Southwest Flyers: Early Bird Check-In?

[Mississippianna]

Is it worth it to pay for Early Bird Check In? I'm thinking of doing it just for our Orlando to home, return leg of the trip, since we likely won't be able to check in online and print boarding passes the day before from our resort.

We will be 2 adults traveling with a 2-year old, so would EBCI get us on the plane even before they call for those traveling with young children to board?

We're going the first week in Feb, so it shouldn't be a busy time, if that would effect your decision at all.

Advice? Suggestions? Any word from those who have done this?

 

[pooch]

on why you're doing early bird. With a 2 yr old, you don't have to worry about seating order as you'll board after the A's anyway as maybe not necessary. BUT if you're doing it for the convenience of not having to deal with check in for the trip home then, yes, to me its worth the $20 bucks for the convenience. When we did it in Sept, our boarding passes were hanging on our door the morning we left.

 

[Jestocost]

We did EBCI for our inbound and outbound flights to MCO on 12/23 and 1/2 and had A17-20 on the inbound flight and A18-21 on the return flight. Those are just about as good as you can get without purchasing a Business Select fare or being a top-tier frequent flyer. Anything in the A group has you boarding before families with small children, who board between the A and B groups.

Some travelers have reported getting high As or even a few Bs using EBCI, however, so there's no guarantee that you will get in the A group and be allowed to board ahead of families with children. Much of that will depend on where you are flying from, as airports with a lot of transferring passengers--such as Midway or Baltimore--seem to be where the higher boarding numbers are cropping up.

 

[Mississippianna]

Well, we are flying out of Jackson, MS which is not at all a busy airport, and we have a nonstop flight. We had a FULL flight the last time we went to WDW, but that was Mardi Gras week, and folks probably travelled from all over the area to fly Southwest.

It would be $30 each way to do it. I think we'll skip it this time, since we'll board after the A group anyway, and I do have the iPhone ap so I can check in the day before at the resort, just not get the passes printed. My main concern was having plenty of time to set up DD's seat. This is her first time to fly as not a lap child.

pooch, how did you get your boarding passes delivered to the room? Did you get them because you were using ME?

 

[Jestocost]

pooch, how did you get your boarding passes delivered to the room? Did you get them because you were using ME?

It looks like pooch was staying at POP, where SWA has been testing participation in Resort Airline Check-in. As of today, they are not doing RAC at the Poly and you won't get the same service as a result.

 

[Bobo912]

pooch, how did you get your boarding passes delivered to the room? Did you get them because you were using ME?

It's part of the Resort Airline Checkin program. The program has been available for other airlines for a long time, but is being piloted for Southwest at the value resorts. The pilot has been going on for a quite some time now- I don't know if it's been extended to other resorts or if the pilot is still going on. We used it at ASMu in Oct. Boarding passes were delivered to our rooms and we were able to check our bags at the resort and didn't see them again unitl we got to our home airport.

 

[puffkin]

Well, we are flying out of Jackson, MS which is not at all a busy airport, and we have a nonstop flight. We had a FULL flight the last time we went to WDW, but that was Mardi Gras week, and folks probably travelled from all over the area to fly Southwest.

It would be $30 each way to do it. I think we'll skip it this time, since we'll board after the A group anyway, and I do have the iPhone ap so I can check in the day before at the resort, just not get the passes printed. My main concern was having plenty of time to set up DD's seat. This is her first time to fly as not a lap child.
pooch, how did you get your boarding passes delivered to the room? Did you get them because you were using ME?

If you have the iPhone app, you can check in at 24 hours! That will assign your boarding pass numbers. We always check in from my phone and then just print the boarding passes at the airport when we check our luggage.

Paying for the $30 won't buy you more than a few minutes extra anyway. IMHO it will be a huge waste of money in your situation. Just check in from your phone at 24 hours and then if you don't get A's board during the family preboard!

 

[Mississippianna]

It's part of the Resort Airline Checkin program. The program has been available for other airlines for a long time, but is being piloted for Southwest at the value resorts. The pilot has been going on for a quite some time now- I don't know if it's been extended to other resorts or if the pilot is still going on. We used it at ASMu in Oct. Boarding passes were delivered to our rooms and we were able to check our bags at the resort and didn't see them again unitl we got to our home airport.

Oh, duh! I forgot about that. I guess if the program were expanded to Deluxes, I'd have seen something somewhere by now. I'll do some research. Thank you!

 

[dburg30]

Oh, duh! I forgot about that. I guess if the program were expanded to Deluxes, I'd have seen something somewhere by now. I'll do some research. Thank you!

You just have to keep checking, I'm sure they will go 'world wide' at some point. There have been RUMORS on at least one other site that SW was full world, but all of those have been disproved at this point. Goofy4Tink was in the world when one of the rumors surfaced, and she checked, first hand, and found out that info was incorrect.

 

[sumertime]

When we stayed at POFQ last summer, we went to the concierge desk and they checked us in the night before our flight. It wasn't quite at 24 hours because we had dinner ressies at that time, but shortly after. Basicly, all he did was log on to Southwest's site and input our info.

 

[Goofygirl17]

I haven't decided whether to purchase ebci or not for our April trip. But the last time we went we checked in at 24 hours prior on Main Street at the magic kingdom. They did it for us and we got A boarding passes. That was before ecbi though.

 

[WDWjen]

..after reading the huge thread on it, and posting on the family boards I think I'd be paying the $10 each for nothing. It seems like most people that check in online 24hrs prior wind up getting A or B group boarding. For me its an extra $100 for the 5 of us to have EBCI and thats a lot of money on top of an already expensive vacation!

On the flight down its no problem b/c I can be at my computer 24hs prior to flight. and when we are at WDW we'll use the blackberry to check in and if we can't we'll use the concierge or guest services.

If I needed to be in the front of the plane I'd worry but I think we can get 2 or 3 seats together in the back of the plane...my son is 4 so I know at least one of us will preboard with him.

As far as seat saving, SW has no policy so there is no reason people cannot do it. It doesnt seem like the nicest thing to do, but its no different than when you are in line for Dumbo and the people in front of you suddenly let 3 more people join them........makes for an akward situation, but its not going to ruin my whole day.

 

[formill]

We paid for EBCI - and were on a flight today- got A 16-22. It was great to walk on and pick any seat. A lot of money for 7 people though. I was worried after last year when we did check in at exactly 24 hours (no EBCI then) and got in the A group but when we walked on the plane there were already many people on it- the plane must have came from somewhere and Orlando was a stop to pick up more to continue on- I would not have wanted to be in B that time. Today the flight attendants kept telling people seat saving was not allowed as they boarded and they seemed to watch people. For EBCI it seems to totally depend on how many people really purchase it......all those that do beat all that wait to check in at 24 hours. Overall I would still prefer that they went to assigned seating.