That ‘notice to check in’ happened to me on a United text this summer. I tried to check in but couldn’t. After several calls, and a transfer to my frequent flyer account, it was determined to be an error and I was told ‘not to worry about it.’ I was afraid someone had hacked my account and used my miles. Nope. It was for a flight from Denver (where I live) to Montana, where I wasn’t traveling to. It was someone named Michael.
Same thing happened 3 days later when Michael was returning to Denver and I was invited to check in again.
Some recent media reports suggest that, beyond priority for higher fare classes, frequent flyer elites, and such, the assigned seat boarding process will have window seats first, then middle seats, then aisle seats. This is generally faster than back to front.
Of course, since there are no longer included checked bags, those who prefer aisle seats may be rather likely to be forced to gate check if they bring full size carry on bags and get flights on aircraft with the older smaller overhead bins.
Unless you are with a group in the same row, then I think the process gives all 3 of you the same boarding group. And often the middle seat person is with another person (a couple, a child, etc)
They all think these systems work, but they don’t. The person in seat 12A (window), gets on and has to put their suitcase up. Well after they toss their other stuff into the seat. That blocks everyone trying to get to 32A and 27F, and 3 people with kids… We all know the one who is fastest is ME. Just let me on, I’ll not have to take off a coat or spend a lot of time trying to get a suitcase up, or arrange all the drinks and food I’ve brought on. I get on, I sit down. Fast.
I know a lot of people on here complain about the limit of two items only (purse/tote and one suitcase or bag), but it is faster to require people to consolidate their items.
Here’s a positive in becoming like other airlines:
Southwest Airlines started offering free in-flight Wi-Fi this week on all flights for members of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program. The new perk is being offered in partnership with T-Mobile, though passengers don’t have to be T-Mobile subscribers to benefit.
I hope it’s different than the norm. I’ve had free WiFi b4. It’s much better without. I’d want to get work done and it was so slow and unstable, it was just flustering. I hope they’ve upgraded it or I’ll stay off.
I don’t use airline WiFi for work - always offline if I’m working inflight but southwest seats are a bit cramped for that anyway for me - but I do like being able to do some internet browsing, check emails etc.
wow. the early bird option must have gone up in price. In a couple of weeks we will be taking SWA as our return flight from Maui. Booked it many months ago. The one way EB for four people came to $120. Since it’s a 5+ hour flight and my son loves getting the extra leg room exit row…it was worth it.
My brother always booked his ticket separate from my kids (they traveled with him a lot) so he could just get EB for one person, then he’d go on and save them seats. He always went to the back so probably could have gotten those seats anyway, but he liked to get on early.
I think Early bird was originally $10, then went to $12.50 ($25 round trip).
You don’t need separate tickets. You can select which passengers on the same ticket get early bird - you just have to do it as a next step after booking and paying.
If EarlyBird Check-In is purchased and added to an existing itinerary, you may purchase it only for select Passengers on your itinerary. If EarlyBird Check-In is purchased a during the initial air purchase, then all eligible Customers on the itinerary must also purchase EarlyBird Check-In.
Edit: just saw this, maybe it’s already known but I haven’t been following SW developments that closely -
EarlyBird Check-In will not be available for flights departing after January 26, 2026
That’s because of the new ‘6 classes of boarding’. Earlier (groups 1-3) are part of the more expensive tickets. Groups 4-5 are for credit card holders and some other ‘special’ people. Group 6 is the cattle call.
One of the main reasons SWA will not have assigned seats. It was the folks where one got on and then saved a whole row for family who hadn’t paid for the early access.
Really was never that big a deal. For some reason everyone wants to sit in the first 5 rows and he always went to the back. He’d sit in the aisle (and he paid for early bird) one kid sat in the middle and the other the window.
The bigger problem (which they sort of fixed) was family boarding. Ever flown out of Orlando? There would be 30+ people boarding in family boarding, often with 1 kid under 4 (allowed) and 4 over 5, often teenagers. And grandparents. They finally limited it to 2 parents and 1 child, or if more children, the other parent had to board with them. But again, they all wanted to sit in the first few rows so I didn’t care that much if I was in the early B group.
Now they may get early boarding but will have assigned seats.
Everyone will have an assigned seat after Jan 26. The boarding groups are just for who gets to board first. The big advantage to boarding early is to get the rollaway bag storage overhead. There have already been issues with those boarding last having to gate check their luggage as the 2 free bags ended last May.
<< Price range: The cost starts at $15 but can go up to $99 one-way.
Dynamic pricing: The exact price is determined by factors like the flight’s popularity and demand.>>
As a frequent business traveler, I hated SW because of general seating. The main reason was the 24 hour check in rule which is a pain in the butt. The second reason was the SW Miracle where people would take advantage of the pre-boarding rules (which only matters in general boarding)
Another reason is that assigned seating allows me to evaluate how many passengers were on a flight before I booked it and I can change my seats. Like most people, I prefer a less crowded plane and was guaranteed an aisle seat that I picked. I could never tell how many passengers were on a SW flight.
I mostly fly SWA b/c BWI is my airport where SWA is a hub. SWA always has a good selection of flights at reasonable prices for the cities I/my family fly to most frequently (just paid only $80 for my youngest to fly home from college in Chicago for Christmas break!). In the past I typically only paid for Early Bird check in if I was flying across country or if I knew checking in 24 hrs ahead might be problematic. Otherwise, I always have managed to get a reasonable B boarding number.
So a couple weeks ago I was flying to Chicago. I checked in on the dot 24 hrs ahead and still got C5. I have never gotten C boarding. I figured it must be a fairly full flight. I got to the gate, and was surprised, with about 15 mins to boarding time, the gate was still rather empty. Then next thing I know, a group of 80 middle schoolers shows up. At this point, I’m thinking I’m toast - I’ll be in a middle seat b/w two middle schoolers. Waiting to board, I was sitting right by the gate agent’s desk. The principal, who was chaperoning this group, told the gate agent they would have them all move to the back of the plane when boarding, in hopes this would prevent disruption to the rest of the passengers. I think the parents must have all paid for Early Bird b/c nearly all of the B boarding group were the students.
As it turned out, this worked out perfectly for me and the remaining passengers. I clouldn’t believe that when I got on, in C group, I was able to get an aisle seat in Row 10 with room for my carryon suitcase on the overhead. There were actually open seats in the first few rows but overhead bins were full. Never hear a peep from the kids all the way in the back!