Southwest Early Bird Checkin

[Topper]

The family board still seems to be firmly in the 'I'm not buying, and I WILL sit with my children' camp. There may be a lot of disappointment in the near future.

One poster on the FB posted that her child will likely pee on you if they are not sitting with their parent!

 

[Tara]

One poster on the FB posted that her child will likely pee on you if they are not sitting with their parent!

Oh goodness, I just went and read part of that thread. I don't understand why people with attitudes like that fly an open-seating carrier. I'm simply boggled at the name-calling and self-righteous entitlement.

And I do still want to know if there's real confirmation that family boarding between A & B will still occur.

 

[crashbb]

Oh goodness, I just went and read part of that thread. I don't understand why people with attitudes like that fly an open-seating carrier. I'm simply boggled at the name-calling and self-righteous entitlement.

And I do still want to know if there's real confirmation that family boarding between A & B will still occur.

At least a few people have called and been assured that it will AND that they won't be changing the number of A passes given out.

Of course, this is subject to change.

 

[123SA]

there is also at least one report already of someone getting B17 with EB, so as we surmised, paying the fee does not guarantee much. And it may leave those who choose not to pay completely at the end of the line.

I planned on pre-boarding with my 4 yr old in Nov. I think I better just bite the bullet and pay the $40. However, I am not happy about it...if I have known I'd have to pay this extra $40 I may picked a different airline.


If I pay the extra and still end up with B17 - -are the odds good that my child and I will be seated together? I don't care where we sit on the plane. What about car seats? They have to be installed in a window seat...what if there aren't any left?

 

[bstnsprts]

Good luck to us all trying to get answers from SW. I have no beef with them imposing the fee, just the way they did it. Anyway I tried to call the other day and gave up waiting on hold so I went to their web site and sent an e-mail. Below is SW's reply.

Dear Jeff,

Thank you for contacting us. Due to the nature of your issue, we are forwarding your e-mail to our Customer Relations Department for further review. You should expect a response to your concern within seven to 30 days, and we'll do our best to get back to you as soon as possible. We certainly appreciate your patience.


Sincerely,

Stacy, Southwest Airlines

Seven to thirty days? I wonder if they're taking a public relations hit and are stalling to gauge customer responses.

Also, I forgot to include that my child would pee on people if I didn't get want I wanted!

 

[Bobo912]

I didn't read all the FAQs before I bought EB check in for our Oct & Dec trips, but I just read on the SWA site that the EB fee is non-refundable. Since you can't modify an existing reservation to book a DING fare, that means if you cancel and book a DING to get a cheaper fare you will lose your EB fee and will have to pay it a second time for the DING. I doubt if our Oct fare will go down much, but Dec is still a ways in the future and I was expecting to see a lower fare. If it's a lower Wanna Get Away fare, I think I'm okay (as long as my flight time is still 25 hours away), but if it's a DING, it will have to be significantly less to make up for losing and repaying the EB fee. I'm also afriad that if people save seats or people who didn't buy EB check in demand to sit together, there are going to be arguments over seats and all sorts of unplesantness. I'm beginning to think the convenience isn't worth it.

 

[Bobo912]

I planned on pre-boarding with my 4 yr old in Nov. I think I better just bite the bullet and pay the $40. However, I am not happy about it...if I have known I'd have to pay this extra $40 I may picked a different airline.


If I pay the extra and still end up with B17 - -are the odds good that my child and I will be seated together? I don't care where we sit on the plane. What about car seats? They have to be installed in a window seat...what if there aren't any left?

I've boarded with a C pass and still been able to find 2 seats together. But I think they will have to let you board early if you are using a car seat.

 

[lawgs]

Even more interesting is that the flight in question was Midway to MCO AND the ticket was a "wanna get away" booked and EB'ed ~T60 (i.e. it was a fairly wide open flight if there were still the cheapest fares available that late).

The person in question flew today and apparently it was not a computer glitch that gave him the B17.

thought i read it, as a MDW to MCI flight....where ever that is looked it up on google it is Kansas City

it was conjectured this flight might have had a lot of thru passengers on it, or was a connecting flight where "people" were able to get "second leg" boarding passes when they checked in for their "first leg" eg travelling from the east people get first crack when there 24 hour time limit is "IN"

 

[crashbb]

thought i read it, as a MDW to MCI flight....where ever that is looked it up on google it is Kansas City

it was conjectured this flight might have had a lot of thru passengers on it, or was a connecting flight where "people" were able to get "second leg" boarding passes when they checked in for their "first leg" eg travelling from the east people get first crack when there 24 hour time limit is "IN"

I see what you are saying, and that would change things. There were still a lot of EBs though. Since he was checked in at 36 hours, I wouldn't think that any non EBer (even if they were able to check in early due to a connecting flight) would have checked in yet. I cannot imagine SW having connecting flights were one left more than 12 hours before the first. And definitely none of the thru passengers (if they didn't use the EB) would have been checked in yet.

 

[Tara]

thought i read it, as a MDW to MCI flight....where ever that is looked it up on google it is Kansas City

it was conjectured this flight might have had a lot of thru passengers on it, or was a connecting flight where "people" were able to get "second leg" boarding passes when they checked in for their "first leg" eg travelling from the east people get first crack when there 24 hour time limit is "IN"

I have to believe there's going to be some price-adjustment of this program pretty soon. I also have to believe if you're regularly flying out of BWI, MDW and other higher traffic connection points, getting value out of ECBI is going to be difficult.

