I will fly out of Oakland tomorrow at 9 am, checked in on-line today @ 12.40 - more then 20 hours ahead, and... got a B pass!

Is everybody checking in 24 hours before the flight these days? Amazing!!

Gotta stay on your toes, Faina. Looking forward to your trip report. Have a great trip!

The company that sells the A passes may have grabbed a batch befire you could get there.

Keith

Keith, what do you mean "the company that sells A passes"? How could they get them without a flight/confirmation number? And what are they worth?

There are 3rd party companies that you can pay them, and give them your confirmation information, so that they'll check-in for you at exactly 24 hours prior to departure, ensuring an "A" pass. Generally, they charge $5.

Aaah...thanks for clearing that up rkkwan. So I guess what Keith meant was that they have enough customers for a given flight so that they snag all the A passes. I can't imagine many people willing to pay for this, or many people who even know about it.

Wonder if they'll still be popular when Southwest goes to assigned seating?

Southwest has been suing one of the companies to try to stop them.

Keith

I think most people who get the A passes don't pay for a service. They just understand the process and go do it themselves at the 24-hour time point. FA didn't check in until 4 hours later, during the morning, when most people have access to a computer. No surprise that she didn't get an A pass, pay service or not.

Whenever I have tried to check in for my boarding pass, if it was not with the 24 hour window, it would not allow me to do so. I HAD to wait till it was the 24 hours prior to take off. It is possibly the A'a were gone from 9 a.m. to 12:40 when FainaAgain checked in.

Does this flight originate in Oakland?

Another possibility is that passengers may already be onboard the plane when it arrives. If they remain on the plane to continue beyond Oakland, that reduces the number of "A" passes available.