Southwest Early Bird Checkin

[budcollector]

i have the EBCI on my tix. but i'm lost as to how the seating works. i see where ppl say they got anywhere from A10 to A40, are those the rows your in or is it something different. and does it make a difference when you bought the tix ? i've had mine since Dec., i usually use airtran but this time swa was cheaper.

 

[Lintasare]

We have EBCI for our return flight on Oct 8th. We just didn't want to have to worry about checking in at T-24. I mean who wants to take time out of park touring to do that?

 

[twinklebug]

i have the EBCI on my tix. but i'm lost as to how the seating works. i see where ppl say they got anywhere from A10 to A40, are those the rows your in or is it something different. and does it make a difference when you bought the tix ? i've had mine since Dec., i usually use airtran but this time swa was cheaper.

The letter/number combo will tell you what your boarding position is. A's are the most preferable as they board first. After As comes family boarding (those with children under 4(?) and then Bs and finally Cs. You get the pick of the plane form the remaining seats as you board.

The boarding area has posts like this to line up at:

The above was taken from a fellow traveler's report on his first SW experience at http://www.gembapantarei.com/2009/07/queuing_kaizen_at_southwest_airlines.html Although he's not aq big fan of traveling by SWA take a quick moment to review his comments. I like the SWA boarding method.... there are times I want to be on the left, others on the right, sometimes behind the wing and if DS is not feeling his best, up near the bathroom It's nice not o be stuck with a predesignated seat.

 

[Bobo912]

i have the EBCI on my tix. but i'm lost as to how the seating works. i see where ppl say they got anywhere from A10 to A40, are those the rows your in or is it something different. and does it make a difference when you bought the tix ? i've had mine since Dec., i usually use airtran but this time swa was cheaper.

It is the order in which you board. A group is first, then B, then C. A 1-15 is for business select travelers. There may or may not be any business select passengers on your flight. There are usually a few, but if there were no business select, the person with A16 borading pass would be the first to board. I believe there are 45 A and 45 B boarding passes and everybody else gets C. Any A boarding pass is good.

Oops - just saw the post above..guess there are 50 A boarding passes. With one exception, I've always gotten an A boarding pass and I've never had a number that high.

 

[lllGurulll]

Just got A21, A22 and A23 for my EBCI. "Couldn't be happier.

 

[bellebookworm9]

We got our EBCI numbers for tomorrow (non stop MCO to BUF 1pm, not sold out): A35 &36. Good, but not much better than I did on the way down without EBCI.

 

[Tara]

Just got my boarding numbers - bought 2 tickets for ALB-MCO nonstop on April 20th, added EBCI that day, got A17-A18.

 

[Iggipolka]

I paid for EBCI, but I don't think it actually happened. I was up at 6:45am this morning and my flight leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I logged on to the Southwest site and went through the usual online check-in procedure. I got A-26, which is great, but how do I know if it was through EBCI or because I logged on and did it myself?

I want to make sure it worked because I'm concerned about my flight home from Disney, more than my flight there.

Thanks!

 

[runnergrl]

we must be close! I fly out of Albany too

 

[Tara]

we must be close! I fly out of Albany too

Must be. I love our little airport!

 

[pixiechick]

I bought our tickets 6 months ago (cheapest fare possible) but didn't add EB until a week or so ago. The flight is now sold out.

We got A22, 23, and 24. Not bad. Was EB necessary, who knows? At least I didn't have to get up extra early to check in.

 

[Echo queen]

If you would have lost sleep over it, it's worth it. Have a great trip.

 

[cherbear]

hey SW folk....I haven't been on this thread in quite some time.

I'm flying to Philly (PHL) next month (From New Orleans - MSY airport) and back. My dates are July 14 through 21. It's Wednesday to Wednesday. Does anyone have experience flying through here? I wondered whether we'd need EBCI. (I'm thinking no...but can't hurt to ask)

 

[twinklebug]

I logged on to the Southwest site and went through the usual online check-in procedure. I got A-26, which is great, but how do I know if it was through EBCI or because I logged on and did it myself?

To retrieve/print the boarding pass you have to go through the same process as checking in. It's a little confusing because it makes it look like you're doing the check-in and not EBCI, but the number you got says to me that it worked since most non-EBCI T-24 folk are reporting receiving much higher As.

The only way to tell if EBCI worked is to ask the person behind you in line if they also paid for EBCI; if yes, it worked, if no then you may be last customer with it to be checked in and the person behind you did it on his/her own. If the person in front of you checked in on their own they either don't' understand the question or it failed. I have only heard of it failing once and that was when the service first began and there was a glitch someone ran into.

 

[ocalla]

New to the EBCI here and I have a question. I purchased the EBCI for the return flight home only. Do I still have to figure out a way to print my boarding passes from the hotel? Or do we just show up at the Southwest counter and they print it for us?

Thanks in advance

 

[twinklebug]

New to the EBCI here and I have a question. I purchased the EBCI for the return flight home only. Do I still have to figure out a way to print my boarding passes from the hotel? Or do we just show up at the Southwest counter and they print it for us?

Thanks in advance

You can use the SWA kiosks (if no bags to check) or the counter at MCO and they'll print them up for you. I do this all the time.

 

[pixiechick]

I paid for EBCI, but I don't think it actually happened. I was up at 6:45am this morning and my flight leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I logged on to the Southwest site and went through the usual online check-in procedure. I got A-26, which is great, but how do I know if it was through EBCI or because I logged on and did it myself?

I want to make sure it worked because I'm concerned about my flight home from Disney, more than my flight there.

Thanks!

When I went through the process to print the passes out, I saw "EB" with our names.

Go back in, as if you need to print them out again, and see if there is any indication there.

 

[miprender]

I paid for EBCI, but I don't think it actually happened. I was up at 6:45am this morning and my flight leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I logged on to the Southwest site and went through the usual online check-in procedure. I got A-26, which is great, but how do I know if it was through EBCI or because I logged on and did it myself?

I want to make sure it worked because I'm concerned about my flight home from Disney, more than my flight there.

Thanks!

On your boarding pass should be an EB... at least that was in April.

 

[*~PrincessBelle~*]

Hi everyone i'm new to Southwest and just booked rt airfare with them for September BUF-MCO...I also booked EBCI for both me and DH on both legs of the flight....I get that 36 hrs before the fight we will be assigned our boarding group number....then I can print off our boarding passes....when we get to the airport though do we still need to wait in line at the check-in to check our bags or is there a separate area to just drop your bags without having to wait in line (I know AirCanada and sometimes WestJet have this)?

TIA

 

[DISNEYNY]

Hi everyone i'm new to Southwest and just booked rt airfare with them for September BUF-MCO...I also booked EBCI for both me and DH on both legs of the flight....I get that 36 hrs before the fight we will be assigned our boarding group number....then I can print off our boarding passes....when we get to the airport though do we still need to wait in line at the check-in to check our bags or is there a separate area to just drop your bags without having to wait in line (I know AirCanada and sometimes WestJet have this)?

TIA

We also fly out of Buffalo and yes, you will still need to wait in line to check in your bags. The line is usually not very long. If you are staying at a Disney resort that participates with resort airline checkin you can check your bags at Disney for the trip home and you will not have to wait in line at the Orlando AP.