What Is The Liklihood Of Getting An "A" Boarding Pass On SWA?

[Wish Upon A Star]

Just wondering what the liklihood of getting an "A" pass on SWA is if you use their website after Midnight of the date of travel.

The SWA employee I spoke with said that there are only 45 "A" passes.

Anyone know if your chances are pretty good by doing it online?

 

[CarolA]

Based on my experience it would be pretty high.

However, I would not recommend getting up at midnight to do this. I was up at midnight and tried it. System did not work. I tried again at 11 am and got the boarding pass. (A) for a 3 pm flight.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just FYI: in server terms, a given time usually means standard time (not Daylight Savings time) wherever the server is located. SWA's servers are in the Dallas, TX area, so when they say midnight, they probably mean midnight US Central Standard Time. In February, that's actually one am CDT, and you should probably wait 5 minutes extra to account for possible variations in system clock time.

 

[TigerLilly's Mom]

You can check in at 12:01 am in the city that you are flying out of. It doesn't mean 12:01 in Dallas, TX. Just wanted to clear that up. Whenever your 12:01 is, is when you should check in.

Has anyone had checked in this way before? I am curious to know if people are gettting A passes online. I'm not sure if I should bother or not.

 

[CarolA]

I understand that it says 12:01 in the city you are departing from I was in Orlando and tried at 12:15 am Eastern time and it did not work. Your mileage my vary.

 

[Snoozan]

Just a word of warning - Even though you may get an "A" boarding pass, if you're flying to/from Orlando, chances are pretty good that about 1/3 to 1/2 the plane will manage to be in the "pre-board" group due to the large # of small children flying. Some of these families may be large groups, but because of one small child in the group, the whole bunch of them get to pre-board. That's my big complaint with Southwest - I don't think it's fair that I take the time to get up early to print a boarding pass or get to the airport 2 hours early to get that coveted "A" pass, to still get stuck in the back of the plane in order to get 2 or 4 seats together. I feel only the child and 1 parent(or all kids if only 1 parent present) should get to pre-board and only if the child is in a carseat. Sorry for my griping!

 

[dizneycc]

When I called to ask about this, the women on the phone told me it would be 1:05am my time (eastern). I won't know for sure until May.

 

[Pinnie]

Here is another fly in the ointment....

Just because you have an "A" card doesn't mean you will be getting a primo seat.

Take for instance a flight that I am going to be on this Thursday. The flight is from Detroit to Orlando. It starts at DTW and then makes a stop at MDW in Chicago. Those going on to MCO, remain on the plane. The plane then takes off from Chicago and stops again at BNA (Nashville) Again, all those continuing on to MCO remain on the plane (DTW and MDW pax). Those boarding with an "A" boarding pass at BNA will also have to deal with pre-boards if they are allowing it that day.

So please, just because you hold the coveted *A* card, doesn't automatically get you the best seat on the plane!!!!
pin

 

[momof2OH]

What is an "A" boarding pass? Is this only for SWA? or do all airlines have these.

TIA (If you havn't figured out...I've never flown before and will do so for the first tme in June)

 

[inkkognito]

Most airlines have seat assignments, so they do not have an A pass. On Southwest, it's open seating, and the people who have A passes get to board first (well, after the pre-boards). Then comes B and C. An A pass increases your chances of getting a "good" seat.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[momof2OH]

Thanks for the info!! I guess I won't have to worry about that since we already picked out our seats. One less thing to worry about.

 

[antmaril]

Just wanted to add my experience in the last few days. We were flying SWA from Detroit to Orlando on Monday (Feb. 16). We had a 7:00 a.m. flight and I got up at 12:00 a.m. to checkin on line. I was unable to access the system. We arrived at the airport at 5:00 a.m. and received "A" Boarding Passes.

On our return trip (yesterday), we arrived at the airport at 9:45 a.m. for an 11:50 a.m. flight. Again "A" Boarding Passes. In Detroit, SW was pre-boarding families with children 5 and under. In Orlando, the children had to be 4 and under.

