them to NOT pass on cost increases to the consumer

Can you please explain why you're afraid to not pay for early bird check in? It's optional, of course - no passenger is required to pay the extra money for the convenience.

Perhaps some upset passenger can convince Southwest to cancel their upcoming reservation and refund their original payment due to this percieved unfair playing field (not directed at the quoted poster, just a summary of the 'anti' opinion noted on various threads). The passenger should remember, though, that it's likely that any replacement airfare will cost more, and that even on airlines with assigned seating, those actual seat assignments are NOT guaranteed.

 

[Tara]

With all due respect, don't be so naive! Disney has increased holiday charges on rooms and now holiday surcharges on many meals because they can, period. Please don't poor Disney me. It's laughable. You can love Disney( and Southwest) which we do, and still be critical of some of their policies. The real issue here is SW's new policy, which is in reality a fee. I just spent over $400 a ticket to fly to Florida. Some of these tickets were much more. The idea of having to pay a fee to make sure my family can sit together and not randomly looking for middle seats all over the plane is ridiculous I believe this is what will happen on flights during holidays for the poor people who don't or can't pay for the additional fees.

I never said anything about cancelling our reservation. There are no other direct flights to Florida from our airport other than SW. They have a captive audience!

With all due respect as you said, there is absolutely nothing NAIVE about believing that Disney is facing hard economic times, just as Southwest is. Do you pay attention to earnings reports? Do you know that Disney is having a horrible year financially? Do you realize that their cash cow - the ability to repackage DVC loans and sell them to other lenders - has dried up? Do you know how many people they laid off this year? If you look at programming, do you see how thye've cut back shows such as Fantasmic? Have you noticed that they not only extended the now-traditional free dining period but began offering it in the fall? What about the 4/3 deal...these are deals they only offer when they are really in need of filling rooms. Unfortunately, it somewhat backfired because the guests did come, but they still weren't spending money in shops and restaurants, at least during the 4/3.

Look at earnings. Look at stock prices. Look at projections. If you look at that and think that a small increase per head on seasonal dining or an increase for the short holiday periods will make that up, then you being naive as well.

But let's move on to Southwest. Again, have you followed their profitability, or lack thereof, this year? Do you realize they have been on track for a bad year? they posted a quarterly loss in 3Q08 - their first in 17 years, thanks to fuel prices. And remember they have some pretty excellent fuel positioning, so if THEY lost money, you know the other airlines took a bath. They went on to post losses in 4Q08 and 1Q09. CEO Gary Kelly said:

“We face the toughest revenue environment in our history. A rapid weakening in passenger demand during first quarter, particularly among business travelers, led to our first quarter net loss,” he said. “Although competitively strong and financially resilient, we are not immune to the challenges the worldwide recession is having on air travel.”

They broke the losing streak with a modest gain in 2Q09 but the CEO said that they were making great efforts to stimulate traffic with promotional fares, but if demand did not rebound quickly, 3Q09 would look bad. Guess we'll know in a few weeks.

The problem with Southwest's model is that it works exceptionally well when demand is high. When demand is low, there aren't a lot of places to go for cost cutting. They have bet the farm on no bag fees, so with virtually everyone else charging fees for SOMETHING, they have to figure out what fees customers would be willing to pay. They NEED that cash, and to say that they are greedy or disgusting for making an effort to bring in revenue makes you appear uninformed or naive, to use your word again.

By all means, be critical - we as the buying public should be! - but please make an effort to ground your criticism in reality, not in a what appears to be a knee-jerk reaction based on your own willingness to pay these fees. And remember that there is no one forcing you to pay this OPTIONAL fee. No one at all.

BTW, I've just paid more to fly from home to Orlando than ever before on Southwest. I have been willing to pay their price (low or not) because they're the only nonstop option for me. But the nonstop option was much higher than I wanted to pay (by almost $200 total). So I went with the earliest flight that does stop in BWI. That flight was still just slightly less than Delta or USAirways when I factored in the fact that we'd likely check a couple of bags. But the advantage still goes to Southwest since it's all 737, not regional jets. I don't mind paying $10 each for the EBCI because I'd rather not have to get up early the day before and do OLCI. The same is true for the trip back - $10 each to not have to worry about signing in on my iPhone and time where I am (like not in the queue for Soarin', where I know there's no signal)? Well worth the OPTIONAL fee.

And I maintain that if someone can't pay an additional $10, they really cannot afford to fly.

 

[goofy4tink]

I really can't believe you guys are still going with this thread. Amazing.
In any case.....When someone buys airfare with SW, they have to understand that being seated together is not a guarrenteed thing. You may be able to get A group, but you may not. Those boarding with 4 and under kids will most likely be able to sit with that child, but the entire family may not be seated with them. This is the chance you take when flying SW. If sitting together is important, then perhaps an airline that assignes seats is a better choice for your family.
The problem is that we all want the lowest fare, with all the perks we can get. SW doesn't provide those perks. In fact, all airlines can, and do, change seat assignments. It is not unheard of.

SW is free do put out 'fees' as they see fit. My only issue is that it should have been done when the new schedule was opened, not a few days later. There are going to be some people that are just not aware of the 'perk', and will be very surprised when they check in for that direct flight only to find that they have high A bp's now.

As far as it being a big rip-off...could be. But, many companies are hurting. And they need some way to get some addtl revenue. Extra 'fees' are one way to do it. I actually wish SW would just say that if you want an A group, you need to pay for the EBCI...when they are gone, they're gone. Then, allow one free bag to be checked, with the second only $10...that would keep the majority of people happy.
Disney?? Well, they too are a business. And they too are hurting in this economy. Never have we seen so many discounts offered so often...especially at times of the year when discounts were never offered before.
Again, I say....Travel and vacations are not a right. If a family can't afford to go, for whatever reason, then they don't go. If Disney or an airline have raised prices or added fees that make it harder to afford to go, then you don't go. But it does rankle a bit when they add 'fees' after we have bought the tickets. That just bothers me.