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

[scrappinginontario]

We are going to book SW for our flight from MCO to LAS later this year. My preference is to book with an airline that allows us to seat select (kids 13 & 10 won't like sitting next to a stranger) however the alternatives aren't great - longer and significantly more expensive with connections or direct with super budget airlines with bad departure times. I'm going to book on the release date and purchase EBCI. I have also checked inbound flights in the weeks before we will be travelling, and if booked through SW it wasn't common for the flights from the inbound origin to route through MCO to our destination, so doubt there will be many people staying on the plane. I've also started prepping the kids for the just in case scenario, so comfortable that we can manage if for some reason we aren't able to sit with the kids.

Apart from the concern around seating, I'm looking forward to travelling with SW!

if you purchase EBCI, especially on release date, I really don’t see you being separated on your flight. Are you a party of 3 or 4? If you can be real unto 2 groups of 2 if necessary yourchsnces are even greater of being seated together.

We have flown with SW on over 50 flights and only once were almost seated separately and that was when we did not purchase EBCI.

 

[barb969]

We are going to book SW for our flight from MCO to LAS later this year. My preference is to book with an airline that allows us to seat select (kids 13 & 10 won't like sitting next to a stranger) however the alternatives aren't great - longer and significantly more expensive with connections or direct with super budget airlines with bad departure times. I'm going to book on the release date and purchase EBCI. I have also checked inbound flights in the weeks before we will be travelling, and if booked through SW it wasn't common for the flights from the inbound origin to route through MCO to our destination, so doubt there will be many people staying on the plane. I've also started prepping the kids for the just in case scenario, so comfortable that we can manage if for some reason we aren't able to sit with the kids.

Apart from the concern around seating, I'm looking forward to travelling with SW!

You should be fine. A couple of things:

1. Book your fights as early as possible, usually available around 7 or 8am. Add EBCI immediately. This is easy if your are all,on the reservation. If you need to do everyone separately, book EBCI as you do each one. Your boarding position depends on when you purchase EBCI. A few minutes can make a difference. Since you will not have consecutive numbers have an adult board with each charge taking place in line with the higher number. Also you can use each other’s passes.

2. Do not take advantage of price decreases or make any other changes. Your place in line for EBCI will be placed at the of th line. We did this do my husbands’s Thicket and he went fro A23 to B32

Have a great trip.

 

[scrappinginontario]

You should be fine. A couple of things:

1. Book your fights as early as possible, usually available around 7 or 8am. Add EBCI immediately. This is easy if your are all,on the reservation. If you need to do everyone separately, book EBCI as you do each one. Your boarding position depends on when you purchase EBCI. A few minutes can make a difference. Since you will not have consecutive numbers have an adult board with each charge taking place in line with the higher number. Also you can use each other’s passes.

2. Do not take advantage of price decreases or make any other changes. Your place in line for EBCI will be placed at the of th line. We did this do my husbands’s Thicket and he went fro A23 to B32

Have a great trip.

Just curious, how can you see what his original number would have been?

 

[barb969]

Just curious, how can you see what his original number would have been?

Usually you can't. We had gotten a companion pass. When I switched him to companion, only his EBCI changed. I kept my original.

 

[focusondisney]

Usually you can't. We had gotten a companion pass. When I switched him to companion, only his EBCI changed. I kept my original.

So he had a purchased ticket & you changed to make him a companion? That is different than changing a ticket when the price drops. You cancelled his original ticket & “purchased” a new one with the companion pass. Thus his place in line changed to the new date. When there is a price drop, you can just change your original ticket. Everything remains in place & you still have your original purchase date.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Usually you can't. We had gotten a companion pass. When I switched him to companion, only his EBCI changed. I kept my original.

I agree with PP. Companion is a whole 'nother thing when it comes to Boarding position. Also when fares drop and you're looking to get the lower price you actually have to physically cancel the Companion's ticket. Also if you had an assigned Boarding position already with EBCI previously purchased that means you were making changes under 36 hours...that's disadvantageous no matter what. That's like someone purchasing EBCI right then.

In any case B32 is not a bad Boarding position at all IMO for making changes that close to the flight.

I'll give my slight experience with Companion. I flew multiple times. It was extremely common for me to be pretty far back from my husband who had A-list. We never ever had Boarding positions near each other when I was on Companion. Simply put Companion is taken into account in terms of SWA's Boarding position assignment algorithm. Same thing happened when I flew Delta on points. My husband was Zone 1 with a Delta Skymiles CC and I was Zone 2 flying on pts--on my ticket it was literally coded as flying on points.

 

[barb969]

Usually you can't. We had gotten a companion pass. When I switched him to companion, only his EBCI changed. I kept my original.

