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EBCI question

kjgibbs
Explorer C

I am new to Southwest and the whole EBCI thing.  If I purchase EBCI at the same time I purchase our 4 tickets, will our boarding numbers be consecutive? Such as  B1, B2, B3, B4? I know there is no guarentee that they won't be that high of a number, however our girls are only 10 and 12 and we would like them each to be sitting with either my spouse or I. 

 

Thanks for all your help & God Bless!

5 REPLIES 5

Re: EBCI question

dfwskier
Aviator A

Morning.

 

Assuming all four tickets are bought o one reservation, the chances are pretty good that the numbers will be consecutive.  The way EBCI allocates boarding positions is by the date/time the EBCI was purchased. So if the tickets are bought on one reservation (one click of the purchase button) all four tickets should have an identical time bought. I guess there's a chance another customer could have hit the purchase button at exactly the same time as you do, which might upset the .process.

 

If the 4 tickets are bought with 4 reservtions (and 4 different bought time) the situation might be different.

Re: EBCI question

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@dfwskier wrote:

Morning.

 

Assuming all four tickets are bought o one reservation, the chances are pretty good that the numbers will be consecutive.  The way EBCI allocates boarding positions is by the date/time the EBCI was purchased. So if the tickets are bought on one reservation (one click of the purchase button) all four tickets should have an identical time bought. I guess there's a chance another customer could have hit the purchase button at exactly the same time as you do, which might upset the .process.

 

If the 4 tickets are bought with 4 reservtions (and 4 different bought time) the situation might be different.


Practially speaking yes - as @dfwskier mentioned there is always the possibility although small that something causes someone to end up in the middle of your group although extremely unlikely and maybe only as a result of a glitch - if that happens just ask them to go in front of you.

 

Whether you get A-positions or high B-positions who knows. There wouldn't be a problem to get two seats together in that range of boarding position.

 

And then worst case scenario if the plane was headed somewhere "conventiony" and full of A-listers, then ask the FA to help you get seats for the kids next to one of the parents, they will be helpful to have someone re-arrange if necessary - but buying EBCI for everyone should do the trick without all the backup plans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: EBCI question

chgoflyer
Aviator A

With the recent price increase, EBCI for a family of four could add as much as $200 to your round trip. (Ouch.) My recommendation would be for you to forgo EBCI but instead check in right at t-24 hours. Assuming you're OK with the two sets of one parent/one child sitting separately (at worst) on the plane, I think you should have no real problems accomplishing that. If you're still concerned, immediately after you book add EBCI to only two of your tickets (one adult and one child). Then check the other two in as close to t-24 as possible. The first two to board can each save a seat for the other two (Southwest allows seat saving). If you choose seats near the middle or back of the plane, there should be no issues saving two middle seats until the others board. Good luck!

Re: EBCI question

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@chgoflyer wrote:

With the recent price increase, EBCI for a family of four could add as much as $200 to your round trip. (Ouch.) My recommendation would be for you to forgo EBCI but instead check in right at t-24 hours. Assuming you're OK with the two sets of one parent/one child sitting separately (at worst) on the plane, I think you should have no real problems accomplishing that. If you're still concerned, immediately after you book add EBCI to only two of your tickets (one adult and one child). Then check the other two in as close to t-24 as possible. The first two to board can each save a seat for the other two (Southwest allows seat saving). If you choose seats near the middle or back of the plane, there should be no issues saving two middle seats until the others board. Good luck!


This is a good point, the price will be getting up there a bit. In theory, the higher price will mean fewer people do it, and therefore the importance and benefit of checking in at T-24 will be increased since there will be a corresponding decrease in people that were checked in at T-36 due to the higher price EBCI.

 

 

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: EBCI question

sure2rain
Explorer C

My opinion is that the recent EBCI fee increase will only cause groups that are traveling together to purchase a single EBCI. This single EBCI will then board and save the appropriate number of seats since SW allows for such a practice. Even if a couple is traveling together by purchasing a single EBCI would save a fair amount. I don't like the practice of saving seats but on my last flight I was inconvenienced by SW "no policy on seat saving" so I will take advantage of it on future flights and save at least $50.00.