Southwest Early Bird Checkin

[Moomduck1]

I still like Southwest. I don't think this new early check-in will change our plans to fly Southwest. There will be times we use it and times we don't. We fly out in 2 weeks so I'll let you know how it goes! One of our tickets was a reward flight. There were some thoughts that those paying higher prices would get earlier numbers. This will be a test to see. I was going to have 2 people in our party not purchase and wait to do the 24 hr check in, just to see how the numbers compared, but I didn't.

 

[Terk-1]

I paid for my early bird seats this morning. It's worth trying. Knowing that I can "check-in" 36 hours prior to the flight vs. 24 hours AND that I don't have to hover over a computer at exactly 24 hours prior is a plus too.

 

[2infinityandbeyond]

Is 36 going to be the new 24? Will those who pay the $10 have to check in as close as possible to the 36 hour mark to increase the likelihood of A boarding passes?

 

[momoftwins]

if I pay the $10 per person, SWA will check-in on line for me. All I have to do is go to the airport and print out the boarding pass )which will indicate whatever loading spot I have) using their kiosk??

Thanks.

 

[ironz]

if I pay the $10 per person, SWA will check-in on line for me. All I have to do is go to the airport and print out the boarding pass )which will indicate whatever loading spot I have) using their kiosk??

Thanks.

I believe that's how it's supposed to work. I would probably be inclined to go ahead and print the pass within that 24 hours before the flight, just so I know ahead of time what my boarding number is.


Interesting...seems like a lot of people are posting that they are willing to pay the $10 for this. (I might, on some occasions, but travelling without kids makes it not as necessary) On the other hand, seems like lots of people who fly AirTran do NOT like to pay the $6 for an assigned seat? Just an observation.

 

[Bugdozer]

The only thing I don't like about this is the fact if we have paid our money to get eb and end up with a B I don't like the fact that families will get to board before those who paid. That means anyone with young kids will catch on and not pay for EB leaving others who paid waiting behind them. I have nothing against families I have 3 boys that were little once. They will have to really fine tune this or they will have tons of complaints.

Bug

 

[Luckymommyx2]

There is mixed information on this. At least one SW FA is reporting that they are advised not to become involved or to prohibit seat saving. So now I have read various posters who say they will

• have only one member of their party pay for early boarding, and save seats for the rest
• not pay, board with their family, and demand that others move (which may be a challenge if so many people on MCO flights do choose to pay for early boarding)
• not pay and wait until the 24 hour mark to check in, risking getting a B or a C pass, but expect to sit with their family
• have only the adult in the party pay for early boarding, since SW 'won't make' their small children stand in the boarding line alone while Mom boards, thereby getting three people on board for the price of one
• not pay for early boarding, board with their group, and disregard a 'saved' seat and take it for their own use

Does anyone see any conflict here? I suspect that with all these tactics and competing interests, tensions will rise when many travellers are already stressed. Sadly I foresee conflict, altercations, denied boarding, or worse in the future on at least a few flights.

Not every family consists of three people so seating is a giant jigsaw puzzle. By the time the B or C group boards there may well only be middle seats left.

And over on the Family board there are readers still convinced that SW FAs will rearrange the entire aircraft so that their family can sit together, even if they didn't pay for early boarding, or the plane simply won't take off. I think that more than a few people are going to be very disappointed.

I see the conflict Bavaria! I read the same thing on another board about how the FA won't do anything about saved seats. I figure as soon as the word gets out that nothing will stop people from saving seats that chaos will ensue. Unfotunately I too see the potential for things to get ugly and fast. I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

 

[pooch]

for our 9/30 return flight so we don't have to spend time on our short trip waiting at Guest Services to check in.

PLEASE correct me if I'm not getting this but... I do not have to check in at all, SWA will automatically assign DD & I our boarding passes at the 36 hr. mark. The morning of our departure, we take our bags to RAC at POP and they can print our boarding passes & check our bags through to our home airport. Upon arrival at MCO, we can eat our EOS lunch and proceed to Security.

Yes? No?

 

[JenLanDisney]

Ok never mind. I called SW and she told me it would be a waste of $ for us. Family preboarding between A and B is not going away and it is very possible that I would pay the $ and still have to use the family preboarding because I may end up with B or C spots. She said it is meant for people who are only general boarders not for disabled or family preboarders. Thought I'd share incase anyone else was in a similar situation.

Val.

Thank you. This is our situation, too.

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

I see the conflict Bavaria! I read the same thing on another board about how the FA won't do anything about saved seats. I figure as soon as the word gets out that nothing will stop people from saving seats that chaos will ensue. Unfotunately I too see the potential for things to get ugly and fast. I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

I agree with both of you: a consistently enforced policy will be necessary, with management supporting their front-line staff. Otherwise, "unhappiness" is guaranteed.

Has anyone seen when the first date is you can fly with this new program? I've seen posts from people saying they added it to September flights, but nothing specific on SWA's site.

