Auto checkin 24 hours in advance

[kmatthews812]

I'd rather not pay for Early Bird, but I do like checking in exactly 24 hours in advance to get the best seat possible. 

Does anybody know of any third party apps that do this for you? Have you used them and if so, how was your experience?

It seems like somebody should just make a bot that does this really quickly to always beat the humans and avoid having to pay for Early Bird, but I can't seem to find any and don't know what happens if I use one. 

Thanks!

[DancingDavidE]

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@kmatthews812 wrote:

I'd rather not pay for Early Bird, but I do like checking in exactly 24 hours in advance to get the best seat possible. 

Does anybody know of any third party apps that do this for you? Have you used them and if so, how was your experience?

It seems like somebody should just make a bot that does this really quickly to always beat the humans and avoid having to pay for Early Bird, but I can't seem to find any and don't know what happens if I use one. 

Thanks!

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If these came from one IP address I suspect it would be blocked very shortly.

Otherwise this is pretty easy to take the link that checks you in with name and confirmation and put a calendar reminder.

Tripit and other third-party software does give you a reminder with five minutes notice, but doesn't actually do the check-in.

[SoCalFlyer97]

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@DancingDavidE wrote:

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@kmatthews812 wrote:

I'd rather not pay for Early Bird, but I do like checking in exactly 24 hours in advance to get the best seat possible. 

Does anybody know of any third party apps that do this for you? Have you used them and if so, how was your experience?

It seems like somebody should just make a bot that does this really quickly to always beat the humans and avoid having to pay for Early Bird, but I can't seem to find any and don't know what happens if I use one. 

Thanks!

---

If these came from one IP address I suspect it would be blocked very shortly.

Otherwise this is pretty easy to take the link that checks you in with name and confirmation and put a calendar reminder.

Tripit and other third-party software does give you a reminder with five minutes notice, but doesn't actually do the check-in.

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@kmatthews812 

Before I got A-List following the last trip I took which automatically gives me a Priority Boarding Position after the Business Select/Upgraded Boarding and A-List Preferred Priority Boarding groups, I would typically set my alarm to ring one minute prior to the 24 hour mark. That would give me a chance to log into Southwest's website or App to complete check in and be ready to go once the clock ticked to T-24. I never opted to buy Early Bird Check In.

The clocks on my computers and phone are auto-synced to the actual time of day. Southwest's check-in "clock" is near-perfect to this actual time; after logging in at one minute prior, I refresh the page as soon as my clock ticks to the 24 hour mark. At that point, the link to check in appears and I check in.

Whenever I got a deep B position through this method (like I did with my last trip for the inbound flight prior to having Priority Boarding benefits through A-List), I typically would buy Upgraded Boarding. 

[DancingDavidE]

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@kmatthews812 wrote:

I'd rather not pay for Early Bird, but I do like checking in exactly 24 hours in advance to get the best seat possible. 

Does anybody know of any third party apps that do this for you? Have you used them and if so, how was your experience?

It seems like somebody should just make a bot that does this really quickly to always beat the humans and avoid having to pay for Early Bird, but I can't seem to find any and don't know what happens if I use one. 

Thanks!

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Also how would a bot work if a bunch of people subscribed, but then they all tried at the same time and you aren't any better off.

[floridaguy]

I looked for the same thing and never found anything.

I set a reminder on my phone for check in and the moment the minute arrives, I check in.  Sometimes the system rejects it as the clocks are not in perfect synch and it sees my check in as early.  Redo the check in and it goes through.

Nearly all times I receive a B boarding position, B20 or close.  That tells me that the flight is probably full and also that a lot of people used the same technique.

I wish that Southwest would end the madness and just sell the ticket and price it on the boarding position.  That way, your check in had nothing to do with the boarding position.  

[DancingDavidE]

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@floridaguy wrote:

I looked for the same thing and never found anything.

I set a reminder on my phone for check in and the moment the minute arrives, I check in.  Sometimes the system rejects it as the clocks are not in perfect synch and it sees my check in as early.  Redo the check in and it goes through.

Nearly all times I receive a B boarding position, B20 or close.  That tells me that the flight is probably full and also that a lot of people used the same technique.

I wish that Southwest would end the madness and just sell the ticket and price it on the boarding position.  That way, your check in had nothing to do with the boarding position.  

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Because the price of the ticket often gets more valuable as the flight time gets closer so you can't price solely from boarding position.

Southwest also likely doesn't want to discourage last minute purchases by having promised all the early boarding positions nor stop people from buying early by reserving the early boarding positions.

If people showed up and all that was left were "C" positions they might not buy those tickets and planes start flying at 2/3 capacity.

[kmatthews812]

I guess simpler question - if this service existed, would you use it? 

It would save you the effort of manually checking in and would click faster than humans can so it would get you the best seat possible. 

Follow up question - would you pay a couple bucks ($5? $10) if it got you a guaranteed aisle or window seat? 

[DancingDavidE]

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@kmatthews812 wrote:

I guess simpler question - if this service existed, would you use it? 

It would save you the effort of manually checking in and would click faster than humans can so it would get you the best seat possible. 

Follow up question - would you pay a couple bucks ($5? $10) if it got you a guaranteed aisle or window seat? 

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If you are proposing this as a business venture I think you have a couple of obstacles that the most frequent and knowledgeable flyers end up getting A-list eventually, and also that Southwest offers an equivalent product with EBCI that would always be in front of your own offering, the airline would also potentially have the ability to block your service through technological or legal means.

I'm sure there would be a few takers if you can reach them without attracting too much attention. 

In practice the customers might get aisle and window seats often, as far as guaranteeing them that sounds a bit strong as there are some odd cases every once in a while. Someone posted recently about a flight that seemed to be 100% A-list and EBCI, if that last passenger had instead been on the auto-check-in system they would have still gotten a high C-number.

[SoCalFlyer97]

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@DancingDavidE wrote:

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Someone posted recently about a flight that seemed to be 100% A-list and EBCI, if that last passenger had instead been on the auto-check-in system they would have still gotten a high C-number.

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@kmatthews812

That would have exactly happened to me as I was placed in the 2nd half of the B Group.

See me most recent Trip Report post. As mentioned, my check-in method before getting A-List was to set my alarm one minute prior to check-in at the T-24 hour mark and to buy Upgraded Boarding if I got a deep in the 'B' spot or worse. 

During the inbound trip, I checked in exactly at T-24 and got B45. That told me that this flight had a bunch of Early Bird Check In's and likely some A-List and Anytime fares. Even if such a third-party bot existed, I would still get B45.

I bought Upgraded Boarding for this trip immediately after check in and it was priced at $30 for the inbound leg; miraculously, the A1 spot happened to be vacant. It was also a full flight. 

Although way much pricier than the $5 or $10 you mentioned to use a bot, Upgraded Boarding might be your best alternative (I've never experienced an Upgraded Boarding sellout at the T-24 mark, even for full flights, but availability is not guaranteed). The other alternative would be to purchase an Anytime Fare which gets you placed behind Business Select/A-List Priority Boarding and ahead of all WGA/WGA+ Fares with Early Bird Check In provided the reservation was made at least 36 hours in advance.

[jksobonya]

Using a bot is easily against Southwest Terms of Service and you could be banned if using it and got caught.

That aside, what you're looking for is easily attained by purchasing an Anytime or Business Select fare, which includes Early Bird.

--Jessica