I just called SWA. They said if you modify tickets because of a price drop, you will go to the end of the line for EBCI. Can someone else call to verify this, as different agents may give different answers

 

[Iowamomof4]

I just called SWA. They said if you modify tickets because of a price drop, you will go to the end of the line for EBCI. Can someone else call to verify this, as different agents may give different answers

This is what has always been said on this thread as well. I was surprised by the person who said that wouldn't happen when you switch to a lower fare because I think that's the first time I've seen someone say that. I've always been told that changing ANYTHING to your flight would put you at the back of the line for EBCI, even if you were just rebooking a lower fare for the same flight.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I just called SWA. They said if you modify tickets because of a price drop, you will go to the end of the line for EBCI. Can someone else call to verify this, as different agents may give different answers

I think in reading other people's responses I honestly don't know for sure if it is or isn't-I know people have reported getting Boarding positions farther back than they thought they should get though when they've taken advantage of a price drop. TBH SWA has a complicated system of assigning Boarding positions.

In your case though switching to Companion pass is different than 'rebooking' to take advantage of a price drop. No matter what if you didn't have EBCI your husband's Boarding position would have been impacted because of how SWA treats Companion passes in terms of their Boarding position algorithms.

 

[barb969]

I think in reading other people's responses I honestly don't know for sure if it is or isn't-I know people have reported getting Boarding positions farther back than they thought they should get though when they've taken advantage of a price drop. TBH SWA has a complicated system of assigning Boarding positions.

In your case though switching to Companion pass is different than 'rebooking' to take advantage of a price drop. No matter what if you didn't have EBCI your husband's Boarding position would have been impacted because of how SWA treats Companion passes in terms of their Boarding position algorithms.

I don’t think companion has anything to do with boarding position. Last year I was the companion, We flew to/from MCO and ISP(Long Island) to/fromBWI last fall. We both had numbers in the mid A twenties for 3 of the flights and in the A 30’s for the other. The companion passes were booked a few minutes later.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don’t think companion has anything to do with boarding position. Last year I was the companion, We flew to/from MCO and ISP(Long Island) to/fromBWI last fall. We both had numbers in the mid A twenties for 3 of the flights and in the A 30’s for the other. The companion passes were booked a few minutes later.

Maybe it's changed IDK I had reached out to SWA something like 2 years ago I think it was regarding Companion and that's what they advised me at that time, that Companion designation comes into play.

 

[focusondisney]

Maybe it's changed IDK I had reached out to SWA something like 2 years ago I think it was regarding Companion and that's what they advised me at that time, that Companion designation comes into play.

You mentioned your husband had A list status. That gets him preferred boarding which may not convey to the CP. However, we got CP because of earning enough points in a year. So my DH is booked on points or cash & I am booked with the CP. We have only had a few flights experience so far. Our initial trip, I booked him immediately on fare release & added myself about a week later, when we got the CP. We both had EBCI. We were both As & I was only 9 spots behind him. Twice since then, I have booked him on opening day then added myself as CP immediately after, again both with EBCI. We have had consecutive A numbers, mid 20s & low 40s. So in my experience CP has not been an issue when being used without A list status.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You mentioned your husband had A list status. That gets him preferred boarding which may not convey to the CP. However, we got CP because of earning enough points in a year. So my DH is booked on points or cash & I am booked with the CP. We have only had a few flights experience so far. Our initial trip, I booked him immediately on fare release & added myself about a week later, when we got the CP. We both had EBCI. We were both As & I was only 9 spots behind him. Twice since then, I have booked him on opening day then added myself as CP immediately after, again both with EBCI. We have had consecutive A numbers, mid 20s & low 40s. So in my experience CP has not been an issue when being used without A list status.

When I contacted SWA I discussed with them the A-list part. But what they advised me that Companion designation was included in the Boarding position assignment. The impact they said would obviously be different when you add in EBCI purchase and if the other person was A-list they would be ahead of course because both of those assign at 36 hours whereas Companion is still checking in at 24hr mark. But like I said it was 2 years ago (we had companion from late summer 2016 to end of December 2017). Things could have changed that's for sure. Or it could be I was given misinformation which is absolutely possible

 

[McNs]

if you purchase EBCI, especially on release date, I really don’t see you being separated on your flight. Are you a party of 3 or 4? If you can be real unto 2 groups of 2 if necessary yourchsnces are even greater of being seated together.

We have flown with SW on over 50 flights and only once were almost seated separately and that was when we did not purchase EBCI.

Party of 4 (2A 2C) so 2 groups of 2 will work fine. Appreciate the feedback!