A word of warning. Allow enough time to check in and get through Security. The line yesterday was very long - hundreds of people in the Security line. There were many people in line who were worried about catching their flights. I wasn't worried because we had plenty of time.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[MJTinNH]

I just read on the SWA site that you can not use the website boarding pass feature if your tickless travel document is "multi-passenger". I purchased our tickets prior to this new system and we are both on the ticket receipt. I guess I will not be able to use this option this time around.

I wonder if this means a C pass when we get to the airport, even if we are two hours ahead? Bummer.

Next time I will book separate ticketless travel documents!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by MJTinNH
I just read on the SWA site that you can not use the website boarding pass feature if your tickless travel document is "multi-passenger". I purchased our tickets prior to this new system and we are both on the ticket receipt. I guess I will not be able to use this option this time around.

I wonder if this means a C pass when we get to the airport, even if we are two hours ahead? Bummer.

Next time I will book separate ticketless travel documents!

Call them, they can separate the reservation.

I think they are going to like the skycap, counter, etc. As in, each avenue for checkin will have a certain number of a,b, c passes.

 

[MJTinNH]

Thanks for the suggestion Gail. I will check this out.

Mary Jane

 

[antmaril]

FYI -- SWA separated my reservations a few days before our flight, but I was still unable to checkin on-line. If you get to the airport early enough, you can still get an "A" Boarding Pass.

 

[MJTinNH]

Originally posted by antmaril
FYI -- SWA separated my reservations a few days before our flight, but I was still unable to checkin on-line. If you get to the airport early enough, you can still get an "A" Boarding Pass.

Thanks for the update antmaril, that puts me more at ease!

 

[Pinnie]

If you absolutely HAVE to have an A boarding card on SWA, plan on getting there at least 2 hours early. Here is what happened to me this weekend on SWA from MCO to DTW.

We arrived 2 hours and 15 minutes early for our flight home yesterday (Sunday 2/22) from MCO so that we could grab something to eat at the airport. I did a curbside checkin while my friend did a kiosk check in. For some reason, the kiosk wouldn't allow him to check in, so he had to go to the counter. He got the LAST A card at 2 hours and 15 minutes. I got a *B* card. We grabbed a quick bite and got in the corral. He was able to snag the EXIT row and I was able to get the seat next to him (2 across). Pre boarding was limited to the child and ONE adult and those needing assistance. One parent tried to preboard with a child obviously over the age of 5 and didn't have the blue sleeve and was stopped and told to get into the *B* line where she belonged. Our flight was delayed getting off the ground at MCO due to Air Flow problems in Atlanta which caused flights to be metered. We arrived late at MDW and I had to make a connection to DTW. Because I was on an old RR paper ticket, I had to check in at the gate. I got a "C" card. Because the flight was full, there was NO bin space left when I got on, but lucky for me, I only carry on something that will fit under the seat.

Keep in mind that if you are making a connection on SWA, you have to get a new boarding pass where you connect. IF you are late, plan on at least a *B* card!!!

pin

 

[Shannon G]

Some of these families may be large groups, but because of one small child in the group, the whole bunch of them get to pre-board.

Actually, this was not what I saw when we flew Southwest back in September. If a child was young enough for pre-boarding, only their parents were allowed to preboard with them - other relatives and traveling companions could not preboard. They announced this several times while preparing to board in Orlando, but there were still the people who apparently thought this announcement didn't apply to them, and got into the preboarding line with the rest of their group. When they got to the front of the line, they were refused preboarding and sent to the end of the line in which they belonged (A,B,or C). Of course, now they were at the END of their proper group, because of the time they spent standing in the preboarding line in spite of all the announcements clearly stating that they could not preboard.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Shannon G
Actually, this was not what I saw when we flew Southwest back in September. If a child was young enough for pre-boarding, only their parents were allowed to preboard with them - other relatives and traveling companions could not preboard. They announced this several times while preparing to board in Orlando, but there were still the people who apparently thought this announcement didn't apply to them, and got into the preboarding line with the rest of their group. When they got to the front of the line, they were refused preboarding and sent to the end of the line in which they belonged (A,B,or C). Of course, now they were at the END of their proper group, because of the time they spent standing in the preboarding line in spite of all the announcements clearly stating that they could not preboard.

You gotta love it when folks feel like the announcements don't mean them. I also like it when they look around and look stupid.