SW EBCI bummer

[Hoopfamily]

So I bought our airfare months ago for our upcoming trip. We paid a price that I am entirely cool with, as well as the EBCI. We bought these seats within the first 5 minutes that the schedule opened up, hoping to get an early boarding number. Fast forward to now, I always check pricing to see if we can get any kind of refund future travel voucher etc. The prices finally dipped to price below what I paid and I call SW, but because I got EBCI if they do the future travel voucher then we lose our virtual spot in the EBCI as it's virtually the same as cancelling the flight. So bummed because who couldn't use a little extra future travel help.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Unless SW has changed..I've done price adjustments online and kept my EBCI ...I'm pretty sure as long as you keep the same confirmation number it stays on your reservation...

 

[MarcyMouse]

Look at the bright side- you still have the early bird, so even if it's not the lowest A number it'll still be low enough to get comfortable seats.

I did a very stupid thing when the price went down- I CANCELLED the flight and rebooked it. So not only did I loose my EBCI place, I lost my $10 too, for 8 flights! I will never make that mistake again.

 

[Hoopfamily]

The EBCI stays on the same reservation, but the order or EBCI disbursement is partially based on when it was purchased. I was probably 1 of the first to buy for my flights so if I did the refund it would change.

 

[crashbb]

Unless SW has changed..I've done price adjustments online and kept my EBCI ...I'm pretty sure as long as you keep the same confirmation number it stays on your reservation...

I think that the problem is not that one loses EBCI totally, but that one loses one's spot in the EBCI "line up".

Ignoring any weirdness due to fare-type etc., let's assume that people are checked-in (at the 36 hour mark) in the order that they purchased their ticket. The OP was the first one to buy her tickets, so she has places 1 to 4 in the line up (just making up that she has 4 tickets). If she rebooks her tickets at the cheaper price, she has to get out of line and join the end - behind all the people who bought tickets between when she originally bought her tickets and now.

Personally, unless the flight has already sold all its seats (and, since the price dropped, it seems pretty safe to assume that, in fact, many seats remain), I'd go with the price drop even it it means moving back in the EBCI list. You don't even know how many of those people who bought tickets in the meantime got EBCI.

 

[Hoopfamily]

I think that the problem is not that one loses EBCI totally, but that one loses one's spot in the EBCI "line up".

Ignoring any weirdness due to fare-type etc., let's assume that people are checked-in (at the 36 hour mark) in the order that they purchased their ticket. The OP was the first one to buy her tickets, so she has places 1 to 4 in the line up (just making up that she has 4 tickets). If she rebooks her tickets at the cheaper price, she has to get out of line and join the end - behind all the people who bought tickets between when she originally bought her tickets and now.

Personally, unless the flight has already sold all its seats (and, since the price dropped, it seems pretty safe to assume that, in fact, many seats remain), I'd go with the price drop even it it means moving back in the EBCI list. You don't even know how many of those people who bought tickets in the meantime got EBCI.

Crash all of your info is spot on except for one thing. The assumption I am A WOMAN. You could not be more wrong.

 

[crashbb]

Crash all of your info is spot on except for one thing. The assumption I am A WOMAN. You could not be more wrong.

Sorry

I had to go with the odds (more female posters than male posters).

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I think that the problem is not that one loses EBCI totally, but that one loses one's spot in the EBCI "line up".

Ignoring any weirdness due to fare-type etc., let's assume that people are checked-in (at the 36 hour mark) in the order that they purchased their ticket. The OP was the first one to buy her tickets, so she has places 1 to 4 in the line up (just making up that she has 4 tickets). If she rebooks her tickets at the cheaper price, she has to get out of line and join the end - behind all the people who bought tickets between when she originally bought her tickets and now.

Personally, unless the flight has already sold all its seats (and, since the price dropped, it seems pretty safe to assume that, in fact, many seats remain), I'd go with the price drop even it it means moving back in the EBCI list. You don't even know how many of those people who bought tickets in the meantime got EBCI.

Got it I didn't realize the place in line changed with the price adjustment....

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Wow, I would grab the credit in hot second. With EBCI, you will still have a good boarding # and still sit together. So what if it's over the wing instead of at the very front?

As long as you get the credit by changing your res, not cancelling, you don't lose your $10.

 

[DebbieB]

Wow, I would grab the credit in hot second. With EBCI, you will still have a good boarding # and still sit together. So what if it's over the wing instead of at the very front?

