SW Early Bird..Anyone?

[MYD714]

Has anyone purchased the SW early bird option? I've flown SW a few times and have never had a problem getting a seat with DH. Although, I do stress about it before boarding. Has anyone made the early bird purchase? Is it worth it? Do you really get on that much sooner?



Any thoughts would be appreciated. I don't know that I want to spend money on something that may be a big waste. Thanks!

 

[Jestocost]

It depends.

We flew SWA with EBCI between STL and MCO at peak holiday travel times and had boarding numbers within one or two spots of the lowest available. Others flying out of particular airports with a lot of connecting passengers (who can check in 24 hours before their first flight or 36 hours before that flight if sing EBCI)--most notably MDW and BWI--have reported much higher numbers and even low Bs using EBCI on non-peak dates; although I've only seen the latter reported once or twice.

Also, the bigger your party the lower your chances of finding seats for everyone together if you have higher numbers. With only two passengers, however, there generally isn't an issue finding seats together even well into the Bs.

 

[dort]

I've bought it for our last two flight home.. that way we don't have to worry about being at the computer 24 hours before. Oh and we have it for our flight home in May too Haven't bothered with it for the flight down as there is no problem being at the computer 24 hr mark.

 

[DVC-Don]

I use it for the flight home. That way there is no worry about checking in while I'm out having fun.

 

[Tara]

There's a 1000+ response thread on the subject here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2273607

I personally don't fly without it - I'd rather pay the $10 each way and not have to bother checking in.

 

[KerriMc]

I have looked at the other long thread and it is overwhelming!! LOL

So I did buy the EB thing for us both ways - do they just email us our boarding numbers or do I have to go in and check to find out what they are? Do I print something off to take with me? There are seven of us total and we bought it for all so hopefully we are all fairly close to each other in the line. Do they call you to line up in order?

Sorry so many questions ... I'm new to flying with SW and doing all of this. I may be a bit obsessive so I've always prebooked our seats to alleviate that for me heehee

 

[MYD714]

I'm so torn in this decision, but I may buy it for the return flight. It's a good point that this way I won't have to worry about check-in during my vacation.

I read some of the other thread and for every person who purchases EBCI, there's another who doesn't. I get to the point where I think...wow , I should definitely get EBCI, and then I read a negative post and think...wow, glad I didn't purchase EBCI.

 

[Tara]

I have looked at the other long thread and it is overwhelming!! LOL

So I did buy the EB thing for us both ways - do they just email us our boarding numbers or do I have to go in and check to find out what they are? Do I print something off to take with me? There are seven of us total and we bought it for all so hopefully we are all fairly close to each other in the line. Do they call you to line up in order?

Sorry so many questions ... I'm new to flying with SW and doing all of this. I may be a bit obsessive so I've always prebooked our seats to alleviate that for me heehee

They won't notify you of your boarding numbers - you'll have to look online to find out what they are. You don't have to print your boarding passes out ahead of time, but if you aren't checking luggage, it will save you time because if you print passes at home, you can go straight to security. If you are checking baggage, printing your boarding passes at home isn't a big time saver. When I check bags, I prefer to print my passes there because then they're the regular size passes, not big pieces of paper.

Yes, they have you line up in order -they'll call the A1-A30 and then A31-60, then start boarding that group, then let the B1-30 take their places the A1-30 people just vacated as they boarded. There's a helpful "boarding school" tutorial here http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/index.html

 

[KerriMc]

Thank you Tara ... that makes more sense after watching the boarding school ... LOL!!! Who would have thought we'd need a tutorial?? It makes me feel better anyways! I will check for our numbers and then check in when we get there since we have luggage to check anyways.

Thanks so much!!! I will try to stop worrying now!!

Kerri

 

[photographymom517]

Not to sound completely clueless here (because I have read over what everyone wrote on this thread twice...) but if you do the extra $10 thing, does that mean you are guaranteed to sit with the other people you are flying with? I only have 3 people...myself, DH, and DS (2). I don't particularly like flying (not scared to death, but don't love it either) so I definitely need to sit with my husband (my son will be sitting on my lap). I flew Airtran last time because I knew we'd get to sit together...but it cost me over $900 there & back...SW will probably be half of that both ways.

Any advice is appreciated!!!

 

[Poohlovr]

There's never a guarantee, but, using EBCI, I've never heard of families not being able to sit together. Of course, checking in at the 24 hr mark will usually get you all together, too, if you are a family of 3 and not picky about where you sit.

We used EBCI last year on a cruise vacation, even though it was just my DH and me, knowing we would not be able to check-in at the 24 hr mark and it was wonderful. We were about the 6-7th people to board and I didn't have to stress about getting us checked in or relying on someone back home to do it.

This year, we are using it both ways as we are a family of 6 going to WDW and my grandson is only 27 months old. He would not appreciate sitting by himself. I also want to sit near him and his mom so that I can help out with him--keeping him occupied, staying with him if mom needs to go to the restroom, helping getting their gear on and off of the plane, etc.

Also, we have a very short layover (25 min) so I want us all to be together near the front of the plane so that we can get off ASAP to get to our connecting flight.

I noticed you said your 2 yr old will be sitting on your lap. If he truly is 2, he will have to have his own seat (and ticket). A lap baby must be under 2 yrs old.

 

[goofy4tink]

Here's the thing......I haven't really seen anybody split up, when flying SW, as long as they had a B group boarding pass...even those at the tail end of the group. And groups of three sometimes were able to get seated together in the C group. But that would be in the early C group.

I checked my ex-husband and his current family in with SW in January. They were in Tampa and at Busch Gardens at the 24 hr window...much easier for me to just do it. I got them low B group numbers...about B20ish. I was surprised. But, it could have been a connecting flight.
I have bought the EBCI feature for our flights in August. Why? I don't want the hassle of sitting here, poised over the keyboard. Much easier to just print up the boarding pass that they get me.

 

[Pumbaa_]

We use it too. Worth every penny for me not to be waching a clock and making sure I am able to hit enter at exactly the right time! Seat selection is important to us. We really like sitting in the emergency exit seats

 

[kdepot]

After reading this I will be using EB on my return flight. Last time we had my son check us in from home and we were B 1&2 on a packed flight. Going down is not a problem as I am the watch keeper