Southwest EBCI...given Group B 20-25!!

[jlcd]

Is there a way to tell if a flight originates somewhere else and will have passengers already on when you board?

 

[Lewisc]

I believe those that have paid more for their fares are probably checked in sooner, then those who bought EBCI, but at cheaper rates, get checked in according to when they bought the EBCI. But, that is open to debate.
If there are more than 15 passengers paying full fare, then they are going into the A16 and up spots. The first 15 that paid full fare will be put into A1-15.
Now, if someone cancelled at the last minute, and they were going to be in A22, then quite possibly someone who bought EBCI later than others could be slipped into that spot. It's all the luck of the draw, so to speak.

A1-A15 go to passengers who pay a little more then the fully refundable fare and book a "business select" fare. Southwest is now selling unused slots at the gate. A listers, very frequent fliers, get the next slots. We know passengers who book a fully refundable ticket, and pay for EBCI, get the next bunch of numbers. Remember when Southwest showed the different wanna get away fare buckets on the screen? Some posters on FT think the "fare bucket" you book also determines EBCI order. If true a passenger who books when the schedule is first released, and is able to book the lowest fare bucket, will get on of the highest EBCI sequence numbers. The experience of the OP sort of confirms this theory.

Is there a way to tell if a flight originates somewhere else and will have passengers already on when you board?

Go to the airports website (or one of the flight tracker sites). Go to the arriving flights screen and look for your flight number. Sometimes you can type in the flight number other times you also need the departing airport (which defeats the purpose). Just sort by airline and scroll down until you see your flight number. This won't work if there is a schedule change between today and the date of your flight.

Remember connecting passengers get their EBCI BPs assigned 36 hours before their first flight and get their T-24 BPs at least 2 hours before your window opens up.

If I was an originating passenger in which has a lot of connecting and continuing passengers, BWI, MDW for example, I'd probably spring for EBCI.

 

[DebbieB]

I flew home on SW today. I checked in at exactly 24 hours and got B23. There were quite a few people in family boarding, the gate agent said 2 adults only with the kids. I saw him turn away 2 grandparents. I was by myself, I got a window seat in row 8 (middle & aisle already taken). Full flight, the FA announced that 3 more people were boarding and there should be 3 seats left. One time I was on a flight where someone with a lapbaby tried to put the baby in a seat and the last person didn't have a seat. They didn't want to admit it, so the FA called out the names of people with lapbabies and asked them to raise their hands. Finally they admitted it and gave the last person the seat.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I think EBCI is a crap shoot.

I did not do EBCI and last month and I switched my ticket to a flight that took off 6 hours after I bought it. I was sure I would get the C boarding group since I was leaving is 6 hours.
Nope got an A boarding group on a flight from MCO.

 

[RainbowsMist]

Update: currently on board flying smoothly to FLL. As we were waiting they did offer anyone who wanted a better boarding positing A1-15 could buy them for $40 per person!! That didn't even make me blink. We sat, waiting and watch people board. Finally it was our time B20-25...once we walked on board we could see all rows from 20 and back were completely empty. We did get our seat and we are together....Ativan has kicked in so I'm quite content....lol. I did notice the couple in front who had B 18-19 also paid EBCI.
I think what helped us is there really isn't many kids on the flight. Flying home from MCO could be a different story.


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[robhawk]

Update: currently on board flying smoothly to FLL. As we were waiting they did offer anyone who wanted a better boarding positing A1-15 could buy them for $40 per person!! That didn't even make me blink. We sat, waiting and watch people board. Finally it was our time B20-25...once we walked on board we could see all rows from 20 and back were completely empty. We did get our seat and we are together....Ativan has kicked in so I'm quite content....lol. I did notice the couple in front who had B 18-19 also paid EBCI.
I think what helped us is there really isn't many kids on the flight. Flying home from MCO could be a different story.


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I'm glad it worked out for you!
Let us know how you make out on the way home.

 

[dudspizza]

That is so frustrating. I certainly would understand if you had only recently added the EBCI, but considering you did it back in August right when the schedules opened up. Honestly, something just doesn't feel right about that. [not aimed at you, aimed at SW]

doesn't feel right to me either..... SW claims you are not guaranteed an A, but that far back doesn't seem right.

