Early bird check in-annoyed!

[Kk9185]

My husband and I purchased early bird check in for our flight. We ended up in the early B group, which we were okay with. As we were lining up to board, we noticed the amount of families that were preboarding. It was almost everyone on the flight! After all was said and done, there was maybe 25 of us left to board after all the families. The website states that a perk of early bird check in is a better boarding position. We were practically last to get on the plane. The people on front of us were annoyed as well. I’m really unhappy we spent the money, especially since if we didn’t, our boarding position wouldn’t have been too different. We were unable to get seats together and sat separately in the last two rows. 

[bec102896]

Hello

sorry to hear about your recent experience with Early Bird check in 

early bird check in does not guarantee a specific boarding group as there is no limit to the number of people who can buy Early Bird 

about the number of families there is no way to know how many of those will be on your flight until boarding but sorry if there were so many on your flight 

if you would like to discuss with a southwest representative you can reach out on Facebook or Twitter in a private message or you can call customer relations at 855-234-4654 or email them online by clicking on the contact us link on the bottom on the southwest homepage 

hope this helps

Blake 

[DancingDavidE]

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@Kk9185 wrote:

...After all was said and done, there was maybe 25 of us left to board after all the families. The website states that a perk of early bird check in is a better boarding position. We were practically last to get on the plane. The people on front of us were annoyed as well. I’m really unhappy we spent the money, especially since if we didn’t, our boarding position wouldn’t have been too different. We were unable to get seats together and sat separately in the last two rows. 

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There were only 25 people in the B-group, and you still didn't get seats together? In addition to the pre-boarders there must have been a lot of through passnegers for that to happen.

Sorry to hear your bad experience. Usually an early B number would be sufficient at least to sit together.

[chgoflyer]

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@DancingDavidE wrote:

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@Kk9185 wrote:

...After all was said and done, there was maybe 25 of us left to board after all the families. The website states that a perk of early bird check in is a better boarding position. We were practically last to get on the plane. The people on front of us were annoyed as well. I’m really unhappy we spent the money, especially since if we didn’t, our boarding position wouldn’t have been too different. We were unable to get seats together and sat separately in the last two rows. 

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There were only 25 people in the B-group, and you still didn't get seats together? In addition to the pre-boarders there must have been a lot of through passnegers for that to happen.

Sorry to hear your bad experience. Usually an early B number would be sufficient at least to sit together.

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I think what they are saying is that, after all the Families, they were among the last 25 people to board the plane. I've seen this happen. In some markets (MCO, for example) the Family Boarding group can be huge. I counted at least 40 people lined up for Family Boarding once (not sure how many were lap children vs had a paid seat, but still). Combined with a big Preboard group, and even without many thrus you're pushing way back everyone in the B (and C) group. Yes, "usually" an Early B number would be sufficient to sit together, but not when that early B effectively becomes a late B (or early C).

[lesp]

I share in your frustration.  I paid for early bird on a flight from St Louis to Nashville & checked in online exactly 24 hours in advance & was B17.  This is not what I expected or paid for.  Early bird should not be an unlimited offer, it has to be limited to be meaningful.  Also borderline unethical to sell an unlimited amount of early bird check ins on one flight.