Southwest Early Bird Checkin

[Lewisc]

SW removed a number of N/S flights to MCO. Passengers connecting at BWI can get BPs for both flights 24 hours before their first flight, at least an hour before you. It's not clear how many of the As with a lower sequence number were given to passengers who purchased EB and how many went to passengers who got them an hour or more before you got your shot.

Just checked in.
Route: bwi-mco
Time synchronization: tested x3 prior to go-live (the failure to retrieve box has the time in hours, minutes, and seconds, in the lower right), to synch my chronograph with their clock. I feel confident I was, at most, 2 seconds after the appointed hour.
EBCI? NO
BP numbers: A54, 55

In the past, I believe the highest numbers we've had were in the mid 20's (2006, per records)

 

[PatsMom]

I checked in for our flight from MHT to MCO tomorrow at noon and got A22 and A23. I had paid for EBCI. Probably didn't need to bother on the trip down tomorrow but I think it will be worth it for the trip home so I don't have to worry about being at a computer 24 hours before the flight.

We are going to BWI in two weeks (three of us that trip). I didn't pay for EBCI that trip. For an hour and a half flight I don't care if we are sitting at opposite ends of the plane.

 

[Moomduck1]

I posted this on the Family Board, but for those here who don't read there, here is my experience with EB on SW last week...

I did not fly with young children, but I thought I would share what I observed. Flying from Phili to MCO last week, over half of the flight were families with children. Some of the children were under 4 and others were families with children probably 4-10 years old. I watched because of all of the fuss I've been reading about here. We had paid for the EB and gotten A18-21. There was no fuss by anyone on the plane. I can only assume that everyone got a seat (and the flight was full) by their families because the FA did not even ask if anyone would trade seats. I heard no complaints of any kind. And there were lots of different families. I think that people are worrying too much.

On the way back, there were at least 30 empty seats. There were only a handful of families, but again, none of the FA asked people to switch seats so everyone must have been happy with their seats. We also did EB and got A19-22

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

SW removed a number of N/S flights to MCO. Passengers connecting at BWI can get BPs for both flights 24 hours before their first flight, at least an hour before you. It's not clear how many of the As with a lower sequence number were given to passengers who purchased EB and how many went to passengers who got them an hour or more before you got your shot.

True.

Since we're not the first flight of the day, I told DW that I thought we'd have higher than normal numbers. It will be interesting tomorrow to see where our equipment comes from, and how full it appears. Last October, our plane originated in Hartford, and there were several staying through to MCO.

 

[lawgs]

Just checked in.
Route: bwi-mco
Time synchronization: tested x3 prior to go-live (the failure to retrieve box has the time in hours, minutes, and seconds, in the lower right), to synch my chronograph with their clock. I feel confident I was, at most, 2 seconds after the appointed hour.
EBCI? NO
BP numbers: A54, 55

In the past, I believe the highest numbers we've had were in the mid 20's (2006, per records)

what is your flight number?

we are on flight 3789 out of buffalo tomorrow with a stop in BWI but we do not get off....perhaps there are a lot of through passengers?????

we did not do EBCI and got A31 and A33 for our flight out of buffalo tomorrow at 9:40 am

people on through flights also get to change seats before the BWI - MCO passengers board I think

this is all a new learning curve

 

[Nennie]

Just wanted to post my NON-EB results for anyone interested.

PHL to MCO - Checked in at T24 and got A29-A32
MCO to PHL - Checked in at T24 and got A25-A28

So for my flights, either EB didn't catch on yet, or people just weren't using it.

I was really surprised with the MCO-PHL, b/c I thought for sure there would be a bunch of EB tickets ahead of us, but we lucked out!!!

 

[For the love of Walt]

I did sign up for EB today. I hope its going to be worth it. We are flying PHL to MCO on tuesday. Will let you know if it was a good decision or not. I might take a poll at the airport and see how many A's actually used the EB. Maybe not too many people are aware of it yet. Do you still have to print your boarding passes at home? and when? 36 hrs ahead? Can anyone help who's used it already?

