Buzzardgut

Hi all
what are the criteria used to determine BS boarding order? I have A+,CP and ordered the ticket over a week ago. I was checked in to A-2. Not a problem at all but what did the A-1 have that I didn’t? More flights? Longer tenure of A list? Paid more for the BS ticket? Is there a list somewhere that shows the decision tree?

steved5480

1. Secret SWA Voodoo known by very few but guessed-at by millions on FT. As we know, their IT systems are generally crap but their revenue-related/yield management systems work well. Remember the CEO was formerly the Chief Bean Counter. Organizationally they definitely have their priorities straight. Shareholder ROI. Everything else is down the list. As it should be

2. Number 1 likely has more paid (cash) flights (and/or aggregate amount paid) in recent months.

3. B.S. ticket cost (generally) does not change from when the flight opened for sale, so (generally) #1 didn't pay more.
He/she could have purchased earlier *and* (or) historically be a Big Spender in Southwest's "eyes".

4. No pecking-order list (at least not publicly accessible).

LegalTender

The boarding order algorithm is unfathomable. Beating A16 is your contracted entitlement. There would be no end to the resentment and legal exposure a "decision tree" would cause. You don't get to cut the cards. Other airlines create an upgrade list (allegedly) ordered by fare, elite status, partner card membership and date/time of upgrade request. But the tie-breakers, exclusions and fine print are purposely evasive.

NoStressHere

i have NO IDEA, but I would guess purchase date broke the tie.

dmbolp

And doubt having CP has anything to do with it

Peoriaman1

I would say this is almost certainly 100% likely to be what has happened.

People here on the forum talk of buying their tickets on the day they extend the dates. Maybe that's when A-1 bought his?

djp98374

they slept with an executive....


options
1 originating flight time ...generally if you have an earlier hoarding time because of being in a connecting flight vs you being just innthat leg
2 there coukd be a sub cstegory sort option like money spent in a period or corporate account where southwest is exclusive carrier

GregMGB

I'm doubtful that purchase date is a deciding factor. I realize that this is anecdotal, but I purchased an itinerary last Friday for travel Monday LAX-DAL-SAT and returning Wednesday SAT-LAX, and I was auto checked-in at A1 on all three legs. I suspect that some sort of calculation of aggregate spend is a deciding factor, as I travel somewhat frequently, and mostly on BS fares.

I suspect that the same is true for non-BS assignments (A16+). Again, this is anecdotal, but when I was travelling more frequently, almost always on BS fares, I would almost always get A16 when travelling on points itineraries, My paid travel tapered off and I started to get slightly higher assignments on my points itineraries (A18-A20), even those booked many months in advance, but now as my paid travel has increased again, I'm back to getting lower assignments, including auto check-in for BS flights.

Peoriaman1

When you said slightly, you weren't kidding!

EzPete

This is really close to it. I brought this up in another thread, as I spent a couple of years doing an almost-weekly commute on WN with the same group of travelers and we were able to start manipulating the boarding positions of 3 of the group that all were AA fliers before this and essentially started from scratch.

It's a combination of recency, total spend, frequency of all travel and lifetime spend. As long as you book outside the 36 hour window, booking anything less than BS inside that will not affect that flight. Booking well in advance actually de-optimizes your results, as those are usually lower fares.

ETA: There can be some funky things with last minute changes and slots that cancelled.

joshua362

While this is logically a way to "reward" your best customers, I can't imagine this amount of thought and more importantly, programming effort was/is spent on calculating and updating these totals in real time then, comparing it to others in the queue All to split the hairs between who is first, second, third, etc to board the plane? And not promote it as a perk, e.g. "the more you spend, the more we reward you?"

IT couldn't get flight status notifications to work reliably and eventually gave up

They'll sell you a $600 BS fare, give you A01, 2,3, etc and you can be stuck in the middle seat coast to coast because your incoming flight is a few minutes late. Splitting the atom to get you the "fairest" boarding number you earned doesn't seem like the highest properly to me.

ryw

I feel like spend might have something to do with it. I get A list on flight segments, not points, so my spend tends to be relatively low (and I only hit about 25-27 paid flights per year). Anecdotally I usually start the year getting something in the A25-A35 range, as the year goes on and more people qualify, my numbers tend to be in the A35-A55 range. Anything lower than A30 usually means that it's a relatively light flight load.

(Did we ever have a thread for people to report their BS and A list boarding numbers? Might be fun to try to collect some of this data).

dmbolp

Yeah, I get AL+ thru work spend, not segments, and always get A16 - A18...maybe an occasional 19-21

EzPete

Spend is without a doubt a factor, and CC spend seems to have almost no impact.

isaac.chambers

There is no auto check in for BS fares even if you are A list preferred/cp holder.

You are urged to check in right at 24 hours. I’ve forgotten to check in and get A8(behind non status people) Then when I check in right at 24 hours I get A1. (Of course there are exceptions for through / connecting pax who can check in earlier than you on the segment).

Status helps only on anytime /WGA boardings orders.