nsx

5. What determines what boarding letter I get? How do I get an "A"? What if I check in online and miss the flight?

a. (nsx) The first 45 people to check in get an "A", although a customer of size (see item 27) counts as two. The next 45 get a "B". The rest get a "C". Each boarding pass shows your check-in sequence number, up to 137 (the number of seats on all but the oldest Southwest airplanes) in addition to the letter. If someone is removed from the flight (e.g., catches an earlier flight), their sequence number is put back in the pool. If you happen to check in immediately afterwards, you may draw an "A" or "B" even though the person ahead of you got a "C".

(alliance) On routes where there are many flights (probably won't work for you on MCI-DAL), there is a trick that has worked for me to "upgrade" to an A the few times I've been stuck with a B or C. Starting around 15-20 minutes before a flight before yours on the same route is scheduled to take off (although really you can try it anytime, but it seems like the largest % chance of movement is right before an earlier flight takes off), open up two browsers and in one cancel your boarding pass and in the other re-check-in. If it is a route where there are often many Y tickets purchased, there is a good chance that a handful of people will standby/change to an earlier flight and thereby opening up their (possible) A boarding pass for you to snag.

There is a slight risk that someone else could come in and snag your B or C during the seconds that you cancel and re-check-in. But that has never happened to me and I've upgraded to an A on 2 of the 4 times I've been stuck with a B or C.

Don't try this once you get to an hour before your flight, as you won't be able to re-check-in on-line anymore.

b. (nsx) If you have a ticketless reservation, whether paid or using a Rapid Rewards award, you can normally print your own boarding pass at southwest.com starting 24 hours before the departure time of your flight. (It used to be 12:01AM on the date of your flight, in the departure time zone.) You will almost certainly get an "A" this way, if you do it reasonably promptly (with the possible exception of Orlando, which has plenty of larger groups). You get boarding passes for all your outbound segments when you check in, whether online, at a kiosk, or at a counter. Note that you cannot check in online later than 60 minutes before flight time.

c. (nsx) If you have a same day round trip booked as such, online check is now available for both outbound and return flights. However, you will not get a boarding pass for the return until 24 hours before its departure time. Your best stratecy is therefore to check in twice: once 24 hours before the outbound flight and once 24 hours before the return flight. You may find it convenient to do this second step at an airport kiosk or customer service counter. (If your outbound flight was short, the kiosk may think that you have already checked in for your outbound flight, and not give you the option to check in for the return.)

d. (nsx) If your reservation is for more than one person, you are now able to print the boarding passes online. The former workaround of phoning SWA and ask to have the reservation split into two (or more) records is no longer necessary.

e. (WN LUVS U) If your ticket requires that you are a certain age (senior fare, youth fare), you may not be eligible to check in online unless you have registered as described under item (l) below. Proof of age is required before check-in.

f. (nsx) If you have been tagged for random secondary security screening, you will not be able to check in online or print a security document.

g. (nsx) If you don't have a printer, never fear: you can get a replacement boarding pass at a kiosk or from any counter agent at the airport and it will still have the same letter and sequence number, with an “r” appended. If you plan to do this, you may wish to print a Security Document the day before travel so that you may get your replacement boarding pass beyond the security checkpoint to avoid the baggage check-in line. (WN LUVS U) Ability to print a replacement boarding pass at the airport kiosks was available system-wide as of March 30, 2005.

h. (nsx) Those not able to check in online 24 hours before departure have recently been able to use a web-based service to check in for them. The passenger could then print a boarding pass later as explained in (g) above. In March 2006 Southest decided that these automated services violate their web site usage rules. I expect boardfirst.com, which charges $5 per boarding pass, to shut down by mid-2006. Board-A.com, which was free but accepted donations, shut down on March 11, 2006.

i. (nsx) Kiosks at the airport can print you a boarding pass any time on the day of departure until 20 minutes before departure. If you are passing through the departure airport early in the day, for example on the outbound leg of a day trip, stopping by the kiosk to get your evening boarding pass is a great way to get an A. Another trick is to stop off at the kiosk before parking your car.

j. (nsx) If you have a connecting flight, you will also get a boarding pass for the second flight at the time you check in for the first flight.

k. (EscapeFromSea) If you print a boarding pass and do not show up the agents know this you are a "missed flight" passenger. You can still fly standby that day or re-use the funds after the end of the day.

l. (southwest.com) Southwest Airlines' Senior Fares for Customers 65 years or older and Online Checkin for people traveling on those fares are now available at southwest.com! Once we have verified your date of birth, you'll be eligible for online checkin from the convenience of your own home as long as you have entered your Rapid Rewards account number into the reservation.

To get your date of birth verified and to take advantage of these new enhancements on future reservations, please submit a copy of your state's official drivers license or other government-issued identification indicating your date of birth along with your Rapid Rewards account number to: Southwest Airlines Customer Relations/Rapid Rewards, P.O. Box 36662, Dallas, TX 75235.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for age verification. For verification status, please login to your MySouthwest account at southwest.com and visit "account details" to confirm if verification has been completed. You will be notified by letter once the verification process is complete.