SW Boarding question

[Minniekins]

I just checked in for my 7:30 am flight out of Midway, to Orlando. I got spot B11, which is pretty good I thought, but with the computer acting up for a min, the next ticket was checked in with number B39. Can we both board with my number at B11? And if not, can I board and hold a seat while I wait for her to get boarded?

Also, was wondering, at that time of the morning, is it enough time to get there at 6am? I know they recommend 2hrs ahead at Midway, just wondering if at that time of day, if 2 hrs ahead of time is necessary. That could make for a long wait at the gate.

One more thing, about EBCI. Is it too late to bother to get early check in for the following Sun, Dec 23 at 8:25 pm? Is it worth it at all? The one thing I see is they will check in early for me at 36 hrs. I won't be at a computer or even the resort, to check in myself at 8:25 pm, at the 24 hr mark.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Jestocost]

I just checked in for my 7:30 am flight out of Midway, to Orlando. I got spot B11, which is pretty good I thought, but with the computer acting up for a min, the next ticket was checked in with number B39. Can we both board with my number at B11? And if not, can I board and hold a seat while I wait for her to get boarded?

Also, was wondering, at that time of the morning, is it enough time to get there at 6am? I know they recommend 2hrs ahead at Midway, just wondering if at that time of day, if 2 hrs ahead of time is necessary. That could make for a long wait at the gate.

One more thing, about EBCI. Is it too late to bother to get early check in for the following Sun, Dec 23 at 8:25 pm? Is it worth it at all? The one thing I see is they will check in early for me at 36 hrs. I won't be at a computer or even the resort, to check in myself at 8:25 pm, at the 24 hr mark.

Thanks for any help!

Proper SWA boarding etiquette would be to have the lower number board at the same time as the higher number, not the reverse. Depending on the gate agent they may or may not allow a higher number to board before its rightful place in line.

If you're only looking to get two seats together there should be no problem whatsoever boarding in B11, taking an aisle or window seat and saving the middle seat. While MDW is a very busy tranfer point for SWA and many flights do have passengers staying on the same plane from a previous airport, it's not likely to be the case the early in the morning.

I would plan on being at the airport the full two hours before the flight. If anything, I have found that it sometimes takes longer to get through all of the check-in and security steps first thing in the morning than it does later in the day. MDW is a bit of a madhouse all day anyway.

I definitely would go ahead and book the EBCI for the convenience factor if nothing else. You definitely will get a better spot in the boarding order than you would if you checked yourself in and you won't have to worry about figuring out how to get that done.

 

[Minniekins]

Thank you for your reply, appreciate it! And, all good points!

 

[Lewisc]

Doesn't apply to the OP, a 7:30a flight out of MDW shouldn't have any connecting passengers.....Passengers with a later flight originating from an airport likely to have a lot of connecting passengers, including MDW, BWI, LAS etc should consider EBCI. Otherwise every connecting passenger will be able to get their BP 2 or more hours before your 24 hour window opens.

 

[dburg30]

look at EBCI as nothing more then, as stated, a convenience. While it will usually get you a better seat, it is just so you dont have to be at a computer at exactly 24 hours to get the best seat you can.. When at a place like WDW most people want as much 'fun' time and dont want to worry about checking in for a flight.

I ALWAYS try to get to the airport aroun 2 hours before (and I'm just here in columbus) but not so much because of security at the terminal but just in case of car problems, traffic, some other unseen issue.
And also, that early, things are usually on time.. if your flight leaves at 730 you will start boarding around 710 or so, keep that in mind also. \

as far as the seating part, they should not allow b39 to board with b11... b11 most certainly can drop back with b39.. As far as holding a seat, southwest is open boarding and that means that basically if someone doesnt have a butt in a seat that seat is available. Now most people will not make a big deal out of it and SW wont get involved in 'seat saving' problems unless it gets ugly..

 

[Jestocost]

Doesn't apply to the OP, a 7:30a flight out of MDW shouldn't have any connecting passengers.....Passengers with a later flight originating from an airport likely to have a lot of connecting passengers, including MDW, BWI, LAS etc should consider EBCI. Otherwise every connecting passenger will be able to get their BP 2 or more hours before your 24 hour window opens.

Exactly what I said.

And OP was asking about using EBCI for their return trip from WDW. They already have their BPs from MDW.

 

[Lewisc]

Exactly what I said.

And OP was asking about using EBCI for their return trip from WDW. They already have their BPs from MDW.

I'll sometimes phrase my reply in order to provide information for all people reading the thread. Not just for the OP.

I don't disagree with anything you said with regards to the OP.

Some people fly from a popular SW connecting city, like MDW, at a time in which the flight is likely to have connecting passengers. Really any flight mid to late morning on. Those passengers need to realize the connecting passengers will get both BPs 24 hours before their first flight...2 hours (or more) before your 24 hour window opens. Those passengers should either pay for EBCI or accept the possibility of really bad sequence numbers on their BP.

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I don't think it's too late to do ebci. In June, we decided about 3 or 4 days before our return flight to add it. We just didn't want the checking in to interfere with our park time. We ended up getting numbers around A 20 b/c there must have been people that paid for ebci way before we did.