SW early bird check in

[crazeedizneefinatic]

We leave for Disney in 36 days. I figured $69 was the lowest price for our flight down and decided to do the early bird check in today. I was under the impression that I would get a boarding letter and number now otherwise I would have waited to just do the check in myself 24 hours before. I feel like I just wasted $50. Anyone ever use early bird check in and was it worth it in the end? Do you think it's worth the extra money because right now I don't feel it is at least for the trip down. This service would probably be useful to us on the way back so we did not have to check in while at the park.

[PopPhan]

You should have gotten an e-mail notice that you had paid for the EB Check-in, with all of the parties that you paid for listed. That is the only notice you will receive for EB Check-In.

You will still need to print out your boarding passes, either before you leave home or at the airport. The thing about EB Check-In is that your boarding position is assigned 36 hours prior to your flight, based on when you paid for the EB Check-In option. If you were the first person to pay for the EB Check-In option for your flight, you would get boarding position A-16 -- A-1 thru A-15 are reserved for Business Select and "A-List " fliers.

[MuchLovedMama]

I've also been curious if this is a feature that a lot of people out there are doing? I think I'm opting to not do it for our family of 4 and just winging it. I hope we don't regret this. I always do the 24 hour (right to the second pretty much) prior online check in. I hope this is still ok.

[PopPhan]

It's not a big deal for the outbound flight, as we are generally home and have the computer up and running at the 24 hour mark. When we are in WDW, we would really rather not think about finding a Guest Relations desk or Concierge to check in and get our boarding passes right at the 24 hour mark.

DW does not take kindly to being separated on the plane.....So, EB Check-In works for us!

[BigRedDad]

You do not get an immediate confirmation on your boarding pass. If I remember correctly, at the 24-hour mark, your pass is assigned and you can print it out. Your boarding number will be based on when you purchased EB and others that have purchased it. So, after the business class people (say 1-15), there are 20 people before you that purchased EB, your boarding number will be A36 (A15 + 20 goes to A35).

Don't worry, you will be ahead of all those people that do not do EB.

I do not worry about it too much. I can do it on my phone. erasing because it may break SWA ToS

[ChipDale2708]

I don't know all the specifics of doing the EB check-in, but we flew SW recently and did the usual 24 hour check-in and received the last two numbers in the "A" section - I believe it was 59 & 60. The people directly in front of us paid the extra to get the 36 hour assignment. I have no idea when they added the EB check-in, but in that case they were only two numbers better than us who didn't pay the extra. I can see it being convenient if you don't want to deal with guest services on vacation.

[sassafras]

We're doing the Early Bird checkin for our trip to DW on the 29th. I usually get the boarding passes at the 24 hour mark, but have to work that morning and DH is nervous about trying it himself. Not sure if we will do it on the trip back or not. We're usually somewhere we can get the concierge to do it for us. Hope it works ok, since we've never done it before!

[Mom2threeboys]

Ok, I have a question regarding Southwest and checking in. We will be on the Disney Cruise on 2/19 and flying home 2/20....is there somewhere on the ship you can print out your boarding passes like you can at the hotels?

Thanks !!

[BigRedDad]

is there somewhere on the ship you can print out your boarding passes like you can at the hotels?

Thanks !!

You do not need to print your boarding pass. All you need to do is do online check-in. You can get your boarding tickets at MCO. I am sure the ship has somewhere to get a printout though.

[Rosemickey68]

We were thinking of getting the EB for the way back too. Not sure if it is worth it though if you can still check in 24 hrs ahead and still get A boarding passes. Do you think alot of people are using/paying for EB?

[Fangorn]

If you were the first person to pay for the EB Check-In option for your flight, you would get boarding position A-16 -- A-1 thru A-15 are reserved for Business Select and "A-List " fliers.

This is not completely accurate.

A1-A15 are reserved for Business Select customers only, and may or may not actually have anyone assigned to those slots. It all depends on the flight and if anyone has bought a Business Select seat. The A-List folks are next, and will have boarding passes starting with A-16. There's no telling how may A-List seats are on any given flight. After the A-List, comes the people who have purchased the Early Bird option.

Personally, I don't think the EB option is of much benefit except for the return flight home from WDW. That way you don't have to worry about checking in for your flight at all. Just show up at the airport, print your boarding pass at one of the kiosks. If you're the type that stresses about not having an assigned seat, or you tend to forget or are unable to check in at the 24 hour mark it can be a good option though.

Steve

[UCJen]

Can someone clear something up for me? I read on another board if you check yourself in for SWA, you could not use resort check in for the journey home.

Is this true?

[faline]

Not that I'm aware of. On our May trip, we printed out our boarding passes at Epcot which, I guess, technically means we had checked ourselves in. The next morning, we brought our luggage to the resort airline check-in desk without any problems. Actually, they reprinted our boarding passes at that time so had I known they would do that, I wouldn't have wasted my time the evening before!

[Jeri Lynn]

I used early bird check in last year, there were four of us flying.

This year it is just my sister and me, so I did not use early bird check in on the way down because I can very easily do that at the 24 hour mark, but on our return flight I did use it, that way I don't have to wait around our hotel or run to guest services at the park to check in, it will be done for us and I can just ask the BC to print out our boarding passes for us.

[ThanxForNoticin]

I think most of the posters hit on the idea we go with. If I have easy access to the internet at the 24-hour mark before the flight, we'll probably not purchase Early Bird. If we're not sure where we're going to be 24 hours before our flight, the $10 is well worth it to make sure we get a decent boarding pass for the flight. We've used it several times on the way home, where we might have a 6PM flight. Often, we're going to be in a park or eating dinner at that time the night before we leave. It's worth the extra few dollars to not have to worry about it. I think the children have to be 4 and under, but that might have changed. Have a nice trip!

Something else to keep in mind. If you are a family traveling with a small child(ren), then I think Early Bird might not be as important. Your family will have the option to board after all the "A's" and before the "B's". So even if you don't check in until you get to the airport, you'll be allowed to board the plane and all sit together.

[crazeedizneefinatic]

Thanks everyone...lesson learned....I know we will use it on the flight back but still have not purchased our tickets yet...We are coming back home on the 26th and the price has been holding at $165 per person....yikes!

[Checkers]

Just got back last evening and flew SW and used EB. I checked us in online 24 hrs. before our flight and printed our boarding passes (A30,31) and coming back there was no need to check in that was done at the RAC counter when we checked our luggage 3 hrs. before ME departure. They printed our boarding passes (A22,23) and we didn't have to do anything. Very easy and we thought well worth the $.

[OCDisney]

It was worth it in the end especially if you're going on a cruise.

[JennPooh]

It's not a big deal for the outbound flight, as we are generally home and have the computer up and running at the 24 hour mark. When we are in WDW, we would really rather not think about finding a Guest Relations desk or Concierge to check in and get our boarding passes right at the 24 hour mark.

DW does not take kindly to being separated on the plane.....So, EB Check-In works for us!

If we do not have internet access on our phones, etc can we go to Guest Relations at Magic Kingdom and check in at the 24 hour mark? This would be great, if so.

I would much rather do this than having to add internet to my phone for a month just to make sure to get decent boarding numbers.

[faline]

If we do not have internet access on our phones, etc can we go to Guest Relations at Magic Kingdom and check in at the 24 hour mark? This would be great, if so.

Yes. We've been able to do this at Guest Relations at any park and also at the Concierge desk of any resort.