Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[shoreward]

Just tried to reprice my flight to get a $50 credit and I got an error code. It just said cannot choose this flight at this time. Flight is at the end of April and not on max 8 Has anyone experienced this before?

Yes, I had this problem and ended up tweeting @SouthwestAir.

I sent a DM regarding the problem, and they asked me to send screenshots of the page showing the available savings, as well as the page showing the error. Make sure to provide the confirmation number, as well, with everything sent in a Private Message - do not publicly post this info.

They were able to refare and redeposit the saved points to my RR account.

I find tweeting this type of issue, rather than calling in, works much more quickly and with a good resolution to reasonable concerns.

https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/with_replies

 

[HannaLeAnn]

I tried to scroll through the thread, but there are so many pages, so here it goes:

Family boarding vs. Early Bird

We will have two parents, two grandparents, and a two year old, and we would not like to be split up. Should we spend the $200 for early boarding or use family boarding?

 

[FCDub]

I tried to scroll through the thread, but there are so many pages, so here it goes:

Family boarding vs. Early Bird

We will have two parents, two grandparents, and a two year old, and we would not like to be split up. Should we spend the $200 for early boarding or use family boarding?

Welcome to the DIS!

The official line from Southwest is: "An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the 'A' group has boarded and before the 'B' group begins boarding."

Some travelers have reported being able to board with more than just a single adult. BUT, whether they will allow your entire party to board during family boarding is not a guarantee and hard to predict. You're likely to be able to find good seats together in the back of the plane without EBCI, but it's always helpful to prepare for the possibility of splitting up.

 

[HannaLeAnn]

Welcome to the DIS!

The official line from Southwest is: "An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the 'A' group has boarded and before the 'B' group begins boarding."

Some travelers have reported being able to board with more than just a single adult. BUT, whether they will allow your entire party to board during family boarding is not a guarantee and hard to predict. You're likely to be able to find good seats together in the back of the plane without EBCI, but it's always helpful to prepare for the possibility of splitting up.

If we paid for Early Boarding, is it guaranteed that we would be able to board together before the family boarding group or do they board first? Also, I don't understand the A and B groups.

 

[FCDub]

If we paid for Early Boarding, is it guaranteed that we would be able to board together before the family boarding group or do they board first? Also, I don't understand the A and B groups.

No, EBCI doesn't guarantee you an A boarding pass. It only means you'll be checked in 12 hours before non-EBCI people.

Here's how it works on Southwest:
- First medical pre-boarders board
- Then, A 1-15. These are Business Select fares, as well as people who have paid for upgraded boarding (which is different than EBCI). Sometimes there will only be a few boarders in this group.
- Next, A 16-60. There are 60 spots in the A group. The earlier you check in, the earlier your assigned spot in line will be. This is where EBCI is handy, because you'll be automatically checked in 12 hours before non EBCI people. BUT, there's no limit to the amount of EBCI sold. So there could be 70 people who've purchased it, kicking some into the B group.
- FAMILY BOARDING
- B group. The next 60 people to check in.
- C group. The final 60 people to check in.

 

[HannaLeAnn]

No, EBCI doesn't guarantee you an A boarding pass. It only means you'll be checked in 12 hours before non-EBCI people.

Here's how it works on Southwest:
- First medical pre-boarders board
- Then, A 1-15. These are Business Select fares, as well as people who have paid for upgraded boarding (which is different than EBCI). Sometimes there will only be a few boarders in this group.
- Next, A 16-60. There are 60 spots in the A group. The earlier you check in, the earlier your assigned spot in line will be. This is where EBCI is handy, because you'll be automatically checked in 12 hours before non EBCI people. BUT, there's no limit to the amount of EBCI sold. So there could be 70 people who've purchased it, kicking some into the B group.
- FAMILY BOARDING
- B group. The next 60 people to check in.
- C group. The final 60 people to check in.

Thank you!!! Would it be reasonable to say that if I were very committed to checking in exactly at the 24 hour mark, like I do for ADR and FP+, I would be good to get in the A group with Early Boarding purchased?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Thank you!!! Would it be reasonable to say that if I were very committed to checking in exactly at the 24 hour mark, like I do for ADR and FP+, I would be good to get in the A group with Early Boarding purchased?