I suspect we'll stick with 24 hour check-in, at least for the flight down. To save on someone having to get to a computer for the flight back, we might consider it. Our fare is currently $49/pp each way, so we're saving big-time, and can consider the extra fee. It's still cheaper (for us) than AirTran, with their baggage fees (at least for now).

 

[CPer'sMom]

Is 36 going to be the new 24? Will those who pay the $10 have to check in as close as possible to the 36 hour mark to increase the likelihood of A boarding passes?

If I pay the $10 early boarding fee SW will automatically check me in at the 36-hr mark. I don't do anything but print out my boarding pass or get it when I arrive at the airport.

 

[j-jhall]

I got the early bird yesterday morning for tomorrow's flight. I checked in right at the 24 hour mark and got A18 & A19.

 

[LexiC123]

I got the early bird yesterday morning for tomorrow's flight. I checked in right at the 24 hour mark and got A18 & A19.

<----A16 and A17. Yay early bird!

 

[n2mm]

I'm excited for you early birds, but unfortunately by the time I use it in January and March, everyone will have caught on and be using it. You guys know about it and figured out the downside and upsides, while I'm sure alot of folks are not aware of this new feature yet. Congratulations!

I've always gotten an A board pass using the old fashion method.

 

[lawgs]

I got the early bird yesterday morning for tomorrow's flight. I checked in right at the 24 hour mark and got A18 & A19.

do you mean You checked to see what you got at the 24 hour mark ( thought SW checked you in at 36 hour mark when you purchase early bird ) ???

 

[j-jhall]

do you mean You checked to see what you got at the 24 hour mark ( thought SW checked you in at 36 hour mark when you purchase early bird ) ???

Honestly I don't know. This is the first time flying Southwest, so I wasn't taking any chances and went through the check-in motions at the 24 hour mark. It's possible that I had already been assigned those positions, but I am not risking it.

Wish I had a better answer.

 

[lawgs]

Honestly I don't know. This is the first time flying Southwest, so I wasn't taking any chances and went through the check-in motions at the 24 hour mark. It's possible that I had already been assigned those positions, but I am not risking it.

Wish I had a better answer.

that answer is good....

you paid yesterday, they booked you in at 36 hour markd and you were able to see what you "got" for your "due diligence" by doing Early Bird at the 24 hour mark


it will be interesting to see how this all pans out in the future

thanks for your update

 

[mareed]

Honestly I don't know. This is the first time flying Southwest, so I wasn't taking any chances and went through the check-in motions at the 24 hour mark. It's possible that I had already been assigned those positions, but I am not risking it.

Wish I had a better answer.

My understanding is that if you pay for the Early Bird, then you'll get the same boarding pass number when you print whether you do it online 24 hours before the flight or if you wait until you get to the airport. It's already been assigned to you, so there's no need to do it right at 24 hours before the flight, but I can understand wanting to do that just to be sure!

 

[DisNae]

You are out of line. If you choose not to pay, you deal with the consequences instead of taking it out on other people who are trying to get from point A to point B just like you. You have no way of knowing if someone needs the seat they are in due to a disability you can't see. Having children does not make you any more special than other families or adults traveling together. I have children and want to sit with them too..... if I want to sit with them bad enough, I pay the fee or fly an airline with assigned seating.....

If you chose not to pay, you have no right to judge someone who chose to do so.

Wow, just who is judging who, here? You are making all sorts of assumptions about me that I never stated or inferred.

I respect the choice of someone who paid not to move. But they must also respect my choice not to pay, because it wasn't an existing policy when I bought my tickets.

And let me state here again: the child in question is a 3-YEAR-OLD. I am not talking about needing to sit next to a 10-year-old!

 

[Bobo912]

I haven't read through all the posts yet, so excuse me if I repeat something that has already been mentioned. The last time I flew out of MCO, there was a large family 8-10 people in the A line in front of us. We struck up a conversation about checking in online from our phones the previous day - turns out we were both at Epcot in the pouring rain. Anyway, the family had 3 or 4 separate confirmation numbers, so a couple of them had boarding numbers lower than ours and the rest were higher, so the majority of them should have been in line behind us. It didn't bother me that they had all lined up together ahead of us. We were still boarding early and wouldn't have any problem sitting together. But with this new system what's to stop one member of a traveling party from buying early bird boarding and then the rest of the party just lines up with them. I've never seen SW do anything to enforce the boarding sequence, but I've never seen people abuse the rules too terribly either. I know if I had paid for my early boarding pass, I wouldn't have been happy at all with the big family lining up ahead of me and my family. SW is going to have to crack down on people lining up out of order or else have some very disgruntled customers. And if people who don't have early bird boarding try to board with a family member who does and the gate attendant has to stop them, I can just imagine how that is going to slow the boarding process. I fly a lot on SWA and there is almost always someone who is lined up incorrectly, usually because they don't understand the boarding process. I had the same idea as a lot of you - try it on our return trip from WDW so we don't have to take time away from the fun to check in. We're going in October. Wonder what happens to the money if this turns into such a headache for SWA that they drop it before our trip.