Southwest Early Bird

[dkostel]

I've noticed something about Early Bird boarding which makes me think I've been incorrect. I thought your boarding position was assigned in the order your ticket was purchased, that appears to be untrue.
I bought a ticket about a week before my niece for the same flight. I checked her in when check in first opened and then myself about an hour later. Her boarding position was about 30 ahead of me.
Today I checked in 6 minutes after check in for my flight opened and I'm in the b group, even though I purchased the ticket when they first became available.
So it seems that you are still "competing" against the other EB passengers for boarding position and if you want A group you better be ready at 24 hours.
Is this true? (Sorry if this is common knowledge).

 

[pooch]

If you've purchased EBCI, you don't check yourself in. SWA does that for you at the 36 hr mark. The only thing the 24 hr mark counts for it the ability to see and print your boarding pass and when you do that has no bearing on your boarding position. You could wait til you got to the airport if you wanted to. Not sure if you mean Early Bird which is an additional service for which you pay an additional fee. If not, your number is assigned by when you check in (the 24 hr mark) not what order tickets were purchased.

 

[DebbieB]

From what I understand, it's not just when you purchase EBCI, they also factor in fare paid.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

It is not Early Bird Boarding, it is Early Board Check-in.

Your post is very confusing; I am not sure what you're asking. If you didn't purchase EBCI, you weren't competing with EBCI passengers for seats, as they were checked in 12 hours before you were eligible for check-in.

EBCI check-in order is based on more than purchase time. This is explained on Southwest's web site.

 

[dkostel]

Thanks Debbie, I hadn't realized that there are other factors.