If you purchase Early Bird Check In (EBCI) the system will automatically check you in at 36hours prior to your flight time (though you will still select the "Check In" button to get your Boarding Pass and to find out your Boarding position). That will not guarantee you an A Boarding.

If you don't purchase EBCI you will need to physically check in 24 hours prior to your flight time. That will not guarantee you an A Boarding.

There are 2 ways to guarantee you A Boarding:
1) Purchase Business Select fare which is Boarding Positions A1-A15-most expensive fare class
2) if available, purchase the Upgraded Boarding when at the gate--there is a fee to do this and is subject to availability to positions left within the A1-A15.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thank you!!! Would it be reasonable to say that if I were very committed to checking in exactly at the 24 hour mark, like I do for ADR and FP+, I would be good to get in the A group with Early Boarding purchased?

Question: Did you purchase a ticket for your 2 year old? If so, you will need to purchase EBCI for all 5 of you, not just the adults if you all want to board at the same time.

If you would like to all board together, the best thing to do is either:
a) spend the $250 to purchase EBCI for all 5 of you and then board with the latest boarding pass number. EBCI boarding passes are assigned basically in order that they are purchased. The longer after the tickets go on sale that EBCI is purchased, basically the higher the boarding number will be.
b) not spend the $250, check-in at 24 hours and still board with the latest board pass number

With a group of 5, even if you purchase EBCI there is a possibility that you could be assigned 1 or more boarding passes in Group A and the others in Group B. (I've had this happen even when there are only 2 of us. Once go A60 and the other B1) When we were assigned A60 and B1 we waited and both boarded together with the B's.

We have purchased EBCI and been assigned A group and B group. It really depends on how many purchase it. There is no guarantee what group you will be assigned. And, personal history after many SW flights is that I find the Orlando flights seem to have many people who purchase EBCI because families do not want to risk not being able to sit together.

It sounds more confusing than it really is. It goes quite smoothly at the gate.

 

[HannaLeAnn]

Question: Did you purchase a ticket for your 2 year old? If so, you will need to purchase EBCI for all 5 of you, not just the adults if you all want to board at the same time.

If you would like to all board together, the best thing to do is either:
a) spend the $250 to purchase EBCI for all 5 of you and then board with the latest boarding pass number. EBCI boarding passes are assigned basically in order that they are purchased. The longer after the tickets go on sale that EBCI is purchased, basically the higher the boarding number will be.
b) not spend the $250, check-in at 24 hours and still board with the latest board pass number

With a group of 5, even if you purchase EBCI there is a possibility that you could be assigned 1 or more boarding passes in Group A and the others in Group B. (I've had this happen even when there are only 2 of us. Once go A60 and the other B1) When we were assigned A60 and B1 we waited and both boarded together with the B's.

We have purchased EBCI and been assigned A group and B group. It really depends on how many purchase it. There is no guarantee what group you will be assigned. And, personal history after many SW flights is that I find the Orlando flights seem to have many people who purchase EBCI because families do not want to risk not being able to sit together.

It sounds more confusing than it really is. It goes quite smoothly at the gate.

I did purchase a ticket for our son. I think I'm going to go ahead and pay for early boarding, and just see what happens. Thank you!

 

[scrappinginontario]

I did purchase a ticket for our son. I think I'm going to go ahead and pay for early boarding, and just see what happens. Thank you!

When are you flying?

 

[HannaLeAnn]

When are you flying?

September 15-21

 

[Livelovedance]

Just tried to reprice my flight to get a $50 credit and I got an error code. It just said cannot choose this flight at this time. Flight is at the end of April and not on max 8 Has anyone experienced this before?

edit-i got it to work!

Yes, I had this problem and ended up tweeting @SouthwestAir.

I sent a DM regarding the problem, and they asked me to send screenshots of the page showing the available savings, as well as the page showing the error. Make sure to provide the confirmation number, as well, with everything sent in a Private Message - do not publicly post this info.

They were able to refare and redeposit the saved points to my RR account.

