Boarding Pass

[Kipow]

Why am I consistently receiving high B and C boarding pass numbers regardless of the time I check in??? I checked in for todays Las Vegas to OC 9pm flight 30 minutes after the window to check in opened and received a B38 boarding pass. My traveling companion checked in 5 hours before the flight and received a B22 boarding pass?!? When I traveled to Dallas last month I received a group C boarding pass and there were so few people on the flight that nearly everyone had their own row. I am a loyal SW customer and do not understand why you are not assigning boarding passes on a first come first serve basis. 

[dfwskier]

You need to remember that A-list holders and people that buy upgraded boarding will always get better boarding positions than other people(unless the people in that second category wait til less than 24 hours to buy it). Likewise Business Select buyers will get A1-A15.

Also remember that lots of people try to check in EXACTLY 24 hors before flight time. If you check in 23.5 hours before your flight, it is entirely possible that dozens of others checked in before you.

My experience is that people who check in themselves get boarding positions from best to wrost depending on when they check in.

You said someone who checked in after you got a better boarding position. Here's how that could have happened. After you checked in, but before your friend checked in, some people who had already already been assigned better boarding spots than you canceled their flights. That reopened thier boarding spots for others. Then your friend checked in and got one of the better spots.

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

You need to remember that A-list holders and people that buy upgraded boarding will always get better boarding positions than other people(unless the people in that second category wait til less than 24 hours to buy it). Likewise Business Select buyers will get A1-A15.

Also remember that lots of people try to check in EXACTLY 24 hors before flight time. If you check in 23.5 hours before your flight, it is entirely possible that dozens of others checked in before you.

My experience is that people who check in themselves get boarding positions from best to wrost depending on when they check in.

You said someone who checked in after you got a better boarding position. Here's how that could have happened. After you checked in, but before your friend checked in, some people who had already already been assigned better boarding spots than you canceled their flights. That reopened thier boarding spots for others. Then your friend checked in and got one of the better spots.

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One other reason might be if it was a popular connection (LAS is very active for connecting flights, as well as MDW, DEN, BWI, etc.) the people who started their journey a few hours earlier than you did got to check in for all of their flights 24 hours prior to their first flight, so there would be some people that got to check in a few hours early.

Overall that wouldn't have affected you - if you are 30 minutes after the check-in time that is like an eternity in "Southwest Check-In Time" compared to what I believe to be a majority of people on the flight that check in right at 24 hours (especially for an evening flight).

[chgoflyer]

EarlyBird Check-In. On many flights, most of the A's (following BS and A-Listers) and often even the low B's will be filled with those who paid the extra fee.

Last year, Southwest made $400 million on EBCI fees alone.