Checked in before wife and got worse boarding by 60

[Jonboy71]

I checked in 2 minutes before my wife for the same flights and got a significantly worse boarding position. I did both check ins, so know this for a fact.  Why would this occur?

[SoCalFlyer97 · Accepted solution]

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@Jonboy71 wrote:

I checked in 2 minutes before my wife for the same flights and got a significantly worse boarding position. I did both check ins, so know this for a fact.  Why would this occur?

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Hola!

As a fellow traveler, this case is rare but can occur whenever somebody who has already checked in and receives their boarding position then later either changes or cancels their flight. The next person to check in receives the open position. If the person vacating their spot happens to be an A-List, ALP, or in some cases Early Bird Check In, that could result in a very high spot unexpectedly.

In your case, it looks like you checked in and received your position. During the two-minute window, somebody else who was already checked in and got an early position changed or scrapped their booking, thus your wife was the "lucky" one to snag the open upper spot. 

Hope this helps!

[Jonboy71]

Makes sense. Thanksz

[DancingDavidE]

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@SoCalFlyer97 wrote:

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@Jonboy71 wrote:

I checked in 2 minutes before my wife for the same flights and got a significantly worse boarding position. I did both check ins, so know this for a fact.  Why would this occur?

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In your case, it looks like you checked in and received your position. During the two-minute window, somebody else who was already checked in and got an early position changed or scrapped their booking, thus your wife was the "lucky" one to snag the open upper spot. 

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Anecdotally, the wrinkle here is especially if you were checking in right at the 24-hour moment at the same time there are a bunch of A-listers getting their automatic notifications of positions being assigned and believe it or not some of these people will have forgotten about their flight or else forgotten that they need to change their flight and a few earlier spots often open up around this time.