Southwest Newbie
 

I appreciate your patience as I have never flown a flight on Southwest. However, I need a roundtrip from PHX to BUF and Southwest is only option for this.

A few questions, is there anyway I can pay to be in the A boarding group? Obviously I have no status but do not mind paying as I would fly first class on AA with a connection as an alternative.

I just do not understand the boarding process, the tier levels, buying business select etc.

Any help would be great

The only way to ensure you will be A boarding in advance is to pay for Business Select. However, you can almost always pay $40 dollars at the gate to get BS boarding number.

I hope you realize that there are no "1st class" seats. The only thing that A boarding gets you is earlier boarding and a selection of whichever coach seats you want that have not previously been sat in. Southwest is open seating. The next person on the plane takes the next seat that they want.

Plus if you are making a connection and your incoming plane is even a few minutes late, your paid for "A" boarding pass may be completely useless. Would happen to me constantly.

I do understand the lack of first class and how it works once i actually get on the plane. I would be trading off First Class to avoid the connection with AA which drives us the overall travel time by over 4 hours.
I am totally happy to pay to be in the A group. I am assuming this would all but guarantee an aisle seat (is that correct)

Yes

How does money on the credit card spend work? Is the best deal still the 1,500 tier points per 10k spend? What is the fastest route to Companion pass

For 1 RT, it is not really worth investing on a program.

May be doing it monthly. May do some short runs out of PHX to round it up if needed. All other long haul would stay on AA or UA

You have to do LOTS of trips to get to Companion Pass.

Review the requirements and do the math.

There are two main ways people get CP. Get 2 cards in Oct/Dec each year and spend to get the bonuses.

Or, fly lots.

As to original queston.

You can do early board to get a better number. Or, you can pay around $40 for EACH segment at the gate for A1-a15.

NOTE - you will always get a seat, there are no first class, and everyone gets there at the same time.

24 rows on a 700 which makes 48 aisles. 60 in the A boarding group. Possible, but not likely, that an aisle is unavailable. On an 800, 60 aisles.

I can make it work if needed. I fly over 100,000 miles per year right now without this potentially regular RT from PHX to BUF

Just throwing this out there - the CP is a great, shiny carrot. I used to put up those kind of numbers annually and earned the CP at least 15 years in a row the hard way. The most I ever used it was 4 times, with 4 different people (once), many years 0 or 1 time. The last thing I wanted to do on a weekend was climb on yet another plane. Plus I was flush with points to give away as needed. Just something to consider.

Earning 100K points is very different from flying 100K. AFAICT - many CP are either gifted or by credit card.

If you would like CP just for 1 RT, then review the relevant thread.

Even just booking Wanna Get Away and paying for Early Bird will assure you good seating. I've never missed aisle (ever) with Early Bird purchased (it is now dynamic pricing, but it is only usually an extra $20-30 one way).