Southwest App Auto Checkin/ Boarding position

[bec102896]

@goodsker

I got the notifications this past Monday telling me to check in and boarding position as well as the now boarding message and flight delayed message the next day so not sure why you aren't getting the notifications. 

[goodsker]

did you get the email reminder too?  I'm not getting any of them

[garcianc]

I don't know if you have done this but, do NOT EVER pay to upgrade to Business Select after you have checked in!

I can't stress that enough.

I have been flying Southwest almost exclusively (the other airline was Airtran) for more than 10 years. During one of my trips, a few years ago, I booked my flight at the last minute due to a change of plans and I received a boarding position at the end of the C group. I decided to pay at the gate for an upgrade to Business Select. BIG MISTAKE.

Ever since then, I get C group every single time (one time I got C62 and took a picture of my boarding pass - the line oly goes up to C60). I am flying tomorrow and, when I checked in this morning I got C25. My theory is that I have been flagged as someone who would pay to upgrade and the C group assigment is arbitrary. How do I know this? I was in a Southwest flight from Birmingham to Washington where I was the only person standing in the C line and that is when the light bulb came on.

What I do now is that I book refundable fares when I book Southwest and cancel my reservation for a full refund when I get such a bad position after checking in online. Then I book with somebody else. I did that last month on my cross-country trip to Seattle. I couldn't find another flight for tomorrow, so that doesn't always work (though I will be cancelling my return flight), but I am sure that it is just as inconvenient to Southwest to get a last-minute cancellation.

[chgoflyer]

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@garcianc wrote:

I don't know if you have done this but, do NOT EVER pay to upgrade to Business Select after you have checked in!

I can't stress that enough.

I have been flying Southwest almost exclusively (the other airline was Airtran) for more than 10 years. During one of my trips, a few years ago, I booked my flight at the last minute due to a change of plans and I received a boarding position at the end of the C group. I decided to pay at the gate for an upgrade to Business Select. BIG MISTAKE.

Ever since then, I get C group every single time (one time I got C62 and took a picture of my boarding pass - the line oly goes up to C60). I am flying tomorrow and, when I checked in this morning I got C25. My theory is that I have been flagged as someone who would pay to upgrade and the C group assigment is arbitrary. How do I know this? I was in a Southwest flight from Birmingham to Washington where I was the only person standing in the C line and that is when the light bulb came on.

What I do now is that I book refundable fares when I book Southwest and cancel my reservation for a full refund when I get such a bad position after checking in online. Then I book with somebody else. I did that last month on my cross-country trip to Seattle. I couldn't find another flight for tomorrow, so that doesn't always work (though I will be cancelling my return flight), but I am sure that it is just as inconvenient to Southwest to get a last-minute cancellation.

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Check your other post on this topic -- I've detailed some info there.

Again, boarding order is assigned based on when you've checked in, beginning at 24 hours prior to departure.

There's no "flagging" on your account, and previously purchasing an upgrade doesn't have any effect on boarding order.

For your flight tomorrow, when did you check in, relative to your departure time?

[dfwskier]

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@garcianc wrote:

I don't know if you have done this but, do NOT EVER pay to upgrade to Business Select after you have checked in!

I can't stress that enough.

I have been flying Southwest almost exclusively (the other airline was Airtran) for more than 10 years. During one of my trips, a few years ago, I booked my flight at the last minute due to a change of plans and I received a boarding position at the end of the C group. I decided to pay at the gate for an upgrade to Business Select. BIG MISTAKE.

Ever since then, I get C group every single time (one time I got C62 and took a picture of my boarding pass - the line oly goes up to C60). I am flying tomorrow and, when I checked in this morning I got C25. My theory is that I have been flagged as someone who would pay to upgrade and the C group assigment is arbitrary. How do I know this? I was in a Southwest flight from Birmingham to Washington where I was the only person standing in the C line and that is when the light bulb came on.

What I do now is that I book refundable fares when I book Southwest and cancel my reservation for a full refund when I get such a bad position after checking in online. Then I book with somebody else. I did that last month on my cross-country trip to Seattle. I couldn't find another flight for tomorrow, so that doesn't always work (though I will be cancelling my return flight), but I am sure that it is just as inconvenient to Southwest to get a last-minute cancellation.

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I would think that someone that has flown SW for as long as you have would know that your boarding position is  based on when you check in (Business Select, A-list and EBCI get seats before that). If you check yourself in late, you're more likely to get  poorer boarding position. The more you delay after  24 hours pre flight time the worse the position.

There is no attempt to coerce you into buying a better seatboarding spot..

It's pretty much as chgoflyer said in response to both of your posts.