SW dropped my EBCI, what to expect?

[sullins5]

Not necessarily upset..yet. We booked our flights first week they came out and paid EBCI for all 5 of us. Last night, I was checking our flights on our SW app, and it said "Add EBCI". I knew I paid for rt for all of us, so called at midnight. At first, the cm said "When you changed your flight, the EBCI reverted to that day", and I explained that I never changed it, but did get a price adjustment 2 months later. And on that price adjustment it clearly states "The EBCI was paid in full at the time of the original booking, and has been applied to this change".
So, 15 min later, the rep says, "Ok, talked to tech, and now you're showing EBCI on all flights". Does this mean, we'll all be moved to B or later since it's almost a month until our flights? When we've booked our flights first week out before, we've always had A and been onboard quickly. Now I wonder if I've paid for it, and it will make no difference....Any thoughts or experiences with EBCI missing like this?

 

[DebbieB]

Not necessarily upset..yet. We booked our flights first week they came out and paid EBCI for all 5 of us. Last night, I was checking our flights on our SW app, and it said "Add EBCI". I knew I paid for rt for all of us, so called at midnight. At first, the cm said "When you changed your flight, the EBCI reverted to that day", and I explained that I never changed it, but did get a price adjustment 2 months later. And on that price adjustment it clearly states "The EBCI was paid in full at the time of the original booking, and has been applied to this change".
So, 15 min later, the rep says, "Ok, talked to tech, and now you're showing EBCI on all flights". Does this mean, we'll all be moved to B or later since it's almost a month until our flights? When we've booked our flights first week out before, we've always had A and been onboard quickly. Now I wonder if I've paid for it, and it will make no difference....Any thoughts or experiences with EBCI missing like this?

I bought EBCI less than a week before in December and got A58.

All you can do is wait and see what you get at 24 hours. if you get a B, I would discuss it with the gate agent.

 

[LisaS]

Does this mean, we'll all be moved to B or later since it's almost a month until our flights? When we've booked our flights first week out before, we've always had A and been onboard quickly. Now I wonder if I've paid for it, and it will make no difference....Any thoughts or experiences with EBCI missing like this?

Whether your boarding position will be affected is hard to say since you don't know what date is now in the EBCI purchase date field of your reservation. It could be today's date or it may have been set to the date your purchased your ticket, in which case you'll be OK.

In addition, your assigned boarding position will be affected by how many A-List passengers are on your flight. They get their boarding positions assigned before any EBCI passengers do. Any passengers who purchase Anytime fares + EBCI will also be given better boarding positions than your group, assuming you purchased a Wanna Get Away fare. So the number of A-Listers and Anytime Fare plus EBCI passengers will impact your boarding position. In other words, you could get a not-so-great boarding position even if your EBCI purchase date has been reset to the correct date.

It sounds like you used the "Change Flight" option to reprice your flight and did not do a cancel and rebook, correct? Since the confirmation number does not change when you use the "Change Flight" option and EBCI is attached to the confirmation number, your EBCI purchase should not have been affected. It's a concern for all of us if EBCI can get dropped when using the "Change Flight" option to reprice a flight. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[sullins5]

Whether your boarding position will be affected is hard to say since you don't know what date is now in the EBCI purchase date field of your reservation. It could be today's date or it may have been set to the date your purchased your ticket, in which case you'll be OK.

Hoping since the quote that my EBCI "was paid in full the day of my original booking" was on my reservation, whoever "tech" is, will be sure to note that I booked the first week of said flights opening. And yes, no matter what, it will be ok. But principle of paying for the benefit, one would hope you'd get the benefit.

In addition, your assigned boarding position will be affected by how many A-List passengers are on your flight. They get their boarding positions assigned before any EBCI passengers do. Any passengers who purchase Anytime fares + EBCI will also be given better boarding positions than your group, assuming you purchased a Wanna Get Away fare. So the number of A-Listers and Anytime Fare plus EBCI passengers will impact your boarding position. In other words, you could get a not-so-great boarding position even if your EBCI purchase date has been reset to the correct date. Understand this too, but that's why I booked when they came out, and in the past, have never had later than A37...

It sounds like you used the "Change Flight" option to reprice your flight and did not do a cancel and rebook, correct? Right! I actually did not even do that! This was my first time asking for a price adjustment, so I called. The very nice rep said she'd take care of it for me, the reservation would stay the same, and I'd have the same EBCI, and I would not have to do a thing.

Since the confirmation number does not change when you use the "Change Flight" option and EBCI is attached to the confirmation number, your EBCI purchase should not have been affected. It's a concern for all of us if EBCI can get dropped when using the "Change Flight" option to reprice a flight. Thanks for the heads up!

And this is why I shared this today. I actually found this on my APP on my phone at midnight last night! When checking on my flights it said "Add EBCI to your flights". And immediately, I knew something was wrong. What if I hadn't checked it? So, a heads up...if you ask for a price adjustment, better make sure they've registered your EBCI payment!
While this certainly is not a big deal, and we'll be fine when we board (Hey, we're going to Disney!!!) It'll be interesting to see if we get what we paid for.

