Southwest "EarlyBird" check-in - details?
 

We are flying some family members to NC for our daughter's college graduation. After listening to my brother whine about how he does not like SWA boarding/seat selection procedures, I discovered for $10 extra I could buy him EarlyBird check-in. As near as I can figure out this means he does not have to check-in on-line 23 hrs 59 minutes prior to flight to get a decent boarding position - but can not figure out from the website exactly how this works.

Do they automatically assign him a boarding position and it then does not matter when he checks-in on-line, as long as he does so prior to the flight and prints a boarding pass - or is there something I missed?

"Do they automatically assign him a boarding position and it then does not matter when he checks-in on-line, as long as he does so prior to the flight and prints a boarding pass - or is there something I missed?"

Yes.

He doesn't even have to check in online if he doesn't want to. He can print out the boarding pass at the airport when he drops off his bag(s).

>We are flying some family members to NC for our daughter's college graduation. After listening to my brother whine about how he does not like SWA boarding/seat selection procedures<

I interpret this as YOU are paying for his ticket? and he's whining about the boarding process? Twenty lashes for him! ;)

Folks above are correct.

One thing more...the boarding pass will be issued AFTER business boarding flights (they paid more) and those that meet whatever Southwest deems as a frequent flyer.

This usually means you will get an A boarding pass, unless you picked a busy Monday or Friday morning.

It's quite useful to get early bird boarding when you can't get to a computer EXACTLY 24 hours ahead of time. Actually, you will be put in line ahead of all people getting boarding passes 24 hours ahead of time.

Here's my experience on 2 recent flights.

1. Checked in online 22.75hrs before flight, got #C14 (out of a max C30).

2. Checked in online exactly 24hrs before flight, got #B14, or roughly 80th person on the plane including families preboarding (after the A group).

Since know few if any pax were faster at the click than I was, I assume all the A's were early-birds.

That is usually the case. But when I flew on Southwest in January from Newark to Tulsa (on a Friday afternoon ... so a very busy flight filled predominately with business travelers), several people got A group even though they didn't check in until they arrived at the airport. But even for the B group, there was plenty of overhead space for carry-ons. The C group had problems and some had to gate-check bags.

Thanks. I did this because $10 seemed cheap to have him stop whining about flying SWA - and yes, I am paying because it is important to our daughter and he has no money.

Also, it would have been impossible to check in even close to 24 hours in advance since he will be at work then and I will be on a plane - so it seems to have been a good idea.

Gail~I'm in the same situation.......my brother has no money, and I would buy his ticket if it was important to my daughter. Ten dollars seems to be a pretty inexpensive way to shut off the whining! :)

You're very kind, and your brother seems pretty ungrateful. A free ticket and complaining about seat assignment. SW has such a generous luggage policy, if he checks his luggage, who cares what seat he gets. Happy Wedding.