We buy EB for all three of our kids who sometimes, oops, forget that they haven’t printed their ticket. Happens all of the time with dd2.
The only time I’ve ever bought it was for ds2 when he was traveling to college with his guitar. SW told me that buying the early pass would help keep the gate agents from making him check it. Worked like a charm. Otherwise we try to remember to check in the 24 hours ahead and almost always get an A number. Not worth the extra money for us, and we fly SW a lot.
^^ Not my experience on SWA. Most people buy a ticket for the instrument.
Like I said, it worked like a charm for us.
I always purchase the early bird. I like an aisle seat and it’s the only way I’m guaranteed to have one. My last flight on SW was an emergency and I made reservation less than 24 hours in advance and got stuck in Group C and in a center seat.
You could have purchased early bird at the airport. My brother does that for $40 if he gets a bad boarding position, so only a few times a year. He flies a lot, almost always SW, so figures he saves the $12.50 more often than he pays the $40.
We used to always get A Boarding. More and more people are buying early bird, so now often get B, even B30 or worse. The bad thing about B is that families get to board between A and B, so going to someplace like Orland can have 10 families boarding before B1.
I agree the best ‘ticket’ to have is my mother, who at 80 gets to go first. SW nevrr has the best, close in gates, so the long concourse walk is hard for her. Take the wheelchair! Get on first!
You can only buy early bird at the gate if the flight isn’t sold out - it’s usually not available last minute on popular flights. I like to sit in the front of the plane, so I always fly business select or get the early bird option when I book the flight.
I thought you couldn’t get EB once it is within 24 hours of the flight. But maybe they have a $40 version I don’t know about? You won’t get B if you buy your ticket fairly early – but you could end up there if you purchase tickets at the last minute. I have done far too many last minutes ticket purchases lately – my mom was sick, then in hospice, and I was moving during all this and it was winter break – the kiddos and I did quite a few last minute ticket adjustments. I wasn’t buying EB because I still wasn’t sure of the timing on some of them – so sat in the middle quite a lot recently. But I still loved the flexibility of being able to book what I thought was the right ticket, then change it as needed!
In case you change your ticket, YOU should keep a list of the confirm numbers of the tickets you changed – any leftover dollars or dollars that are given to you as credits can only be tracked if you know the confirm number.
The more expensive version guarantees you places 1-15. ( I guess theoretically more folks could buy the upgrade. )
Yes, often the $40 upgrade boarding pass is available at the gate. My brother also always asks if they need volunteers to give up a ticket, and he gets a travel voucher quite often. He’s always using vouchers, free drink coupons, and kindness to get ahead. Kindness goes a long way to getting what you need or want.
Doing early-bird means you don’t have to worry about checking in right at 24-hours before the flight. By doing EN you already get put in the queue for boarding passes
They call the upgrade at the gate upgrading to “business” as opposed to early bird.
I have had the early bird transfer to the new ticket with no problems. I have done that when booking the same flight at a lower price. The old one was credited to my credit card and the new one charged. Of course that means you are lower on the list than before.
Whether EB sticks with your new flight depends. If you are keeping the same reservation # and making your change more than 24 hours ahead, you can keep it. But if you have to cancel the reservation completely and rebook, you don’t get a refund of the EB fee and it isn’t part of your travel funds credit. Recently I had to cancel a flight I had booked, and wasn’t ready to rebook it (didn’t know when I would be able to go yet). You lose it in that situation, even though I eventually did rebook the flight with those travel funds. Another time I moved a flight to earlier (from later in the week to the next day). I had booked with EB, but lost it because my new flight was less than 24 hours away. And yes, even if you keep EB, you get the priority of when you made the change, not your original ticketing date.
I’ve only purchased EB once and I don’t think it was worth it. I ended up in B anyway. I’ve randomly ended up in A without it, usually on flights with connections because of the time zone change and because you end up checking in for that second leg hours before people who originate with that flight.
Usually there are two of us flying so one will be on the middle and it doesn’t matter so much when you board.
I flew business select once. Those always board in positions A1-A15. You often see those positions empty as people are lining up. We had an unexpected plane change and had at least 20 people pre board for that flight so you never know what you’ll get!
Get the SW phone app and you can check in from wherever you are.
All in all, I find there is much less travel stress with SW. Being bumped is nearly unheard of. You know when you board with the numbers. People line up in an orderly fashion. Checked bags are free so you’re more likely to get overhead bin space.
Not the case, I just changed a flight the other day and my early bird check-in followed to the new flight…
You can keep the early bird check in if you change flights more than 24 hours before your departure, I believe.
And if you are doing business select, early bird goes with you regardless because you really are not paying extra for it. It’s included in your ticket price.
Have had mostly good experiences with SW. Not buying earlybird and checking in right at 24 hrs usually got me around B-19 or so, and was able to get a window or aisle, further back in the plane. I usually prefer aisle, but on one, long flight, decided to take a window because I thought I might sleep on the 4 hr flight, and ended up with the seat ate from hell sitting in the middle. It was gross and a VERY long 4 hrs.
Recently DH and I flew SW but had separate itineraries, though we were on the same flights (his ticket was paid for by a company, mine was a personal purchase). I bought earlybird for both of us, and our boarding #s were about 10 apart. I went further back in the plane so I could get an aisle and hope no one would take his window before he boarded. It worked out, but if someone had wanted to be insistent that they have that window instead of another before he boarded (we both had A groupings) they could have made a fuss. Didn’t happen.
I’ve had a few situations where people lined up in the grouping (eg A 35-40 or whatever) but stood at the front of the group where A 35 should be, when in fact that’s had A 40). I thought that was rude. And I don’t think it was out of ignorance, from the way they held their boarding passes.
Last time I checked in on my phone app and printed a pass later.
Regarding the number order during boarding…you can stand wherever you want…but if you try to get on the plane out of order, the ticket collector will send you back.
Did anyone saying you can keep EB read post #33? Sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t…, it depends.
Regarding standing where you want, often people will ask your number so they can line up correctly. It is considered pretty obnoxious to try to board ahead of your spot. I did see someone get sent back recently.
Regarding sestmates – I ask if the flight is full when I board, and I like an aisle. If the flight is full, I sort of spread out over my armrest and studiously read, but I am secretly watching people get on. When someone who looks like a good sestmate approaches, I revert to someone who is not draped over the armrest and make eye contact. There is an art to it. :). It doesn’t always work. But usually it does.