Southwest Gurus: I need your advice re: EarlyBoard Check-in vs. Upgraded Boarding.
 

Full disclosure: I've done a forum search and am thoroughly confused by all the threads regarding EarlyBoard Check-in vs. Upgraded Boarding.

I'm a novice at the Southwest game, having only flown them twice before, but I would appreciate any advice you can offer and mods, if this can be merged into an appropriate thread, I would appreciate it.

I'm traveling OAK-MSY-OAK in August on their nonstop flights for work, ticketed by a client today, Thursday outbound/Thursday return (8/17-8/24).

1. Does anyone have experience w/this route and if EBCI will give me a decent shot at a forward or exit row seat?

2. If I purchase EBCI, but it's not A group and I can purchase Upgraded Boarding at the airport, the original EBCI charge will not be refunded?

3. Given a yes to #2 , should I just wait and buy UB at the airport on the day of departure, or is this available at the t-24 check-in window online?

I apologize in advance for what are probably stupid questions, but I seriously have no idea what would be the smartest move here.

Thanks for your advice!

EBCI checks you in 36 hours before flight time, rather than you doing it at 24. You are checked in after the A-List + and A-List flyers in order of EBCI purchase. You could end up in A-20 or B-31 or C-25 or anywhere in between, depending on how many A-Lister and EBCI were sold. No guarantee.

The upgraded boarding is sold dependent on how many spaces between 1 -15 are remaining. No refunds of EBCI - ever.
Also no way to tell how many passengers are continuing from the previous flight. If a lot, your boarding position doesn't matter.

In your situation, I would check in at T-24 on the dot, then get to the airport 2 hours early. Ask the GA how many continuing passengers are on the flight. Decide if worth it to pay for A 1- 15.

1. Your trip is two months away; your EBCI check-in position is going to be based on your purchase date so you will be ahead of everyone else who purchased after you (but after A list as mentioned above). You quite likely will have a pretty low BP, maybe less than A-20. Maybe A-20-25. Is it enough for an exit row? Maybe, maybe not. There might be six BS passengers who snag the exit row seats. There may be some thrus who want them. How important is it that you get those particular seats?

2. They will not refund EBCI if you later purchase upgraded boarding. And frankly, your EBCI position is likely to be quite good (see above), so you'll see little need to purchase upgraded boarding (IE, I can't see you getting a B considering how far in advance you bought tickets).

3. You can not buy upgraded boarding at T-24.

You're worrying about something of little consequence. You bought EBCI on tickets purchased two months in advance. You'll have a great boarding number. If missing the exit row seat is a deal breaker, this just might not be the airline for you.

Thought: did they purchase a WGA fare, the least expensive and non-refundable fare, or an Anytime fare since that one is refundable?

If they got the Anytime fare, you can check the price to upgrade to Business Select. Likely not much. Then you simply check in around T-24.
​​​​​​​I've had A1 when doing that.

Thanks to all for the great advice, I appreciate it very much.

The only reason I even care in this instance is the length of the flight. I really don't want to be stuck in a middle for a 4+hr flight, and missing the exit row isn't a deal breaker, so it sounds like EBCI will have a high chance of accomplishing what I'm looking for.

If you just want to stay out of the middle seats, you stand a pretty good chance of doing that just by checking in at T-24. Obviously, EBCI will increase your chances. How important is saving $30? I wouldn't buy EBCI in this case, but YMMV.

A flight originating from OAK is likely not to have too many thrus, perhaps a handful if originating from SEA or PDX. T-24 should get you want you ($0) want or upgrade to BS at check in $20-30 (if AT) then finally buy a gate upgrade if not $30-40, the latter two if exit or bulkhead row is important.

That would be my strategy as I've lost my long held AL+ this year.

That boarding position estimate seems pretty optimistic. I am A-List and usually get something like A-2 A-27. I understand some routes that have a lot of people flying regularly it can be a lot higher.

That's why I said "maybe". But its more likely to be an A of some kind rather than C-25 which was mentioned earlier in the thread. Who knows, there could be a school trip of 100 kids who all bought EBCI and they bought theirs the day ahead of the OP and thus the OP gets C-25. But probably not.

This is why I love Flyertalk, such great info.!

I'd obviously prefer Exit/Bulkhead, but a forward aisle is absolutely fine by me. I'm not terribly worried about thrus and $15 is the cost of a cocktail in this town, so the price seems fair for EBCI and should help me achieve my goals.

Thanks again for the advice, it's all very helpful.

ps: if there is a school group of 100 kids, It'll be a horrible flight regardless of where I'm sitting. ;)

I just flew MSY-MDW on a last-minute change. Had C14. Only a couple people boarded after me. STILL got an aisle.

IMO people go nuts over this stuff for nothing. As a result, WN pulls in hundreds of millions in extra revenue.

I have never bought ECBI, BS, AT, or the upgraded "BS at the gate." I have never had any status. I have never once failed to get an aisle. I have had the "infinite leg room" seat several times with a mid-B boarding position. Also sometimes bulkhead or other exit row.

If you want the exit row i highly recommend you pay the 40.00 at the ticket counter. if you dont care then the standard Early Boarging will be fine.

NOTE: If you want to pay the 40.00 upgrade then I would walk up to the ticket counter (any ticket counter) after security and ask to be upgraded. you can do this more than 1 hour before the flight in my experience. Then ask politely as possible ask the AGent: "How many "pass-throughs" will be on the plane. Based upon that number you need to make a judgement call if any of them may attempt to jump to the Exit Row. The more pass-throughs the more risk of the exit row being taken.

Thats one thing that bothers me on a long flight. i pay the 550.00 to LAX Business Select and the short flight from Cleveland that has 10 pass throughs has them taking the exit row. SW should stop that.

Good luck

No, they shouldn't. The last thing WN FAs should be doing is arbitrating this stuff. There are already too many disputes over their ridiculous policy/non-policy on seat-saving.

And what happens if there are too many BS passengers to whom to allocate the exit row seats?

If you want a guaranteed/almost guaranteed exit row seat, fly another airline.

How do you know they didn't buy BS tickets? If you want a specific seat, fly another airline.

I'll go against the grain here: don't buy EBCI or a gate upgrade. Just check-in at T-24.

EBCI is definitely *not* getting you exit row. A gate upgrade probably won't either. A T-24 check-in *will* keep you out of the middle seat, very likely an aisle seat.

The only upgrading I'd do is if your ticket is currently AT. In that case, I would upgrade to BS. The points and drink are worth it - and then you could check-in at T-24 and have a greater probability, if there are no thrus, of an exit row seat.