Southwest new boarding **new info**

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Thanks, Gail. Don't get me wrong, I am never "gauche".

Like I said, it was not aimed at you, honest. (that is why I put a in the parens).
For travelers, like you and I, who avail themselves of the sky cap, this will be boon to the waiting in line thing.
Here is hoping you can all sit together.
The only downfall I can see with your plan is that everyone else waiting in that curb line will have the same one. Where are you flying from? We fly out of Hartford and there is never anyone at the curb. Much to my endless pleasure.

 

[dznyfan40]

Thanks Gail. We fly from Manchester, although not very often so its always a stressful thing for me. I'll re post when we return to let folks know how the new boarding procedure worked for us.

Again, thanks for your advice!

Beth

 

[Lewisc]

Gail--I don't think they are randomly given out. My understanding there are a certain number of A B and C assigned to each location but at each location the A's are given out then the B's and finally C's.

 

[inaminute]

I hope they're not "randomly" given out. If that's the case then my days of flying SWA are over.

 

[skeezixspud]

This town must be full of compulsive flyers, because if you wanted to get a low number here before, you needed to be in line at the gate over 2 hours in advance, three hours was not unusual on some routes. People will form a line while the gate is still being used for an earlier flight; I've even seen situations where there are 3 lines, for 3 different consecutive flights using the same gate.
SWA has its own terminal here, so all of the folks in line at security are heading to the same places that you are.

Because people are getting their passes in several different places, the crowded conditions in the gate areas have eased a lot now. Advice that I have heard is that if you are a leisure traveller, get your boarding pass from the SkyCap, because so many of the business travellers avoid checking luggage; they go straight to the gate regardless. If you are not checking a bag, PLEASE do not get in a SkyCap line just to get boarding passes; lines to check luggage are long enough without that happening.

BTW: the FA's won't ask people to move, but I've never seen a case where it was even necessary to get the FA involved. If you want someone to switch with you, try to take an aisle seat; the business travellers, especially male, prefer them and will almost always trade to get one. Not only that, but most people travelling alone will be frantic to get away from an unaccompanied 6 yo. if they have any choice in the matter.

 

[sweetheart2576]

I am new to flying with Southwest. I have always had assigned seating, have only flew us air. While my daughter is only 4 and looks as though we can preboard, i was wondering do you have to get a boarding pass on every leg of your flight. We have a 2 hour layover at BWI do i need to get another boarding pass when i get there. I am confused, sorry.TYIA

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

If you switch planes you will need to go through the entire boarding procedure again.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Lewis,
I read somewhere where someone got an "A" pass and the rest of the party got a "B" pass and that was when they were next in line. Perhaps random was not the correct word, perhaps on a basis of how fast the agent punches in the info would be better.

 

[Lewisc]

Gail someone has to get the last A pass (from a location) and someone else has to get the first B pass. Under the old system I was allowed to board in the first group when my wife had the last number in the first group and I had the first number in the second group. Random would be if someone got a B pass and the next person (in the same location) got an A pass.

 

[dandelion]

Just a reminder, despite your best-laid plans to get in the first boarding group, you can still be stopped by security just before boarding and lose that coveted early spot. It happened to me in Feb. in MCO.

And it was totally random - I am a pasty-white middle-aged woman with nothing more exciting in my carryon then a bag of Mickey pretzels.

I was lucky and the very kind gentleman who had been ahead of me in line (I had met him on the flight down) saved me a seat in one of the front rows.

Sorry to be a downer, I'm actually trying to lessen some of your worries about getting that "A" card. It might not make a difference. Everyone gets to the destination at the same time anyway - I will say I would much rather be on the front of the plane too!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Lewis,
You are totally correct, obviously I made a VERY BAD choice of words for my post. Sorry about the cofusion.

 

[Tara8595]

I just got back from Orlando - flew SW for first time since the change. Talked with a ticket agent at length about the new procedure. She told me that the 3 locations (skycap, ticketing, departure gate) all pull from a central pool of A tickets until there are 5 remaining at which point the five that are left default to the departure gate. So, you always have a better chance of getting a ticket at the departure gate.

We always get an early flight, which is SW's first flight of the day. So, since ticketing didn't open until the 90 minute point and there was already a big line, we checked our bags at skycap at the 2-hour mark and went straight to the gate. Hardly anyone was there. So, when it opened at 90 minutes to give out boarding passes, we were first in line, no problems.

So, basically, for me - the motion-sickie, my process was same as it always was. Get there 2 hours ahead, check bags, go to the gate and pick up a boarding pass there, then get in my 'A' line. Not as good as picking a seat ahead of time, but it worked out fine and I didn't get sick because I got 2nd row of the plane.

So my advice to those who *need* to sit in front to avoid using the barf bag , arrive 2 hours early, check bags with skycap, and proceed directly to the departure gate.

Tara