I find tweeting this type of issue, rather than calling in, works much more quickly and with a good resolution to reasonable concerns.

https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/with_replies

I know you already got it to work, but just figured I’d chime in with my experiences. I’ve had this happen to me twice since the last flight schedule release date. Both times I called in and they were able to make the change for me over the phone. The first time was a little nerve-wracking because the wait time was over a half an hour (the first day the flight schedules opened) so I left my phone number for them to call me back. The second time I got someone right away. I like the idea of getting it resolved via Twitter, but the phone call was very easy too. They just needed my confirmation number and the flight information I was “changing” to. For the first time ever I had prices drop and saved a lot of points!

 

[scrappinginontario]

September 15-21

since you’re still 5 1/2 months from your flights, if it were me I would go ahead and purchase the EBCI. If you were weeks away and could be online 24 hours in advance I might have not but at 5 1/2 months I would.

 

[focusondisney]

I did purchase a ticket for our son. I think I'm going to go ahead and pay for early boarding, and just see what happens. Thank you!

Just to make sure you know what you are paying for: it is not “early boarding”. You are paying for SW to check you in automatically at the 36 hour mark. You get assigned a boarding number at that time. The order they check you in depends on which fare category ticket you bought & when you added the early bird check in. Some posters have gotten B group even when purchasing EBCI. It often depends how many people purchased it before you. The earlier you purchase it, the better your number should be. You then board in numeric order by groups as was posted above.

When you buy EBCI, you still go in & check yourself in. It does not matter when you do this. The boarding position number you were assigned at the 36 hour mark will not change based on when you do this. You check in so you can print your boarding pass. You can do this at home or after you get to the airport. I do it at home to check our numbers & then print a boarding pass at the airport when I check in our bags.

As for family boarding, I have flown SW several times in the last year. For every flight, the gate agent has announced family boarding for families with children under 6 as immediate families only. They have specifically said no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. So I would not count on the grandparents being allowed to board with you if you use family boarding.

 

[HannaLeAnn]

We went ahead and purchased the EBCI. Now just praying we are all able to sit together! That's all we really want.

 

[happ]

I just got a text that my upcoming (next week) flight is cancelled! It's not one of the max planes either. I made reservations months ago and the flight has been showing as sold out for days. The strange thing is that it's not showing as canceled in my reservations online. How do you know if it is really canceled?

 

[scrappinginontario]

If the text came from SW I would believe that it is correct. I would call them ASAP to find out what your options are.

If you don't mind, could you please share what you find out? We fly 4 weeks from today and I'll admit to getting a bit concerned.

So far our flight is showing but the 2 after us are now showing as sold out. I'm going to watch things closely.

 

[emsstacey]

Mine was canceled on Tuesday... when I searched, it was completely gone. Mine was not a Max8, but evidently canceled to help with other grounded flights. It was a huge inconvenience... my best advice is rebook asap. I saw every available flight near it sell out in minutes after my email.

 

[happ]

If the text came from SW I would believe that it is correct. I would call them ASAP to find out what your options are.

If you don't mind, could you please share what you find out? We fly 4 weeks from today and I'll admit to getting a bit concerned.

So far our flight is showing but the 2 after us are now showing as sold out. I'm going to watch things closely.

It is canceled! I'm beyond frustrated. There is no more availability on any nonstop flights and very limited availability on the few flights left that day. I checked the airport that's farther away and it's the same situation. I was told that they reshuffled their inventory of planes (or something like that) due to the grounding of the max planes. So, even though my flight was not that type of plane it didn't matter because they chose to cancel the flight. My only feasible option is to go with a different airline. Of course, that is going to cost more than it should because my flight is so close.

 

[happ]

Mine was canceled on Tuesday... when I searched, it was completely gone. Mine was not a Max8, but evidently canceled to help with other grounded flights. It was a huge inconvenience... my best advice is rebook asap. I saw every available flight near it sell out in minutes after my email.

Unfortunately, there is nothing left that will work that day. I will have to pay more to fly another airline. I know that I'll get my points back, but I don't want a travel voucher for the taxes. Is there any way around that since they are the ones that canceled my flight?