Comments on: Is Southwest’s EarlyBird check-in worth $10? The answer is …

By: Sam

Sam — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:18:05 +0000

I never pay for and A seating assignment. I use a Free program that I found called “Book Me” to do the work for me 24 hours before my flight. Its not perfect, but I get my “A” more times than not. The only downfall is that it isn’t a mobile app, so your computer has to be running when it gets 24 hours before your flight. Check it out @ http://get-your-a.com and see what you think. It won’t cost you anything, but maybe a couple of clicks on ads to support the young buck that did the programming.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:51:56 +0000

It’s not a great value anymore. At first, you could get seats like A16-A20. On my last few trips, I’ve gotten much higher numbers. Today, for a trip I booked six months ago, I got spot A56. That’s nearly the B group.

My feeling is save your money on shorter trips but take your chance on longer ones.

I wish Southwest had reserved seats but at least Early Bird is better than nothing.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:05:02 +0000

This is not a value at all, I booked and paid for my tickets 6 months in advance including early boarding, upon getting my boarding pass 23 hours ahead of time I was a 58- aprox 60 % of the passengers will be boarding ahead of me.

By: MH

MH — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:55:59 +0000

NOT WORTH IT! I relied on the Early Bird Check-In for a flight tomorrow. Family of 4 with 2 small children. It did NOT check us in. Now stuck in the C line, wont be able to sit together, and Southwest said “Sorry” but they are having trouble and it’s not working! Nothing they can do.
Don’t depend on anyone else, check-in yourself if you want it done right.

By: ak

ak — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:12:22 +0000

i got tricked into purchasing early bird too and it’s NOT WORTH IT! my friends who did not purchase it somehow ended up getting A16 and A19 while I got A25. i just wasted $10.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 05:42:10 +0000

I pay the Early Bird rate, because I have bad arthritis in one of my knees and need to sit on the right side of the plane to stretch that leg out in the aisle, if possible. (Otherwise, I might not be able to stand back up when the plane lands.) However, on one recent flight, I was held up for a long time for “secondary screening” by the TSA and ended up boarding very late, despite paying the Early Bird fee. Since I was one of the last ones on the plane, I had to sit in a middle seat, which caused a lot of pain. So paying the Early Bird does not always guarantee that you’ll get your choice of seats.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:36:54 +0000

I would not pay $10 fee. First reason is what if I paid the fee in advance and got to the gate later? And the second one is what if I got on the plane among first people and later during boarding a big person seats next to me, I feel uncomfortable all the flight and still regreting of the fee paid. I fly Southwest very rarely and for flight not longer 1 hr. So, the seat selection is not very important for me in this case.

By: Rick Damiani

Rick Damiani — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 02:37:30 +0000

Re: Ian
[quote Here’s the catch: Anyone who buys this option clearly knows the good seats. ]

Not so much. My idea of a good seat is the aisle seat just ahead of the engine on the right side of the plane. It’s quieter than the seats behind the engine, it’s not so close to the front of the plane that I feel like I’m holding people up as I grab my bags, and sitting on the right side me use the proper (left) hand for things like my carry-on lunch without bumping elbows with all the wrong-handed people the world is infested with.

By: W IRVIN

W IRVIN — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 14:18:20 +0000

I used early boarding both ways recently when flying to Denver with adult daughter. Would gladly pay again and I hold nothing against SW for offering the service. Appreciated not having to sit apart or trampling over others to try to get seats together, as some people do. Returning, I was suffering from a horrible case of the flu and certainly appreciated a window seat (for easier napping) and again being next to daughter who could help me with iced drinks and carryon luggage.

By: Mark Kelling

Mark Kelling — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:21:01 +0000

I have used the Early Bird process several (around 10) times with great success. It works equally well on paid tickets and Reward tickets. It is worth the extra 20 so that on the return trip I don’t have to spend time and effort finding somewhere to get on the internet to check in so that I am in the A group. You can tell if your purchase has taken effect and you will be in the early group by checking your reservation online — if you see “EB” next to your flight, you are in the Early Bird group. For paid tickets I have been in the A 20 to 25 group and for rewards it has been A 25 to 30. So far no issues, problems or disappointments.

By: Tad Kallini

Tad Kallini — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:39:02 +0000

Re: above…the SWA agent in Dallas answered my question. And yes, you can pick up your “pre-paid” boarding pass any time up to flight time at the airport.

By: Tad Kallini

Tad Kallini — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:19:17 +0000

Anyone know if one can simply pick up the boarding pass at the airport versus online prior to the flight? My schedule is such that I may not be able to get online and print it out before I leave for the airport.

By: Tad Kallini

Tad Kallini — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:17:13 +0000

Anyone know if you can simply pick up the boarding pass at the airport? My return trip from Dallas may not allow time to go online and print out the pass before I leave for the airport.

By: Wally

Wally — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:49:49 +0000

I just purchased the “so called” Early-Bird-Checkin for a recent flight. I kicked back like they said and didn’t worry about checking in. OOPS! My bad. There was a screw up in their system and it didn’t check me in and I got stuck in the last boarding group. Have no worry, just call customer service right? NOT! Customer service was rude and told me it didn’t work because they made a change in their system and it was a mistake but they will give me my 10 bucks back. What the?! Isn’t this about boarding early for business, not the 10 bucks and a middle seat??? Seriously folks, check yourselves in and don’t get caught in this 50/50 gamble on a middle seat, it doesn’t always work!

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:41:24 +0000

I flew Southwest this past Friday. I paid the $10 for Early Bird, mostly because I knew that I’d be on the road to work at the 24-hour mark the day before my flight. I signed up for it for my already-purchased flights within a day or two of the program’s announcement.

For my two legs that day I got A18 and A22. On the A18 flight, there were only 4 people in front of me, in the Business Select spots A1-A4, and I was able to get an Emergency Exit row. But our plane got stuck in a long line for takeoff (12th with only one runway open for takeoffs and landings), and my 50-minute layover at BWI became a scant 15 minutes. I had to power-walk through the terminal, and when I got to the gate they were just finishing the C group, and I was one of the last onto the plane so my A22 pass was useless. Luckily I found an open window seat next to a husband and wife in the aisle and center seats.

In the future, if I fly Southwest again I may just take my chances with checking in at the 24-hour mark.