A LOT of people are buying Early Bird Check In. More every year. It provides an enormous percentage of WN's profit, which you can read about in their 10-K. Plus A-Listers, people who buy BS/AT fares, etc.

I fly from MDW, usually on one of the cheaper flights of the day. have never had status (until recently they gave it to me for some reason) and never buy BS/AT. I try to check in on the dot of 24 hours. I generally get A50-B10. If I let it slide a few minutes somehow, I am B25 or so.

Still always get my preferred aisle, hundreds of times now. Even once when I was C11 after I changed flights at the airport. And I still had bin space.

Worse boarding often works in one's favor. You can be the first person on the plane, and the last pax might be a 300-pound smelly guy with shoulders like a linebacker, and if the last seat is next to you, congratulations!

I like my ~B1 boarding. If its a full flight, I look for an aisle where the window/middle are already a couple or parent/child. Love sitting next to 100-pound women.

People sweat this stuff way WAY too much.