Originally Posted by
Q54701
1K, I booked award travel for family members on a flight I was not on. As expected they had to pay baggage fees, and could not book E+ seats without a additional fee. But I was surprised to learn they were boarding group 1. FWIW, I checked them in...
I've seen this too, but I don't think it's linked to your checking them in. I traveled with someone on an award ticket last week. Her ticket was booked using miles from a premier gold's account. Both her outbound and return boarding passes had group 2. (I did check her in, so if that were related, I'd expect her to be group 1, since I'm 1K).
She also didn't have to pay baggage fees on her outbound flight but did on the return since the first segment was with Hawaiian (so even I had to pay checked bag fees).
And she kept the E+ seats that were assigned pre 4/15.