 

[ibob52]

So, a heads up...if you ask for a price adjustment, better make sure they've registered your EBCI payment!

I just read the "if you ask for a price adjustment" part of your equation.

I am guessing you made your *change* over the phone and *not* online.

Celebrate you *caught* the error prior to your trip ... Good catch ! !

*price adjustment = change*

 

[sullins5]

I just read the "if you ask for a price adjustment" part of your equation.

I am guessing you made your *change* over the phone and *not* online.

Celebrate you *caught* the error prior to your trip ... Good catch ! !

*price adjustment = change*

Yes, It was over the phone. And knew it was considered a change, but when she reiterated that my EBCI would stay the same, I had no idea to check and make sure it was still there on the app. Lesson learned for the future, lol. And it'll be alright, just hoping I paid early for early bird and not later bird...hahaha

 

[pigletto]

Same thing happened to me two trips ago. I called in for the price adjustment (I can't remember why.. I usually do it myself.) The rep processed it as a cancellation and rebooking instead of a change, which would have left the EBCI in tact.
I called and complained when I figured it out because now it was close to the flight date and I had booked EBCI the day flights came out. I don't remember what they told me exactly, but I do remember we were just after A30. So all was well in the end. I hope you can get things straightened out.

 

[sullins5]

Thanks pigletto! It was a price change on our departing end of our round trip to MCO and not the return, so maybe she just forgot to forward my existing EBCI to the first part of our flight. Not really worried (since my kids are all older), but it does shed some light on possibilities when you submit price differentials. Funny thing was? I was calling to verify HOW to do it, the sweet rep said she'd do it for me, and 'voila'...lol, here we are. No worries, we'll just see what happens, though we just didn't want to pay for 5 EBCI fees if it does not make a difference. The EBCI is now showing up on my SW App, so we'll just go with it.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I bought EBCI less than a week before in December and got A58.

All you can do is wait and see what you get at 24 hours. if you get a B, I would discuss it with the gate agent.

I'm not sure what you think a gate agent is going to do.

 

[sullins5]

Not really anticipating doing anything, albeit, will be disappointed if my boarding is way back. We will see...

 

[DebbieB]

I'm not sure what you think a gate agent is going to do.

Someone else recently posted that they lost their EBCI and they explained it to the gate agent and they allowed them to board between A and B. Doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[kristenrice]

Someone else recently posted that they lost their EBCI and they explained it to the gate agent and they allowed them to board between A and B. Doesn't hurt to ask.

I had that happen to me. I voluntarily switched to a non-stop flight into a different airport when it was apparent that a mechanical delay would cause us to miss a connection into our desired airport, resulting with an overnight stay. I had paid for EBCI for our original, connecting flight, but obviously that would do me no good when I switched to a different flight on the same day. The gate agent "stamped" my boarding pass with a red heart and told me that I would board immediately after the "A" group, before family boarding.

In reference to the OP, I had a similar experience. I had booked a flight from FNT to MCO without EBCI. I booked the return (MCO-GRR) WITH EBCI, since I hate trying to check in while on vacation. I book the EBCI for the automatic check in, not so much for the earlier boarding position. When the price dropped from MCO-GRR (which is closer to home), I changed our return from the MCO-FNT to MCO-GRR, via BWI. I didn't even think to verify that the EBCI carried over, which was my mistake. Imagine my surprise when at the T-24 mark for my outbound flight, I checked in and saw the "Early-Bird" written on my boarding pass! Uh....what? So I checked my return flight and, sure enough, it was gone. Apparently, when I did the flight change, they applied my EBCI to the FNT-MCO leg instead! I called immediately and they had to get a supervisor to add it, but I'm not sure it did much good at a week out. Then, the aforementioned debacle happened...flight from MCO-BWI was two-hours delayed, and with only a 50-minute layover in BWI, for the last flight of the day, it was apparent that we would not make it in to GRR that night. They were able to put us on the MCO-FNT non-stop flight, which was the one I'd originally booked. I was able to secure a one-way rental car to get home. I was not offered any sort of compensation for the voluntary diversion, but when I sent them a very polite letter, detailing my experience, and trying to figure out if I would ever receive my RR points for that flight, they sent me a $150 LUV voucher!

 

[JLitfin]

This just happen to me as well. I called and explained that my EBCI was dropped. The agent with help from her supervisor added the EBCI but onto our reservation. I even asked what place in line will we be now when SW starts checking passengers in. I purchased the EBCI on day one with the purchase of our flight. I did call a couple of times when the flight dropped its fare for an adjustment which is probably when it was dropped. The agent did say not to worry but never did say whether our EBCI was from day 1 or from the other day which is 2 weeks from our departure. I guess we will find out at the 24 hour period when we check in. I'm hoping for an "A" boarding position.