05-22-2018
08:00 AM
05-22-2018
08:00 AM
Purchasing EB does not guarantee any position, and there are several reasons why you may be well into the B group with EB. First of all, there are lots of A Listers. I am A List Pref, and it is common for me to be 3/4 of the way down in the A group. These folks fly a lot, so SW rightfully awards them with priority boarding. After A List Pref and the A List is EB, and there are often many folks who pay for EB. Remember that the boarding position is no the only benefit of EB. One of the best benefits is that you don't have to rush to check in at the 24 hour mark because SW holds your spot. Will you be busy at that time? EB has your back!
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Looks like @DancingDavidE already said most of what I was thinking, but I had it typed out already so here you go... @JFGREEN72, it sounds like there is some misunderstanding about how EarlyBird Check-in works and how the overall Southwest check-in process works. EBCI secures a boarding position (letter and number) for you 36 hours before departure. At that same time A-List members are also assigned their boarding position. This is not visible to the customer and at this point in time you can not determine what your assigned boarding position is. At 24 hours prior to departure all customers can start the check-in process and must check-in at some point (up to 10 minutes before departure) regardlesss of whether or not they were already assigned a boarding position. Again, being assigned a position at 36 hours does not change any of the process and you still have to click the button that says "check-in". If you were assigned a number at 36 hours prior to departure you can check in at 24 hours prior or 1 hour prior and you will still get the same boarding position. In summary, the system works, it's just not visible to the customer what is happening and the wording used during the process doesn't do a good job confirming that EBCI did anything. Please let us know if you have additional questions or want anything else clarified. I'm also curious what boarding position you got. --TheMiddleSeat Did this or any other comment in the thread answer your question? Please take a moment and click the "Accept as Solution" button on the comments you found most helpful, this will be a big help to any future Community Members who have a similar question!
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