Viasa

That's my point. And some schmuck on a $35 DING! fare is across from you in line with BP # A-25. Not sure it's worth the $10 in extra revenue to upset a Monday morning commuter.

nsx

Brian, Brian, Brian. After all this time together, I thought you understood us...

irabk

Hey, this shmuck with the $35 DING fare used to get A18 at T-24. And now, if I spend $45, I can be in front of you with A-17.

SWSNA

The thing about the $10 fee is that you don't know what you are getting:

The parameters that determine the value of EBCI (for me, in order) are as follows:

1) Load. Anything less than about 100 makes it almost valueless to me.
2) Length of the flight. 90 minutes or less, I'll sit between two COS. BWI-LAS requires two supermodels, or I'm unhappy.
3) My travel partners (less important solo, more important with the kids)
4) Number of BPs available at T-24 (minus A-list, other EBCIs, BS pax, and throughs). In other words, what BP will I get if I don't do EBCI? Anything better than B-30 and I'm probably not buying.
5) My ability to check-in at/near T-24 (almost always excellent, unless I'm stuck on a conference call on my blackberry and without my PC).

If I'm on a full, XC flight with the kids, and the BP allocation will hit 80 before T-24, and I'm not 100% sure I'll be available at T-24, I'm buying EBCI. I might even pay $50.

Of course, I know #2, 3, and 5 in advance. I don't think WN will ever make #1 available (for business and security reasons), but could they make #4 available? In other words, if I could get an email when the BP count exceeds x (and I can specify x), that might tempt me to buy.

nsx

The guy I know who flies 2 RTs per week gets A16 every single time. I fly one RT per week and I've gotten as high as A21 on commuter-laden flights.

OzzyOzzie

Hmmm, I wonder if I could make the $10 back by offering someone in the C group a saved seat for $10 (payable only if I can save it).

Already paying a little over $400 R/T to LAS later this month. I don't feel like shelling out another $20 Hopefully they'll be other cheapskates like me so I don't get some high BP

nsx

Here's one for SWAVictor's suggestion box:

Modify the software to actually check the person in before accepting the fee. Show the BP number to the customer on the purchase screen. If the user does not purchase within 2 minutes, kill the session and delete the BP. (I imagine timed deletion is going to be the hard part.) With this modification, I imagine that Southwest could charge a few more $ for EBCI and maintain customer satisfaction.

As to the other unknowns, there's nothing to do about them. Load factors can change due to cancellation of other flights or weather, so Southwest would be unwise to show you that information.

gmax58

When I saw this one, I have to say I was pretty upset, and yes - it is a fee, just like any seat selection (Choice Seats) fee is a fee. Granted, I'm not going to have to deal with the fees until April (when A-list expires for me), but it both ruins my place in seating and makes the boarding process even more obnoxious for people like my parents who just want to enjoy a pleasant trip, because there's even more of a chance that they'll be separated because of EarlyBird.

nsx

OLCI will be getting a little more competitive. As SWASNA pointed out, the real BP cutoff is around B30. Better than B30 and you will likely get an aisle or window on an originating flight (with no through passengers on board). Worse than B30 and you're likely to get a middle seat, and not the one between the two attractive ladies.

I can foresee a time soon when you will need to complete OLCI within a very few minutes after T-24 in order to beat B30 on a long-haul flight. If you have a party of 3 or 4 on separate PNRs, this is going to be stressful. Those customers will likely pay the extra $10.

I'm glad Southwest didn't make the charge $9.95. That would have insulted our intelligence. In the days before PFCs and fees, airline fares were always integer dollar amounts. One of these days an airline will charge an $xx.95 fee. I just hope it isn't Southwest.

Beckles

This is not really possible because they can't know for sure how many A-List passengers are on the flight in advance, unless you're suggesting they allow these folks to get boarding passes ahead of A-List (which I'm sure you're not).

Beckles

GoGo internet access on DL is in $x.95 in my experience.

HPN-HRL

I suspect that we will see lots of system-gaming of this type.

Here's my question: What about those of us who book award travel for non-published itineraries? Here's an example from my past:

ISP-BWI to BWI-HOU to HOU-HRL on a one-way award

On one trip in the past, I could only get the BP for the first leg at T-24. I was able to check in for the second (BWI-HOU) leg at a gate in ISP, and for the HOU-HRL leg as soon as I got off the plane in BWI. Needless to say, my boarding numbers for the last two legs were a bit higher than I wanted. Paying $10 to get all three BPs at T-24 would be worthwhile for me in these circumstances.

SWABrian, could you check on this? You were a great comfort two years ago explaining what was happening behind the scenes when I went through this, but back then you said that being able to get all three BPs on a one-way award was pretty far down the list of IT projects.

Thanks!

SWSNA

I think what nsx is saying is to allow you to checkin at any point starting at T-36. Between T-36 and T-24, you'll be shown your BP, and you can decide whether to keep it (and pay), or drop it. At T-24, the BPs are free, and there's no reason to drop it.

This would make a fun game - "check in" every hour starting at T-36, and decide to pay once it looks scary enough. WN could even make this some kind of auction, where the EBCI is $10 before T-36, and then the price starts going up, until T-24 when it drops to zero. That would provide an incentive for more to buy EBCI. For example, on LAS-MCO:

T-36: $10, BP A-32, not buying
T-30, $12, BP A-44, not buying
T-28, $15, BP B-2, I'm getting nervous, but still not buying
T-26, $17 BP B-10, less nervous, not buying
T-24, $0, BP B-17, glad I decided to wait - I will still get an aisle seat

I'm not an IT guy, but when you buy an event ticket online (say to a ballgame), you have a few minutes to purchase before it goes back in the pool.

nsx

Oops. Never mind.

kerflumexed

Ok, so pay for Apres-A is here. I just signed up for our business trip to LAS next week. I have lost A-List and this just makes common sense for me on flights that are usually full and not short stage lengths. As for cannibalizing the BS fares, GK has stated that there are no BS customers and the first quarter next year looks bleak. So this is a good move and simplifies my life. I did not try to AA Mrs. K flying on the CP. I will save a seat. I am not a rocket-surgeon and simple enhancements like this work for me.