I fly to Las Vegas tomorrow. I purchased the flight about 6 weeks ago, including EBCI. I made a change to the itinerary about 4 weeks ago, so we'll see where I end up in about 2 hours when I go print my boarding passes...... It is just me and DD16, so we will be fine. DW and DD13 are on another airline and we are meeting in LV.

I will try to remember to update everyone once I print my boarding passes......

Duds

 

[nhmommy]

Thanks. I need to remember to always try to see the positive side of things Just a little stressed if we don't get to sit together. I have a terrible fear of flying so my anxiety level is a little elevated today....lol



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I have flown SW a LOT of times usually get low B high C group and I have only once been separated from the people I was flying with and that was because we barely made the flight due to an accident on the way to the airport rerouting our regular route bad lines though security and them holding the flight for us. even then my DH and son sat together and MY parents sat together we just didn't get to all sit together.

 

[dudspizza]

doesn't feel right to me either..... SW claims you are not guaranteed an A, but that far back doesn't seem right.

I fly to Las Vegas tomorrow. I purchased the flight about 6 weeks ago, including EBCI. I made a change to the itinerary about 4 weeks ago, so we'll see where I end up in about 2 hours when I go print my boarding passes...... It is just me and DD16, so we will be fine. DW and DD13 are on another airline and we are meeting in LV.

I will try to remember to update everyone once I print my boarding passes......

Duds

Printed my boarding passes a few hours ago and DD16 and I got A40 and A41. Hopefully there are a couple of exit row seats available. We were around A45 last trip and exits were available, so we'll see where it goes.

Happy travels everyone!

Duds

 

[Jestocost]

Printed my boarding passes a few hours ago and DD16 and I got A40 and A41. Hopefully there are a couple of exit row seats available. We were around A45 last trip and exits were available, so we'll see where it goes.

Happy travels everyone!

Duds

Those rows are going to go early, but if you can sit one and one (not together) it's a decent possibility.

 

[April7901]

Which is why JetBlue is becoming my airline of choice.

My DH and myself had boading numbers similar to the OP and we ended up getting split up. One of the reasons is that even though the row "looked" like it was open, someone was magically always in the bathroom. I didn't know the bathroom held that many people. IMHO, they should make you purchase EBCI for all members of your party.

OP - I would be prepared to be split up into at least two groups.

Someone pulled the "bathroom" bit on me once. I said, "Oh - so you won't mind if I wait here for them to come back?" A dirty look later, the stuff on the seat was moved.

 

[DebbieB]

Printed my boarding passes a few hours ago and DD16 and I got A40 and A41. Hopefully there are a couple of exit row seats available. We were around A45 last trip and exits were available, so we'll see where it goes.

Happy travels everyone!

Duds

I snagged the aisle seat in the 2 seat exit row with B55 last weekend. There was also a middle seat open in the next row.

 

[ford91exploder]

Actually at MHT EBCI usually gets you the High A's or Low to medium B's a lot of people use EBCI at MHT and a lot of business travellers use MHT as a base so you have a lot of A-List Preferred members who are checked in at 36 hours before flight even without EBCI.

Update: currently on board flying smoothly to FLL. As we were waiting they did offer anyone who wanted a better boarding positing A1-15 could buy them for $40 per person!! That didn't even make me blink. We sat, waiting and watch people board. Finally it was our time B20-25...once we walked on board we could see all rows from 20 and back were completely empty. We did get our seat and we are together....Ativan has kicked in so I'm quite content....lol. I did notice the couple in front who had B 18-19 also paid EBCI.
I think what helped us is there really isn't many kids on the flight. Flying home from MCO could be a different story.


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[dudspizza]

I snagged the aisle seat in the 2 seat exit row with B55 last weekend. There was also a middle seat open in the next row.

We got A31-32 and A21-22 on our return flights.

All flights we were able to grab the 2 seat exit row. No issues at all. Since there were only 2 of us, that is what we had hoped for.

It did amaze me the number of announcements they had to make saying the flights were full and all seats were needed...... they even had to say, "if you have a lap baby, they need to be on your lap".......