As long as you get the credit by changing your res, not cancelling, you don't lose your $10.

I agree. From reports posted, the "virtual line" doesn't seem to work anyway.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I didn't know that, but now it makes perfect sense. I've wondered why sometimes I end up so far back with EBCI and this explains it.

 

[Shannon G]

I'm not sure EBCI always gets assigned based on when you purchase it anyway. DD and I flew recently. Originally I had booked our flights together with RR points, and paid for EBCI. I then hit companion status with SW, so I was able to re-book DD as my companion for free. In order to do that, I had to actually cancel her ticket that was booked with points, and rebook on the companion As a result, I had to repurchase EBCI for her, yet she ended up with a much lower number than mine (A-22 vs A-55, if I recall correctly).

 

[francie57]

Not sure if that is true or not. We purchased our airfare for this past Aug. on the day that it came out, along with EBCI. The price of our flights went down so I called SW and they told me how to get the credit online. I did that and got the credit for the 4 of us. When I checked us in (under the 24 hr. mark), we still got A18, 19, 20, 21. So for us we still got great numbers.

 

[goobylal]

Usually with ECBI, you will get you seats together. The only problem is if you want them at a certain spot on the plane. I'd take the fare reduction.

 

[seashoreCM]

The internally queued up early bird check in requests should be filled in the order of EBCI purchase, not ticket purchase. But if you cancel and rebook, you need to make a new EBCI purchase and that new moment prevails.

 

[Shannon G]

The internally queued up early bird check in requests should be filled in the order of EBCI purchase, not ticket purchase. But if you cancel and rebook, you need to make a new EBCI purchase and that new moment prevails.

That makes sense, and it seems like EBCI should be filled in order of EBCI purchase, but that doesn't always happen.

That being said, I would go for the lower fare even if it meant losing my place in the EBCI order.

 

[DebbieB]

The internally queued up early bird check in requests should be filled in the order of EBCI purchase, not ticket purchase. But if you cancel and rebook, you need to make a new EBCI purchase and that new moment prevails.

There's 2 different ways to get a credit. You can change your reservation, your confirmation # and EBCI remains. If you cancel and rebook, your confirmation # changes and you have to repurchase EBCI. It sounded like the OP wants to change their existing reservation to the lower price. They would not have to repurchase EBCI. The question is how does it affect their "place in line". I don't think anyone really knows, from recent posts it seems like it is random.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I think EBCI is over rated.

Two weeks ago we did not have EBCI and at 1 AM when we arrived back at the Poly I checked to make sure that our flight status was okay before going to bed. Everything was still on schedule for our current 8:20 a.m flight but decided to check a little further and I also noticed that another flight for the same day was $100 cheaper and left 2 hours later than our current flight. I really did not want to take the 8:10 flight but at the time it was cheap. I kept checking to see if the flight prices dropped. I never imagined that it would drop so close to flight time. So now we did not have to get up as early.

So changed our flight to the cheaper one and checked in to for the new flight. I did not like the fact that we would not get to sit together since we were checking in so late So at 1:30 A.M I checked us in for a flight that would be leaving in less than 10 hours and we got an A 18 boarding number and a B 30. I was shocked.... I figured we would get a C boarding never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get an A.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I think EBCI is over rated.

Two weeks ago we did not have EBCI and at 1 AM when we arrived back at the Poly I checked to make sure that our flight status was okay before going to bed. Everything was still on schedule for our current 8:20 a.m flight but decided to check a little further and I also noticed that another flight for the same day was $100 cheaper and left 2 hours later than our current flight. I really did not want to take the 8:10 flight but at the time it was cheap. I kept checking to see if the flight prices dropped. I never imagined that it would drop so close to flight time. So now we did not have to get up as early.

So changed our flight to the cheaper one and checked in to for the new flight. I did not like the fact that we would not get to sit together since we were checking in so late So at 1:30 A.M I checked us in for a flight that would be leaving in less than 10 hours and we got an A 18 boarding number and a B 30. I was shocked.... I figured we would get a C boarding never in my wildest dreams did I think we would get an A.

We have also received a low A boarding number when checking in very late....I was told it happens when someone else who had checked in earlier and had the A18 boarding pass canceled their seat on that flight....then A18 is assigned to the next person checking in for,that flight

 

[ladypage]

I would take the credit in a heart beat. I've booked flights four days out and gotten EBCI and have never had anything but an A boarding pass. Sure, you may not be number 15, but 30 still isn't bad.