isles1

That would be a pretty random intervening force, no? Would WN CS deny a refund of $10 if you could document such an occurence? I have no idea. The FAQs state that the fee is not refundable, so I'd make your purchase with the understanding you may lose your spot in line if you are singled out for a TSA gate search

nsx

You feel grateful not to have missed the flight entirely, that's what. In the long run, it doesn't pay to be too early every time in order to eliminate the rare occasion when you'll be running very late for whatever reason.

nsx

This is why I'm willing to pay a 1% fee to esnipe to bid for me on ebay at the close of the auction. No stress, no bother.

frogman

From SW Website:
"EarlyBird Check-in is an automatic benefit of being on the Rapid Rewards A-List"

So does EB get you early check-in sorted by purchase date mixed in with the real A-Listers.......or does the system check in the A-Listers first and then the EarlyBirds.

Most of the discussion here seems to indicate A-Listers are prioritied......however the language above makes it sounds like EB is a way of buying A-list one flight at a time.

lewisc

From the FAQ (soutwest.com)
I don't think customers who paid an extra $10 will be happy with a B BP with a high sequence number.

I had (wrongly) assumed WN would be limiting the number of EB.

Train

Good question.

And what if it's a "Paid $10 For-A Boarding" person who gets pulled out of the A line for a gate search and the rest of his/her fee-free group has now lost their No. 1 Seat Saver? Looks like nothing's for sure even with a paid EB.

I haven't flown on WN for about 18 months. Do line cheaters still get special boarding passes and not have to disclose why they have special needs but must board early? Will the $10 EB create more line cheating?

I can think of several more scenarios, but maybe that's for another thread.

buffedlonghornfan

OK, so say I purchase EBCI and at T-36 it assigns me a BP group and #. Where do I go online to view what BP I rec'd? Does it show under the itinerary on-line?

nsx

Here's what I just wrote at blogsouthwest.com:

To those who believe that Southwest should just raise fares by $5, rather than offering automatic check-in for $10, let's look at this from the standpoint of customer value.

A $5 price increase costs everyone the same amount of money and does not change the perceived value of the product. Sales will decrease a little bit according to the rule of supply and demand.

Some customers find online check-in easy and convenient. Perhaps they work at a computer or have a mobile device, so that they are rarely away from the computer at the 24-hour mark. Some customers don't really care what seat they get, especially for short flights. The $10 optional fee (yes, I'm not afraid to use the F-word here) allows customers in these categories to keep paying the same price, whereas the $5 price increase would cost them $5.

Some customers are picky about the seat they get and competitive about getting a low boarding pass number. These people will be happy to pay the $10 fee, because it delivers more than $10 of value to them.

The customers who value the feature pay for it without burdening the customers who don't. That's efficient pricing, delivering more value per dollar on average to customers with diverse preferences. Southwest began as "one size fits all", but it need not remain that way.

The preceding logic applies somewhat to baggage fees, but the analogy is not precise. Checked baggage is more a necessity than a preference. Everyone I know already prefers to avoid checking bags if at all possible. It takes extra time and effort to check the bag and to retrieve it. Therefore a baggage fee would merely add a financial penalty to the time penalty. No customer value is created by baggage fees.

nsx

You don't find out until T-24 or later when you print your BP. This is the same for A-listers.

AUS2008

Where did that come from?
Just saying...I've seen plenty of moaning on the threads about SW boarding order not always being enforced, as well as the threads about TSA gate searches bumping people (including A-List and Biz Select) out of order (as well as being a general hassle, but we'll leave that to the S/S forum). So this is just another potential drawback.

It's a potential issue (yes, random) at any rate, but if you paid more for the spot, I think people would not be happy to lose what they paid for.

And no, I don't think the GA should necessarily refund, because it's really a TSA issue hosing you out of your spot.

nsx

This happens today with BusinessSelect. If you're late to the gate, you lose the early boarding benefit and there's no refund. I'll bet it happens a lot, too.

y2k1jetta

Is anyone really going to pay 10.00 bucks to get seat A36? I'm an A-Lister and BS customer as well and every flight has tons of these. So why pay 10.00 leg to move up? Not gonna happen anytime soon.

SAN > PHX > STL > MSP, $30.00 in move up fees per each plane transfer to a new line, or one $10.00 fee covers me for all three plane changes?

rob_flies_ua

It's origin to destination, not per each segment.

kerflumexed

I tried to find the Easter Egg mentioned on another thread but am Konami Kode Challenged. So I went to the SWA Facebook page for the first time.

I am amazed at all the negative comments about Early Bird. Some of it is misunderstanding/confusion related, but a bunch of comments are like you are messing with the recipe and introducing more uncertainty into a system that works ok now.

Makes me wonder if this isn't also a test for how Customers would react to a bag fee and other fees.

MrAndy1369

Eh, I'm in the middle here. I can see both sides.

My honest opinion? Just institute assigned seating and get it over with. The system, as it stands now with EarlyBird included, provides to be too complex. Don't forget preboarding pax - they add to the mix, and on large flights filled of people (preboard, BS, A-list), makes EarlyBird essentially worthless.

I can see why SW is offering this... but I can also see why people are upset. It is a fee--a harmless, "new" fee offered for a service not offered before, but still a fee, so the psychological aspect is there.