And no, we were not, are not A List.
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We had four segments, two outbound, two return.
We did upgrade to business select on the outbound AFTER we got the 15 boarding position difference (paid $80 more for that). On the return, we did not, still had Anytime tickets and had a 9 position difference.
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07-06-2022
07:29 AM
07-06-2022
07:29 AM
@636895291 wrote:
In this case, both pax were on Anytime fares, with the new automatic Early Bird benefit.
The advertising implies you get checked in together for Early Bird, a benefit of buying the more expensive Anytime fare. It implies "preferred" check-in as the fare is so much more expensive.
No idea what an algorithm might differentiate, but we have always traveled together, in like manner on SWA. Similar profiles.
I think this is technology glitch.
@636895291 wrote:
In this case, both pax were on Anytime fares, with the new automatic Early Bird benefit.
The advertising implies you get checked in together for Early Bird, a benefit of buying the more expensive Anytime fare. It implies "preferred" check-in as the fare is so much more expensive.
No idea what an algorithm might differentiate, but we have always traveled together, in like manner on SWA. Similar profiles.
I think this is technology glitch.
From the SWA website:
Yes. Customers who have purchased Anytime fares receive priority over Customers who purchase EarlyBird Check-In with Wanna Get Away Plus and Wanna Get Away fares. Customers who purchase EarlyBird Check-In with Wanna Get Away Plus receive priority over Customers who purchase EarlyBird Check-In with Wanna Get Away fares. Boarding positions are assigned based on the time stamp of the EarlyBird Check-In purchase relative to Passengers within the same fare product.
How could two Anytime passengers, in the same reservation, checked in preferentially, at the same time, be 15(!) boarding positions apart?
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07-06-2022
07:21 AM
07-06-2022
07:21 AM
In this case, both pax were on Anytime fares, with the new automatic Early Bird benefit.
The advertising implies you get checked in together for Early Bird, a benefit of buying the more expensive Anytime fare. It implies "preferred" check-in as the fare is so much more expensive.
No idea what an algorithm might differentiate, but we have always traveled together, in like manner on SWA. Similar profiles.
I think this is technology glitch.
... View more
I recently purchased an Anytime Fare, which recently added automatic Early Bird check-in for the reservation included in the price.
I was surprised in two ways:
1) Even though there are only two (2) people in the reservation, we were not checked in sequentially. We were fifteen (15) (!) boarding positions apart on one segment.
And this even though both were checked in at the same automatically.
This also means you are not able to check-in in line together using the SWA app, which we thought was now a preferred method.
2) The SWA agent we called on the phone took a long time researching this and said this was NOT supposed to happen, you should be checked in together and preserve your boarding order as per the reservation. Specifically, this is a BENEFIT now of buying the more-expensive Anytime fare.
When the same thing happened again, we followed up by email and writing and were told we are not guaranteed an "A" boarding position (which we had not asked about), and that
you could be out-of-sequence, even by a lot of positions.
What's strange is that in the few times I have used Early Bird with a Wanna Getaway fare,
I've always gotten sequential or maybe got 3 or 4 positions maximum apart.
This is merely a technology issue that ought be corrected, anyone buying Early Bird checked in automatically together ought get sequential boarding positions.
The technology is there to fix this.
Without it, the value of Early Bird is diminished, but ESPECIALLY the benefit of buying the Anytime ticket.
From the traveler's perspective, it's better to be farther back together in boarding position rather than one farther forward, the other way back, fighting for a seat near the others in the reservation.
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