Here is an interesting, but risky, trick... (Credit to Orbitz's FlyerGuide.com FAQ*, and credit to curbcrusher for the referral!) ^
* From:
http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...self_%28SWA%29
"I already have a B or C boarding pass. Is there any way to get an A?
"Each boarding pass shows your check-in sequence number, up to 137 (the number of seats on all but the oldest Southwest airplanes) in addition to the letter. If someone is removed from the flight (e.g., catches an earlier flight), their sequence number is put back in the pool. If you happen to check in immediately afterwards, you may draw an "A" or "B" even though the person ahead of you got a "C".
"On routes where there are many flights (probably won't work for you on MCI-DAL), there is a trick to "upgrade" to an A. Starting around 15-20 minutes before a flight before yours on the same route is scheduled to take off (although really you can try it anytime, but it seems like the largest % chance of movement is right before an earlier flight takes off), open up two browsers and in one cancel your boarding pass and in the other re-check-in.
If it is a route where there are often many Y tickets purchased, there is a good chance that a handful of people will standby/change to an earlier flight and thereby opening up their (possible) A boarding pass for you to snag.
"There is a slight risk that someone else could come in and snag your B or C during the seconds that you cancel and re-check-in. But that has never happened to me and I've upgraded to an A on 2 of the 4 times I've been stuck with a B or C.
"Don't try this once you get to an hour before your flight, as you won't be able to re-check-in on-line anymore. You can, however, go to a gate agent and have your boarding pass cancelled and re-issued, possibly snagging an A."
Thank you again, curbcrusher.
