ehallison

My husband has A-list through the end of April from a challenge. I just booked a flight for him in May, planning to purchase EarlyBird checkin. But it wasn't an option during the ticket purchase process, I guess because the system sees his A-list status.

Just to make sure...he won't get A-list, right, because they'll process the boarding passes after his status has expired? Should I call in and see if they can add the Earlybird checkin? I don't want to wait until May 1 and have him be farther back in line.

willywilkes

You are correct that EB cannot be added while you actively have A-list even if the flight is after the expiration and they will not extend A-list benefits to those flights booked before expiration but that occur after - I am not positive if they can do it on the phone or not but always worth a call-in and then an update to the thread to let others know for future.

Just one question, the challenge he had, was that the one that was going around earlier this year to complete 3 RT paid flights before the end of April for A-list? If so, he likely only had to do the flights by the end of April, but A-list would extend through the end of 2017. Not sure if that is his case or not, but you may want to double check his A-list expiry date.

ehallison

Thanks for the reply. I will call in this morning & post an update.

He did a targeted challenge last year & received A-list for 6 months, I think. To extend it, he needs to earn the old-fashioned way, which he can't do by April 30 (earn all of 2017 activity by then). As an aside - he probably won't even earn it again as he's gone "free agent" this year, flying Alaska, American, United or Southwest depending on who has the best price/schedule. Imagine that!

ehallison

Here's the answer from a Southwest phone agent: It's not possible to add ECBI as long as the A-list status is active. She suggested for other flight bookings that we make before April 30 for travel after then, to leave the Rapid Rewards # off the booking and purchase the EBCI. Then just add the RR # to the reservation before travel.

Edit: And that was a fail. Despite not logging in or using the RR#, the system of course had enough identifying information to determine that my husband was not eligible for EBCI purchase.

lougord99

That is an IT fail which I don't think has been documented before.

joshua362

So check in at T-24 and if you don't like the number and it's a longer trip creating worry, do a BS gate upgrade for $20-40

wetrat0

If nobody touches the reservation the A-List status may stick on existing reservations. This is the reverse of the problem where one obtains A-List status but it does not reflect on existing reservations until an agent "refreshes" the reservation.

Coin Ops

I guess I'm going to find out if that happens at the end of May. I've got 4 upcoming flights booked and it looks like my A-List promo is going to expire at the April, 1 trip short of extension.

ryw

Based on my experience with A-List expiring Dec 31, this doesn't happen unless you're flying less than 36 hours after A-List expires. (Unsure if it applies when A-List expires mid-year, but my guess is it will).

In December, having A-List, I booked a flight for early morning Jan 2 and a flight in late January. I still had A-List on my Jan 2 boarding pass! Which I guess is because it was still December when the system did the automatic checkin for A-List pax at T-36, and I was still considered to have A-List. The boarding pass for my flight in late January did not have A-List attached to it.