 

[richmo]

...I just went to check our Boarding Passes for our flight tomorrow and we were given Group B 20-25!!! The whole reason I purchased EBCI is because of my fear of us not being together... it was THAT important to us. This is our first time flying Southwest

You should still be fine. There will likely be very few in A1-15. Even so, the first half of B will have no problems sitting together. You just may have to do it in the rear half of the plane, not the front.

 

[DebbieB]

I read on flyertalk that there's a new rule for A listers. If they get a B boarding pass, they are permitted to board after A, before family boarding. I was just reading on the website that A list gets boarding passes at 36 hours.

Once a Member qualifies for A-List status, he/she is entitled to Priority Boarding. This means that Southwest Airlines will automatically reserve a boarding position for the Member 36 hours prior to each of the Member's confirmed Southwest Airlines' flights provided the Member added his/her Rapid Rewards account number to their reservation and made his/her reservation at least 36 hours prior to the flight Priority Boarding will apply only to flights that a Member completes while his/her A-List status is active.
Southwest Airlines automatically reserves a boarding pass for A-List Members beginning 36 hours prior to scheduled departure of the Member's confirmed Southwest Airlines flight. Southwest Airlines "reserves" boarding positions for A-List Members, but Members are responsible for "printing" their boarding pass. Passengers who do not obtain a boarding pass and are not present and available for boarding in the departure gate area at least ten minutes prior to scheduled departure time may have their reserved space cancelled and will not be eligible for denied boarding compensation. Reserved boarding will not be provided in instances where A-List Members' reservations meet any of the following criteria:

Reservations booked less than 36 hours prior to scheduled departure
Changes made to an existing reservation within 36 hours of a scheduled flight
Standby travel on a different flight than what was originally confirmed
Flights taken after a Member's A-List Membership expires
Irregular operations may affect A-List Membership benefits

A-List qualification is based on taking 25 qualifying one-way flights or earning 35,000 Tier Qualifying Points in a calendar year. A qualifying flight for Rapid Rewards A-List status is a one-way revenue flight on Southwest Airlines from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections on Southwest Airlines. Tier Qualifying Points are earned from revenue flights or through select Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Cards and are exclusive of bonuses and promotions.

 

[elaine amj]

We flew back yesterday. I paid for EBCI for DH and DD. They got A50-something. My DS and I checked in 1 hr late (I forgot! ) and got B50-something.

Had no problems getting a row for DH and the 2 kids (about 3/4 into the plane) and an aisle seat for me right across from them.

We had a connecting flight and they got A30-something and DS and I got B20-something. We got a similar setup, this time in the second row.

I was happy with did EBCI for the way back.

 

[LisaS]

I think EBCI is a crap shoot.

I did not do EBCI and last month and I switched my ticket to a flight that took off 6 hours after I bought it. I was sure I would get the C boarding group since I was leaving is 6 hours.
Nope got an A boarding group on a flight from MCO.

What most likely happened is that you picked up the boarding position from someone who cancelled after they were checked in for the flight. For example, lots of business travelers have A-list status so they get checked in automatically 36 hours out and get a boarding position at that time. They also often make last-minute flight changes due to meetings running late or ending early. If someone was already checked in for your flight 36 hours out (or even manually checked in 24 hours out) and had an A boarding position but cancelled after 24 hours out but before 6 hours out, that A boarding slot was released into the pool and was there for the taking when you booked your flight 6 hours out.

 

[conniehar90]

Just checked in for our flight tomorrow. We were on 3 different intineraries so I had to try to check us all in at the same time. I always purchase EBCI for us on our return flight but never on our departing flight. Well, apparently, I checked the wrong box and didn't notice that I paid for EBCI for myself both ways. So, I got A38 but DD and DH got B27 and DS whom I checked in right after DH got B45!. He's 15 so no worries but I hope I am able to get us all seats together! I am hoping they stick with the one adult, once child for family boarding! Now I am super nervous! Looks like everyone is buying EBCI now!

 

[mcd2745]

I read a recent article where the Southwest CEO said that overall approx 10-15% of customers buy EBCI. It sure seems like more than that. Perhaps flights in and out of Orlando have a much higher percentage. He also said that overall 99% of customers who purchase EBCI get an A boarding. Perhaps that percentage is lower for flights in and out of Orlando.