Southwest Rapid Rewards - Boarding Pass Distribution

I have found myself in the "C" line several times and have read some of the discussions on this site about WN policies. Today I had a WN phone rep. say the passes are distributed on a random basis, not first-come, first-served. Has anyone heard that before? That doesn't seem to be the case, especially when doing a connection flight.

I don't know if WN would consider this, but instead of rewarding the first persons in line with the "A" passes, how about the earlier you schedule the better the pass. Each flight would rank the passengers in date/time order of the resevations. The final ranking would be locked when they open the flight for checkin. That way you wouldn't be penalized for getting caught in security, traffic or a tight connecting flight. If someone doesn't show, the standby's automatically get a "C". Thoughts and comments welcome.

I do not believe the passes are distributed random.

As each BP is issued, it is numbered to assist the agents in the head count. It has been my experience 1-50 are "A", 51-100 are "B" and the remainder are "C".

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gejone:
...say the passes are distributed on a random basis...</font>

Ain't no way! First of all the numbering system. Second, everytime I travel in a group, the passes come out sequentially and all the same letter. We'd have to be pretty lucky if this is random. (Of course, we are lucky, we're on WN! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif )

Ever since the old plastic passes were done away with, there have been threads here suggesting changes. I like your idea, gejone. But then I book early and often. How would those late booking, but full fare pax, feel about this program? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif



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"I was once dissappointed that I didn't get an upgrade, then I saw a homeless man without shoes. Somehow, the upgrade didn't seem all that important."

The boarding pass distribution certainly is not random. It's just like Nevada1K said: 1-50 A and so on. I think the system WN has in place now is pretty good. With open seating, I think the principle should be that first-come, first-served means exactly that: you want a certain seat? Well, make sure you get there early enough to get it. I equate it to floor tickets at a concert.

I'm really happy that WN has also made it easier for connecting flights now: instead of having to stand in line and wait for the desk to open one-hour before the flight, you get the same boarding group for your second flight that you had on your first flight. That was the only thing I thought was a glitch in the system.

Rewarding boarding groups randomly would only upset people, as, I think, would doing so based on reservation date. After all, paying full fare, some could argue, might entitle you to better treatment (A group?) since you're forking over more money to WN.

On a nostalgic note: I did see the old, plastic boarding passes make a reappearance at HOU a couple weeks ago. They distributed them to people who had arrived on an inbound flight, but the plane was so early, they had everybody get off. Everyone who de-planed received one of the old magenta plastic ones. Ah, memories ...

Hi...
Again, boarding cards are numbered and assigned first come first served. The first 45 to show up at the airport are the A group. The next 45 are the B group and the rest are the C group. Your plan for assigning boarding cards to the people who book early will never work. People book and pay for reservations all the time and never show up. Take Jack Smith for instance. He booked early and is assigned an A. Jack doesn't show up. Jack never cancels his reservation choosing to simply let the money ride and use it within a year. Now it's 20 mins before departure time and Jack hasn't arrived. He was assigned boarding card #2. Should agents delete his reservation to free up #2 card for a standby customer? What if Jack shows up at 15 mins prior? Now Jack gets #102 and is upset because he thought he had #2 or other customers are upset because the standby gets to board before them. I see your point though. It would be great to book early and get an early boarding card, but there are so many people that are no shows. I just don't see it working without a huge overhaul of the system.

I could see assigning the boarding passes on a basis of when you made your reservations if all the seats cost the same amount. When you book early you are "rewarded" by getting a break on the full fare, however those of us who have to travel with short notice(several hours) do not have that chance to get the lower fare. The "reward" for those with last moment travel is the ability to control when you get to the airport and what group you get to board with.

I pay full fare for my seat and you may pay less and we all get the same oppertunity to get the "A" boarding group.

Seems fair to me.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gutt22:

I'm really happy that WN has also made it easier for connecting flights now: instead of having to stand in line and wait for the desk to open one-hour before the flight, you get the same boarding group for your second flight that you had on your first flight.
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This is not the case. It is first come first serve in the transfer city as well. In the VERY near future you will get you transfer boarding card at the same time you get your boarding card in the originating city.