Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

Thanks! I'm waiting for March training dates that aren't out yet, and the 8/16 was giving me panic attacks! Hopefully we'll have dates by the 30th!
8/16 was having me panic too! My daughters getting married on 8/17 and I need to buy flights for my March solo trip. This gives me a little more time.
 
Does anyone have any experience with the Nashville airport? Wondering if a 45 minute layover is enough time.

As long as flights are on time you will be fine. I have been there a few times for lay overs and most of the gates are very close to each other for SW.
 
I checked in this morning at the 24 hour mark and we have mid Bs. I did not buy EBCI when I bought my flights six months ago, but I did panic and added it three months ago. Now I know next time if I decide to add it to do that when I purchased the tickets. Hard lesson. So I’m repacking my kids’ carry on so if they have to sit on their own they will have plenty to do. I am asking even though I purchased ECBI can I still board with family boarding for me and my three year old? Then husband and three other kids can just find seats where they can when they finally board. I guess a lot of people purchase EBCI now. For the $90 it was a waste for me to have purchased it after I bought the tickets. We may still be split up just as we would have been had I not purchased it. Oh well.
 
I checked in this morning at the 24 hour mark and we have mid Bs. I did not buy EBCI when I bought my flights six months ago, but I did panic and added it three months ago. Now I know next time if I decide to add it to do that when I purchased the tickets. Hard lesson. So I’m repacking my kids’ carry on so if they have to sit on their own they will have plenty to do. I am asking even though I purchased ECBI can I still board with family boarding for me and my three year old? Then husband and three other kids can just find seats where they can when they finally board. I guess a lot of people purchase EBCI now. For the $90 it was a waste for me to have purchased it after I bought the tickets. We may still be split up just as we would have been had I not purchased it. Oh well.
I’m sorry to hear you ended up mid B’s even with EBCI. That’s unfortunate for sure!! I find mire and more people seem to be purchasing it for the MCO trips as families want to sit together.

Yes, you and your 3yo can still check-in with the family boarding. How old are you other children?
 


I checked in this morning at the 24 hour mark and we have mid Bs. I did not buy EBCI when I bought my flights six months ago, but I did panic and added it three months ago. Now I know next time if I decide to add it to do that when I purchased the tickets. Hard lesson.

Does it matter when you purchase it?
 
@scrappinginontario My DH is not as worried. He said I should do family with the three year old, put her in window with car harness and sit in window, no one should get super excited about that middle seat. Then when he boards in middle B group he’ll give me 7 year old to put in middle seat and he thinks he’ll find three together for him and two others age 8 and 9...worse case I talked to them and they are ok if they have to sit on own, only two hours. I’ll be sure to report here tomorrow what actually happened. DH reminded me we are first flight at 6 am so no one should already be on the plane.....
 
Does it matter when you purchase it?
Yes. EBCI numbers are assigned in the order that you purchase it therefore those purchasing first are assigned A16, A17, etc. The longer you wait to purchase it the more opportunity there is for others to purchase it before you.
 


Does it matter when you purchase it?
Yes, it is based on when you purchased and your fare purchased.

People who purchase Anytime fares along with EBCI for example are put ahead of those who purchased Wanna Get Away with EBCI. And for that matter people who purchase Anytime fares without EBCI are put ahead of those who purchased Wanna Get Away fares (ETA: without EBCI).
 
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Yes. EBCI numbers are assigned in the order that you purchase it therefore those purchasing first are assigned A16, A17, etc. The longer you wait to purchase it the more opportunity there is for others to purchase it before you.
That's not exactly how they would assign that.

A-listers are ahead of those who purchased EBCI and the other fares with the exception of Business Select (whose slots are A1-A15). What position you get with EBCI will always depend on each and every flight and the passengers that each flight is comprised of.

Simply put EBCI will assign you an earlier Boarding position than not purchasing EBCI (random flukes aside). There are those rare occassions that happen to someone when they did not purchase EBCI but someone who purchased it or an A-lister cancels under 36hrs from the flight and their Boarding position is assigned to someone else thus suddenly they may have a very good Boarding position-happed to my sister-in-law one time where she got an A16 this way even with some A-listers on Board.
 
Will not have data on my phone. If I check in while I have WIFI and do a screen print of my boarding pass to my phone. Will that working going through security and boarding the plane. Or will I need somewhere to print the pass.
I just send it as a text (which is one of the options) and then save it to my phone (I you have Android). Whenever I do mobile boarding pass it goes as a Download to my Gallery app and then when it's time I just pull it up like I were any other photo. You should have your screen brightness up though for both TSA and the SWA gate agent should you choose to use mobile boarding pass.
 
@scrappinginontario My DH is not as worried. He said I should do family with the three year old, put her in window with car harness and sit in window, no one should get super excited about that middle seat. Then when he boards in middle B group he’ll give me 7 year old to put in middle seat and he thinks he’ll find three together for him and two others age 8 and 9...worse case I talked to them and they are ok if they have to sit on own, only two hours. I’ll be sure to report here tomorrow what actually happened. DH reminded me we are first flight at 6 am so no one should already be on the plane.....
Generally speaking middle seats are not wanted lol and only taken towards the end when the other options have been exhausted.

The going advice seems to be head towards the back if trying to find multiple seats together as they are less likely to have been taken. Given that Family Boarding is between A and B and you guys got middle B's you may not find it's a big big deal between the availability of seats you have and the availability of seats your husband has once he boards with your other two children (though of course that depends on other passengers) but I would still say that front of the plane and around the exit rows are typically of higher value and taken earlier on.
 
