Southwest RETURN Boarding passes
 

We are very frequent flyers on Southwest
and I have been very happy with their service (mostly ontime, no lost luggage -knock on wood,
lots of free tickets, etc).
Most of the time when I travel I have a family member at home who can request my return boarding pass 24 hours prior and then we just get them reprinted at check-in. Our whole family has a trip coming up soon and a return that will take us 10 hours (coast to coast). Hubby really doesn't want to impose on a friend to do our return boarding passes.
I just emailed the hotel where we will be staying and they said it all depends on whether the desk person knows how to use the Internet! Well, that sounds too risky to count on. On the other hand I don't want to spend the last day of our vacation stressing over getting those "A" boarding passes! Just wondering what you all do. Thanks!

So if the hotel does not have Internet acces for guests, maybe you could seek out an Internet cafe wherever you are going.

I must be missing something here. Just go to a Kinko's, the hotel business center or anywhere with a computer and just go online and do it yourself. You can go anywhere especially if you aren't really going to print them out.

Sorry, if I am missing the obvious but I really don't understand I guess.

1. Well, if you can't think of one friend or co-worker who you can phone 24 hours before your flight, reminding them to please spend 2 minutes printing out your boarding passes.......then you deserve to sit separately with the C boarders!

2. After spending a whole week on vacation with the family, I'd be HAPPY to take separate seats for the 10 hour trip home! Just me and a good book!

3. Once you get to the hotel you'll probably find that they'll be able to do it for you, or you'll spot an internet cafe or public library nearby where you can do it. Then you can call your "friend" and tell him, thanks, but his kind assistance won't be needed after all.

Since you can now get your passes 24 hours in advance, I would suggest going to a place that has the internet available and check in myself. {You could go to a library or internet cafe to do this.} I used to rely on the front desk when it was Midnight check in. And not that it would be a guarantee that the clerk would remember, but perhaps a small gratuity would jog their memory if you didn't want to have to get to a computer yourself.

Also, a lot of hotels and even motels have internet access available for guests' use in their business center or in the lobby. That might work too.

Hope this helps...
Debi

you can just go to www.boardfirst.com and they charge $5.00 to do it for you!

Wow, that boardfirst.com is quite a find!
Aren't they brilliant? We'll consider that as a possibility. I thought of the library but wasn't sure if you had to be a card holder to use the internet. I'll call them.
We will be staying in a small New England town. Thanks for the great tips!

Small New England towns have computers.

Almost all libraries will allow "guest" use of facilities, including computers. I can't imagine even the smallest library not having computers/internet access.

And I'll have to check out Boardfirst! Isn't it amazing how others come up with such good ideas "I should have thought of that!".
Debi

Hmmmm boardfirst charges $5 per person! Yikes...that can get expensive for a family group. I'd go with offering a gratuity to front desk person, especially if I had a group like the OP.
Debi

I don't understand the whole feeding frenzy over SWA boarding! I can understand if you're a big family and want to sit together, fine. But I always see people travelling solo or in small groups, who stand for an hour, even in the A line. Whenever I have an A pass, I just sit down and get compfortable, watch all the cattle in line, when the last A person in line gets near the doorway, I get up and get behind him/her and walk on the plane. It's still over half empty and I've sat right behind the first person in line who stood for an hour. Last time wife and I have a B pass, waited for all the B people to board, then walked up as the very last B people and had several choices of empty rows.

Are they all OCD and need to be able to choose certain lucky seat #'s or something?

However, I think that the Boardfirst site is one reason Southwest are thinking of changing their boarding system...doing tryouts in San Diego I believe.

Starrsville, I live in a really small New England town. Yes, our library has computers but it's only open Sunday afternoons, Mondays and Wednesdays. Of course, it would be possible to go to another larger New England town.
Lovetotravel2, as long as you know how to print the tickets, as long as the hotel clerk can get you on the internet, maybe they can just hover over you while you go to Southwest's website. Some towns are starting to charge non-cardholders for use of the computers but it's probably a reasonable charge compared to $5 per ticket.

The OP doesn't want to print the boarding pass - just get online to make the return request. I travel in VERY small towns in the SE and can't imagine not being able to find to find access to computers. Maybe it is different there. Heck, my parents (in a very small town) still go to the bank to have a copy made or to send a fax (non-bank related business). I can't imagine the hotel not allowing them computer access to do this. Hampton Inn managers have even left their private office to give me a few minutes on their computer when the hotel (in small town) does not have a business center.

In any case, hopefully the OP has some new ideas to try.

I use the web access on my cell phone. SW supports this type of browser access. I then print the passes at the airport kiosk.

Call them 1-800-I-FLY-SWA to see if you can check in over the phone.

Southwest boarding policy is a pain in the ass. 30% of the country still doesn't have internet access. They pay the same or higher fares as the rest of us, why are they penalized?

A family willing to get to the airport 2.5 hours ahead of time should not end up in boarding group C.

I try to avoid SouthWorst. Why should I have to set my alarm and panic that I am not going to remember to log on and print my boarding pass exactly 24 hours before my flight? Better airlines are usually matching their fares...and when they do or when they just come close, I opt out of flying SW. The only thing good about them is the full credit you get when cancelling.

Southwest boarding policy is a pain in the ass. 30% of the country still doesn't have internet access...

That's just another reason for some of those people to get connected but I suspect that 30% isn't flying on Southwest anyway!

If the hotel's front desk person doesn't know how to use the internet, perhaps someone in your family could help them! ((I))

I would still love to hear from someone who has actually used one of these online
"boarding pass" services. There was a prior thread that also mentioned two other services www.swasnipe.com and GetABoardingPass.com
It is well worth it to me to pay $5 for an "A" boarding pass when going "coast to coast" for over 10 hours and not having to stress over finding an internet connection during my last day of vacation.