SWA Family Boarding and EBCI

[kristenrice]

Our flight leaves at 6:50am on a Sunday. My sister's family of 4 consists of her and DH and their kids, ages 2 and 6. She is not thrilled about getting up super early on Saturday to check in for the flight, but since she is on a budget, she doesn't really want to pay $50 for EBCI. What I am wondering is this...since she is traveling with a 2yo who will have a car seat, will she board with her between the A and B group if she gets a B or C boarding position? I ask because I suggested that she buy EBCI for DH and DD6 only. Then she can check herself and DD2 in when she gets up (usually around 8). She knows that she may not be able to sit with DH and DD6 since they will not be saving seats for her. I just wanted to make sure that my suggestion is appropriate. If she will get to board between A and B anyways, paying the additional $25 probably wouldn't provide any significant benefit, right? We are flying out of Flint, MI if that makes a difference.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yes. Unless she hits one of the rare times they do away with family boarding. For the rest of the family she really should be on the computer at 24 hours out. And she needs to be ok if DH and her 6 year old are not sitting near her.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Are you up, or willing to get up, early enough to check in your sister's family?

 

[kristenrice]

Are you up, or willing to get up, early enough to check in your sister's family?

I am going to try and check her in when I check us in, but I will be at work and I am hoping that I will be able to get the 4 of us checked in without too much delay. We're all booked on points so we have a total of 8 confirmation numbers to go through one at a time.

She is fine if she's not seated by her hubby and 6yo. My girls are 9 and 11 and we aren't too particular about where we sit either. In fact, my girls said they want to find some cute boys to sit with.

 

[mmouse50]

I have bought EBCI and got stuck in the B group - So I had to wait until all the families (I mean families - grandpa and grandma included) boarded before I did. So unless Southwest is cracking down on "Families" being only 1 child under the age of 5 with a parent, I will assume that her entire family can board at the same time without purchasing EBCI.

But I would still check in at the 24 hour mark in case that they would get lucky and everyone will be in the "A" group

 

[bumbershoot]

I am going to try and check her in when I check us in, but I will be at work and I am hoping that I will be able to get the 4 of us checked in without too much delay. We're all booked on points so we have a total of 8 confirmation numbers to go through one at a time.

Open 8 separate browser tabs and get to the point where you enter in the info on each tab. I don't think you have to be logged in for checkin. Then when it's time, just paste the info in on one tab, checkin, move to the next tab. etc. I've never done 8 at once, but I've done at least 3.