Southwest Rapid Rewards - Check-In Boarding Number Gaps

My family flies about once a month and I have started to do see when I do online check-in that my group of anywhere from 3-6 are not being checkin in order. In the past I would get for example A-40, A-41, A-42, A-43.

Now for the last couple of times I am getting things like A-50, A-54, A-58, B-2. Most of the times its ok, but the few that follow line order squawk and say to one of my party to get back in line because they are in the wrong boarding group. Most of the time, its my two year old so they say they will let it "slide" this time. I would like to see the GA that makes a 2 year old wait for his position.

The groups are always on the same reservation PNR.

Have other people had this issue with their boarding passes?

With a 2 yo you should get family pre boarding after group A if your assigned greater than A

here is what WN says:
Do families get to preboard?
An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the "A" group has boarded and before the "B" group begins boarding. However, those Customers holding an "A" boarding pass should still board with the "A" boarding group.

Yes, we fly frequently and it happens to us as well. But, children are older, so it's not a problem.

... Now for the last couple of times I am getting things like A-50, A-54, A-58, B-2. Most of the times its ok, but the few that follow line order squawk and say to one of my party to get back in line because they are in the wrong boarding group... The groups are always on the same reservation PNR.

There's more than a 'few' folks squawking about you line jumpers. Hope the GAs toss your butts back into order. Same PNR has nothing to do with it. When you check in has everything to do with it.

If you wanted your family to all board together and early, you should have bought everyone a BS ticket.

There's more than a 'few' folks squawking about you line jumpers. Hope the GAs toss your butts back into order. Same PNR has nothing to do with it. When you check in has everything to do with it.

If you wanted your family to all board together and early, you should have bought everyone a BS ticket.

+1

.......
Now for the last couple of times I am getting things like A-50, A-54, A-58, B-2. Most of the times its ok, but the few that follow line order squawk and say to one of my party to get back in line because they are in the wrong boarding group. Most of the time, its my two year old so they say they will let it "slide" this time. I would like to see the GA that makes a 2 year old wait for his position.

.......

Have other people had this issue with their boarding passes?

[I cut a bit above]

"Most" follow the line order, not just a few. If you want to board together, board as a group with the last in your group. No one will "squawk."

As said before, if you have a 2YO, the worst you get is ~A60 with family boarding. Again, no one will squawk.

And, the reason they say you are in the wrong boarding group when you line up together is because you are in the wrong boarding position when you line up together.

The A45-B30 or so range is the area in which the line position becomes the most critical. Before A45, you are pretty much likely to get the type of seat you want. After B30 the odds have gone way down, particularly if there are family boarders. If you are in this range, be prepared that position protection is very important. Two or three people out of position can make a lot of difference.

And, most important, never, ever try to get in front of A16 unless you are BS.

Ktremor, there are some crusty replies here and while they are correct, there are methods that will satisfy everyone without having to resort to buying early bird for everyone.

1. Check in right at T-24. Using this method you will certainly get some gaps in the boarding order because lots of other people will be checking in at the exact same time. However, using this method you'll most likely all end up getting A boarding slots, although this isn't guaranteed.

2. Assuming you all having A boarding slots, you can line up in the group with the boarding pass with the highest number.

3. Using the example you gave above (but assuming next time you're all in the A group), having close gaps like that isn't really a problem. Even lining up in correct order, you're still in reality pretty much boarding together. At most you've got a few people between your family.

If all else fails, you can still board together after the A group. If at all possible, boarding in the A group is preferable because on flights, especially on Saturday and during holidays, with large amounts of large families, unlike the normal boarding queue, families will hang out by the gate and it's first-come, first-serve - they don't board in proper order. You might have A-59 and child B-1, but you might end up boarding 15th if there are a bunch of family boarders that decide to camp out an hour before the flight leaves.

Are there really people on here that would call out a guy taking his two year old on with him if there is a gap in boarding pass #s?

You could also puchase EB for $10 a person

This really is one of several things that Southwest should fix, but appears to have no interest in doing so -- the whole category of:

1) Issuing boarding numbers together -- when checking in a single PNR, I can't think of any "rules-based" reason that the numbers shouldn't be consecutive. Technical reasons (managing simultaneous accesses to the database etc) yes, but that's different.

2) Reissuing numbers -- if person A paid extra for EBCI, and got A55, and someone later cancels their flight, person B who checks in at T-5 hours shouldn't get A21. That just dilutes the value of EBCI and makes people not trust the whole system. Perhaps this also leads to the issue in #1, if there are random positions available in the queue.

3) Seat saving -- clarify the policy either way. Personally, I think saving a middle is acceptable, anything else not. Again, dilutes the whole boarding order if paying for 1 EBCI lets people grab 2 rows up front for their party of 12 (extreme example, yes).

4) Handling IROPs in some fair way; I don't know what that is, but bumping the family that carefully checked in so they could sit together to C45+ because of a flight cancellation doesn't seem to be it.

Clarifying/fixing these would go a long way to reducing the stress of all involved...