 

[lawgs]

I see what you are saying, and that would change things. There were still a lot of EBs though. Since he was checked in at 36 hours, I wouldn't think that any non EBer (even if they were able to check in early due to a connecting flight) would have checked in yet. I cannot imagine SW having connecting flights were one left more than 12 hours before the first. And definitely none of the thru passengers (if they didn't use the EB) would have been checked in yet.

another twist maybe ...and not sure if this is POLICY, but heard EB purchased before 36 hour mark will check in at 36 ~T....EB purchased 36 - 25 hour before flight ....will check in at 25 ~T, thus since this was the first day of EB, instead of 12 hours lead time, he might have had only 1 hour lead time on "traditional" check in


just do not have enough information on this, other then he was shocked getting a B17 boarding pass....after having paid for EB

thus, this experience/report probably will NOT be the norm....but then again only time will tell

 

[PlutoPony]

another twist maybe ...and not sure if this is POLICY, but heard EB purchased before 36 hour mark will check in at 36 ~T....EB purchased 36 - 25 hour before flight ....will check in at 25 ~T, thus since this was the first day of EB, instead of 12 hours lead time, he might have had only 1 hour lead time on "traditional" check inl

The EB was purchased T60 so essentially there were 76 who purchased EB before him during the first day or so of EB roll out. From what I've read, the B17 guy was put in the EB queue at T60.

Don't think there's any way connecting passengers played a role in this.

Thanks for the correction - it was Kansas City

 

[crashbb]

The EB was purchased T60 so essentially there were 76 who purchased EB before him during the first day or so of EB roll out. From what I've read, the B17 guy was put in the EB queue at T60.

Don't think there's any way connecting passengers played a role in this.

Thanks for the correction - it was Kansas City

If there were passengers on his flight for whom the flight was the second one (of a connecting pair) and they signed up for EB, they'd receive boarding passes for flight 36 hours before their first flight. Thus, they would have received boarding passes A16 to whatever, before his 36 hour window opened.

At least, that is how it worked/works for regular check-in starting at 24 hours before flight time.

 

[PlutoPony]

If there were passengers on his flight for whom the flight was the second one (of a connecting pair) and they signed up for EB, they'd receive boarding passes for flight 36 hours before their first flight.

Yes you're right. I was thinking of this in a very narrow way i.e. whether there were connecting EB's or not, 76 passengers MDW-MCO.

BTW, it WAS Midway after all (MDW) not KC - I rechecked the FT post. And that makes it very likely there were connecting passengers.....

 

[yrdlyprincess]

I'm sorry that I didn't read this whole thread- but to clarify, I thought that it was just to get a "pre A" boarding pass,am I wrong or is it for "seat assigment"? My family wouldn't all be able to sit together anyhow because their are 4 of us, I am very happy with 2 and 2, I know that the whole "family with small children" is not in effect any more- but very confused about this!

 

[pooch]

in regards to family boarding. If indeed families with young kids still board between A & B (and there's nothing on SWA's site that says that's changed) then there can be no more than 60 people on board first, assuming an originating flight. That leaves 77 open seats so, unless all 60 people take middle seats, there shouldn't be a problem finding 2 or more seats together. I don't understand the panic.

 

[Brian Noble]

I'm told that SW does infrequently skip the family boarding phase out of or to MCO, because they'd effectively be boarding the entire plane at that time.

 

[Tara]

I'm sorry that I didn't read this whole thread- but to clarify, I thought that it was just to get a "pre A" boarding pass,am I wrong or is it for "seat assigment"? My family wouldn't all be able to sit together anyhow because their are 4 of us, I am very happy with 2 and 2, I know that the whole "family with small children" is not in effect any more- but very confused about this!

Early Bird Check-In automatically checks you in 36* hours prior to your departure, which presumably gives you a better chance at a more desirable boarding number. There is no guarantee that it will give you an A pass. There's no indication yet about how many EBCIs will be sold per flight and no way to know where you are in the queue, so it's a $10 per person gamble.

Apparently family boarding between the A and B group will still be in effect, so families with children 4 and under will board after the first 60 passengers board.

 

[n2mm]

I didn't read all the FAQs before I bought EB check in for our Oct & Dec trips, but I just read on the SWA site that the EB fee is non-refundable. Since you can't modify an existing reservation to book a DING fare, that means if you cancel and book a DING to get a cheaper fare you will lose your EB fee and will have to pay it a second time for the DING. I doubt if our Oct fare will go down much, but Dec is still a ways in the future and I was expecting to see a lower fare. If it's a lower Wanna Get Away fare, I think I'm okay (as long as my flight time is still 25 hours away), but if it's a DING, it will have to be significantly less to make up for losing and repaying the EB fee. I'm also afriad that if people save seats or people who didn't buy EB check in demand to sit together, there are going to be arguments over seats and all sorts of unplesantness. I'm beginning to think the convenience isn't worth it.

I share your same concern. We have flights booked for January and March, but I'm subject to change my departure time and because the website does say this is nonrefundable and may not change if you change flights (It says it's tied to the reservation number you buy it for). So if you cancel and rebook it's lost. I will most likely pay for it, but not until I know for sure I won't be making any further changes. This does affect ding fares, so you would only be able to add it if you are at the fare you plan to stay at (I am @ $54 out of IAD), but until Disney releases their AP rates, I'm not sure if I'm arriving Thurs/Frid or Sat before my DVC stay. I most likely won't book flight on SW again.

 

[bavaria]

One poster on the FB posted that her child will likely pee on you if they are not sitting with their parent!

Oh goodness, I just went and read part of that thread. I don't understand why people with attitudes like that fly an open-seating carrier. I'm simply boggled at the name-calling and self-righteous entitlement.

I see that we have two new members in the poopyhead club - welcome!