 

[Nohal]

Flew 9/17 to MCO and purchased EBCI. When we printed boarding passes and found out we were A16-A17 we knew we were the only ones to use this service. On the way down as we asked the people who were A18-19 if they did it also and they had no idea what we were even talking about. Flew home today and again had A16-A17, I figured we were the only ones who paid for the service on this flight also. Going down was a waste of money as it is just DH and me, coming back was worth the money not to have to worry about getting boarding passes printed somewhere on Disney property at the 24hr mark. I think that as people become more aware of this they will use the service.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

We checked in yesterday for ISP to MCO did not pay for EBCI and got A-33,34. We leave in 8 hours.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I checked in at T-24 for return flights yesterday...without purchasing EBCI got the following
Ft Myers to Baltimore A33 & 34
Baltimore to Islip A30 & 31

Really glad I didn't spend the extra $20 each way for this trip..and until I start getting high B boarding passes checking in at T-24 or unless I am unable either check myself in or have a family member do so at T-24... I'm not spending the extra $$$ on EBCI

 

[AnnieS]

Checked in at T24 for 7:40 am Monday flight out of PVD to MCO - got A29 and A30 with no EBCI.

Did not do EBCI for return flight either but will check in via my cell at WDW and hope for the best.

 

[ironz]

(non-WDW trip)
No EBCI....checked in at T-24 for return trip home from Vegas. A38.

I am wondering if either:
a) it really hasn't caught on/people don't know about it...or..
b) people are seeing that it is still possible to get A boarding positions or maybe the low #s in B, so they are fine with that and not willing to pay the $10....so maybe not the HUGE demand that people were predicting earlier in this thread.


I DO still think that for convenience...those who will be out and about, as in touring parks, etc....it will come in handy.

 

[littlepeppers]

Last year we went to Guest Services (we were in DHS) and had them do our early check in & print our boarding passes.

That is the plan for this trip too.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I did sign up for EB today. I hope its going to be worth it. We are flying PHL to MCO on tuesday. Will let you know if it was a good decision or not. I might take a poll at the airport and see how many A's actually used the EB. Maybe not too many people are aware of it yet. Do you still have to print your boarding passes at home? and when? 36 hrs ahead? Can anyone help who's used it already?

You can print your boarding pass at the airport when you check your luggage. One of the options on the kiosk is to print your boarding pass.

Even using EBCI, you can't print your boarding pass until 24 hours before your flight. Your boarding position will be set at 36 hours before your flight though.

 

[Henlady]

Checked in right at 7:00AM this morning. No EBCI for this flight - Pittsburgh, PA to MCO, got A27 & A28 . We did register for EBCI for our return trip on Sunday, Oct 4. That 11:40am flight has been sold out for more than a month now. As soon as EBCI became available, I "booked" it. We'll see how we do then.

 

[4greatboys]

T24 checking this morning HOU-MCO A22!! YAY! My friend going with me who checked in about 3 minutes after me got A44.

 

[For the love of Walt]

Used the EB got A18 and A19. I agree with those of you who said its not necessary to use this for the way to WDW but will be great for the way home.
Thanks for the help and info. Will be there in about 24 hrs. Anyone know how to make the clock speed up .

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

Don't know if it is known that you can do the following so I thought I would share!

We just changed from a morning flight to an afternoon flight on the same day, with flight prices that were almost the same and did NOT have to pay again for Early Bird Checkin. She told my DH that as long as it is the same confirmation number on the same day (even if it is a different flight) then the $20 we had already paid would transfer to the new flight.

Hope that helps someone someday!

 

[Cruella 66]

I paid for EB check in as we are flying evenings, I don't like to fly, and wanted to be sure to get an aisle seat; figured $20 would be well spent! Tonight is 24 hours from our flight, and our EB numbers are A17 and A18.

 

[PooohBear]

I did not purchase EBC on my flight to MCO but I did purchase it for the flight home so I don't have to worry about it while i'm at the parks

Checked in this morning and got A28