Yes. EBCI numbers are assigned in the order that you purchase it therefore those purchasing first are assigned A16, A17, etc. The longer you wait to purchase it the more opportunity there is for others to purchase it before you.

Yes, it is based on when you purchased and your fare purchased.

People who purchase Anytime fares along with EBCI for example are put ahead of those who purchased Wanna Get Away with EBCI. And for that matter people who purchase Anytime fares without EBCI are put ahead of those who purchased Wanna Get Away fares (ETA: without EBCI).

Thanks, this makes sense and now I'm somewhat kicking myself for not making a decision on it when I purchased. Flight not till Jan so I'll decide soon!

Good info thanks!
 
Question about purchasing EBCI. I booked flights for February but may need to change my dates/times later. If I were to purchase EBCI for my family of 4 now, do I get refunded if I switch flights? Or will the EBCI “transfer” to the new flight?
 
Question about purchasing EBCI. I booked flights for February but may need to change my dates/times later. If I were to purchase EBCI for my family of 4 now, do I get refunded if I switch flights? Or will the EBCI “transfer” to the new flight?
As long as you "change" and not "cancel," EBCI moves to your new flight. If you "cancel," EBCI is lost and the cost will not be refunded.
 
Not bad...Flight on points booked for 3 of us on June 9 into Orlando, one way in December...Flight has dropped twice since then, total of 798 points.. For three, got back 2,394 into the account for just monitoring the flight!:thumbsup2:cheer2:
 
I checked in this morning at the 24 hour mark and we have mid Bs. I did not buy EBCI when I bought my flights six months ago, but I did panic and added it three months ago. Now I know next time if I decide to add it to do that when I purchased the tickets. Hard lesson. So I’m repacking my kids’ carry on so if they have to sit on their own they will have plenty to do. I am asking even though I purchased ECBI can I still board with family boarding for me and my three year old? Then husband and three other kids can just find seats where they can when they finally board. I guess a lot of people purchase EBCI now. For the $90 it was a waste for me to have purchased it after I bought the tickets. We may still be split up just as we would have been had I not purchased it. Oh well.

@scrappinginontario My DH is not as worried. He said I should do family with the three year old, put her in window with car harness and sit in window, no one should get super excited about that middle seat. Then when he boards in middle B group he’ll give me 7 year old to put in middle seat and he thinks he’ll find three together for him and two others age 8 and 9...worse case I talked to them and they are ok if they have to sit on own, only two hours. I’ll be sure to report here tomorrow what actually happened. DH reminded me we are first flight at 6 am so no one should already be on the plane.....
I would just attempt to board as a family during family boarding. Apparently this has only just occurred to me that perhaps we weren't within "formal policy" but my, my wife, my 4 year old and my 8 year old always board together during family boarding. I see tons of families with some kids over 6 boarding during family boarding because they have at least one kid under 6. Upon reviewing the rules again, I guess a gate agent could send the older kids back to the regular line but in practice on tons of flights (i.e. 60+ flights), I've never seen that occur.
 
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If you paid with a credit card (or gift card, etc.) for the flight and cancel, you need to retain that confirmation number to apply the travel funds to future travel; the new travel must be completed within one year from date of original booking. If you had EBCI, that value will be lost. There is no voucher involved, so keep that conf. number in a safe place.

Flights that are booked with RR points and cancelled are much simpler. The points will be returned to the original account, and the taxes and fees will be credited back to your credit card. There is no time frame, whatsoever, involved with a points booking. Just be sure to cancel the flight before departure.

I was just reading on another thread about this and the poster stated that they think SW doesn’t refund the fees to your credit card anymore, but they would be credited to your RR account as cash. Does anyone have any recent experience with this process? I don’t want to cause any drama - I’m just trying to figure out exactly what would happen if we needed to cancel a flight booked with points, and what we could afford to lose. If the fees are credited to your RR account, would they be subject to the 1 year from booking expiration?
 
I was just reading on another thread about this and the poster stated that they think SW doesn’t refund the fees to your credit card anymore, but they would be credited to your RR account as cash. Does anyone have any recent experience with this process? I don’t want to cause any drama - I’m just trying to figure out exactly what would happen if we needed to cancel a flight booked with points, and what we could afford to lose. If the fees are credited to your RR account, would they be subject to the 1 year from booking expiration?
I just cancelled today and the funds were credited back to my credit card.
 
I was just reading on another thread about this and the poster stated that they think SW doesn’t refund the fees to your credit card anymore, but they would be credited to your RR account as cash. Does anyone have any recent experience with this process? I don’t want to cause any drama - I’m just trying to figure out exactly what would happen if we needed to cancel a flight booked with points, and what we could afford to lose. If the fees are credited to your RR account, would they be subject to the 1 year from booking expiration?
If you book a flight on points - initially the fees are refundable back to your credit card. Effective May 2017 when Southwest launched their new computer system, IF you CHANGE or RE-BOOK a points flight the fees then become non-refundable. If you need to change your flight OR are looking to re-book to save some points, the advice is to CANCEL, request a refund of your fees, and book a new flight.

If you've already changed or rebooked a flight on points and now try to cancel, your funds will NOT be refunded and will become a travel credit for use ONLY by that traveler for 1 year from the date you initially booked the flight.

This change occurred in May 2017, so anything you see written online prior to that may not reference this advice.
 

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