You should be fine. A couple of things:

1. Book your fights as early as possible, usually available around 7 or 8am. Add EBCI immediately. This is easy if your are all,on the reservation. If you need to do everyone separately, book EBCI as you do each one. Your boarding position depends on when you purchase EBCI. A few minutes can make a difference. Since you will not have consecutive numbers have an adult board with each charge taking place in line with the higher number. Also you can use each other’s passes.

2. Do not take advantage of price decreases or make any other changes. Your place in line for EBCI will be placed at the of th line. We did this do my husbands’s Thicket and he went fro A23 to B32

Have a great trip.

Thanks! Definitely planning on booking at release with EBCI. It will be one booking so no issues there. Good tip on avoiding rebooking if there is a price drop - unlikely we would have done that anyway as we are from overseas and the credit would have been difficult to use!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

We flew last week. I purchased original tickets and EBCI in late August. I changed flights about a week before the flight and our boarding was B11-13. For the return flight, also booked in August, we were A26-28.

As for the B boarding, sigh....

There were so many medical preboards (with large parties) and at least 30 families that did family boarding.

My party of 3 got the last group of 3 seats in row 27 of the plane. I was stunned.

It was an originating flight as well.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We flew last week. I purchased original tickets and EBCI in late August. I changed flights about a week before the flight and our boarding was B11-13. For the return flight, also booked in August, we were A26-28.

As for the B boarding, sigh....

There were so many medical preboards (with large parties) and at least 30 families that did family boarding.

My party of 3 got the last group of 3 seats in row 27 of the plane. I was stunned.

It was an originating flight as well.

Sadly your experience is not uncommon even with originating flights. My understanding is that SW pre-boards the medical person plus 1 other person. I cannot say I've seen this abused.

Where I see people taking advantage of the system is with family boarding. It is supposed to be 1 adult per 1 child under the age of 7. But, they do not stand by this and let entire families board with younger siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. It's not their policy but I don't find they stop people either. I wish they would as it really is unfair. You paid an additional fee to be able to sit with your family and almost missed out because people did not obey the rules and SW staff did not stop them.

As someone who flies to/from FL often, where I believe there are a higher than average number of children on the flights, I really wish SW would begin to enforce their family boarding policy.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

@scrappinginontario

Family boarding really did appear to just be parents with young kids (no grandparents etc). But there were easily 25 people who went on for medical preboard. So even with a high B number, there were approximately 100 people who boarded before us between the A, medical & family. I’m assuming the C group was empty due to all the early boarding.

 

[focusondisney]

We do get A positions when booking on opening day with EBCI. The announcements have said 1 person with the medical preboards. But what I have seen inthe last year or 2 is that those preboards are saving a few seats each. One particular instance, the preboard woman & her companion took purses from their travel companions & had 2 more rows saved with those purses. Ridiculous.

 

[L_MD]

I just called SWA. They said if you modify tickets because of a price drop, you will go to the end of the line for EBCI. Can someone else call to verify this, as different agents may give different answers

This definitely happened to me when I went to WDW in October. Not sure how to link it, but I posted a more detailed answer on page 190 (post #3786). Quoting below!

I just want to mention on this thread that it seems to me that modifying your flight if you have EarlyBird DOES affect your position. I always read/thought/assumed it didn't, but my experience suggests otherwise.

My reasoning below, hoping it saves someone some questions in the future:

1. I bought my original flight for 10/22/18 on May 8, 2018. I paid for EarlyBird at that time.
2. On May 16, 2018, I modified my flight as I found a slightly cheaper fare.
3. On June 7, 2018, I added a day to my flight to make my departure date 10/21/18
4. On June 8, 2018, I modified my flight AGAIN as I found a slightly cheaper fare.
5. On August 10, 2018, I modified my flight for the last time as I found a slightly cheaper fare.
6. When I checked in for my flight, I received a B-19 position

While this was happening for me, my Mom decided to join me.

1. On July 3, 2018, she purchased the same flight as me + Early Bird. She did not modify this at all.
2. When she checked in for her flight, she had an A-36 position

To me, this illustrates that I was indeed bumped down in the EarlyBird queue every time I modified. Because, if I wasn't, there's no way she should have had an A position while I had a B position.

On the flight back she had A-29 and I had A-31. So, not as much of a difference on our 'going there' flight.

Anyway, this is just my experience, and I don't know if it holds water for everyone, but I definitely won't be modifying my flight near as much and ONLY if I see a significant savings.

 

[mcd2745]

For our flights we just took (round-trip ISP-FLL) last week, we booked these flights and purchased EBCI within minutes of the flights being released. Our boarding numbers were in the A40s each way. easily the worst boarding positions we have ever gotten with EBCI. My guess is more and more people are purchasing EBCI.