Southwest Airline. Getting an “A” group boarding pass.
 

A-group boarding is an elusive thing. I checked in 23 hours, 59 minutes and 57 seconds BEFORE my scheduled flight time and I’m still in B GROUP.

I do love the challenge. :)

The majority of those A seats are reserved for A list unfortunately.

Seems like it's been a few years now since you could get an A checking in a minute after after the 24 hour mark. Guess they figured out enough people would pay the extra to get one. B is still ok most times but C sometimes make you consider just renting a car and driving there.

Free- a list means you get a15-30. 1-15 are reserved for paying preferred and handicapped and stuff like that.

I'm a regular A lister. Least it's 'free' for me.

I have a coworker who's an A lister. He's a bit of a strange one. He said if he gets boarding pass A2, he sits right next to the person with A1.

I can see the appeal of getting on first, only in that you can get off first and get out of there. I simply do not understand the rush of people that stand up before the aircraft has stopped moving. They must enjoy standing at an uncomfortable bent-over way. I get my seat, and just wait until the line goes down. If I stand up and hunch over I might save myself 60 seconds. All in all, I avoid commercial airline travel.

cattle like being herded

If you’re early enough in the B group, you can still get an aisle seat, which is the entire goal. If you want an aisle seat over the wing, you’re going to have to pay for the upgrade. I hated when SW airlines started allowing people to purchase A group seats but there’s not much I can do about it.

I’m ready.

Aisle seat for me. NC headphones charged

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1556031964.jpg

Most of the group A, and B, bring far more luggage onto the plane, and stuff their coats, umbrellas, computer bag, and carryon in the overhead compartments so no room is left for class C, who then have to have their bags checked at the gate....happened to us !

Just carry a knee immobilizer and a pair of crutches Pre boarding is where it's at!

I don't understand WTF everyone's fear of checking in bags on SW, it's free for chrissakes. Waiting at a carousel is that big of a deal VS dragging all this crap across the airport? Nothing more annoying than the ass hole who has to make it sport to see how much crap they can pack and still have it count as carry-on.

The same people love to throw everyone else's carry-on items around so they can stuff their suitcases into overhead bins.

My Southwest A list is going to be no longer- switch to a superior airline- Delta- seems to have more room, better inflight entertainment and pricing similar to SW despite a few minor layovers. Sick and tired of festival seating flying.

SW gives me a headache.

When I have to check my carry on at the gate, and forget my kindle/snacks/heart pills that were in that bag...it's a big deal for a 5 hour flight.

I’m going for one might I brought pair socks panties and a shirt. I’m going very very light. My work bag is bigger.

BTDT on 24:00:00 precisely, you cannot score A anymore, you gotta pay. On the flip side SW lets folks with children board between A and B so now I don't even bother anymore. Good enough.

I've seen it where they stand up and rush down the isle to get off first.

Imho just fly first class. Board first and enjoy the free drinks out of real silica. More room and less drama....

The only time I check a bag is when we are on a dive trip and are bringing our gear. Otherwise I REFUSE to check my bag - thus the appeal to get onboard early and secure overhead space. I have traveled on 3 week business trips with just a single roller bag and my personal backpack. Laundry options exist in most places around the world :) Reasons to avoid checked baggage:

- Normal wait times at baggage claim are 30 minutes (often times longer). That's after de-plane and walking there. After a long business trip the last thing I need is to be standing in BC hoping my bag drops down the chute. Double that for the full RT flight - no thanks.
- Lost stuff never to be seen again. Two times I finally got my bag minus contents, one time bag was never recovered. All times the bags were gate checked meaning I don't get a receipt so no claims can be filed. You are just hoping on the good nature of the person who ended up with your bag. My son just came back from a trip to PR on Delta and his gate checked bag was taken by another passenger. Never to be seen again. It happens - but not to me anymore.
- Access to last minute flights w/o needing to account for your luggage. Many times I have arrived at transition airport and was able to board an earlier flight to my destination b/c it had empty seats. No can do with checked bags - and this saves many hours on total trip duration.
- Roller bags make in-airport very low hassle

YMMV :)

EDIT totally different conversation about the people in later boarding groups who block gate access for early access folks.

I’m not a roller bag guy. I still use a travel pack. I prob didn’t even need a bag this trip.

I have never flown SW and from what I am reading here, I probably never will.

I usually fly Delta and or American, my Pilot friend just in formed me United has Buffalo Trace on the donkey karts, so they are now on my radar.

I am still at a loss why they load in zones with the front seats being the first and the back seats being the last zone. Seems you could load a plane faster if you loaded back to front.

Maybe they need all the weight in the front first?

Oh and SW must be the reason you see gate lice.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gate%20Lice

..I pack like I'm moving away.... min 3 pairs of shoes and all kinds of crap. Good point about stolen luggage.

rjp

The great thing about Burbank/Bob Hope is you walk onto the tarmac and board and exit from both ends of the plane. Wish more airports were like that.

Ever stood on line to board on a tarmac in sub zero windy weather?

It sucks.

Entering only from the rear of the plane and exiting from both ends would work SO much better with Southwest's 'free-for-all' style of boarding. The plane would fill up in half the time if the B & C groups didn't have to wait to get past the A group people clogging up the aisle as they try to stuff all their worldly possessions into the overheads.

I've did that on my last commercial flight from Germany. Not nearly as much of a cluster ****. I feel like a snow flake would b line their way to the flight line and get ran over in some socialist-left seppuku....

I got A-34 for tomorrow! It’s now what time? Beer-thirty.

Sigh....

I remember in the 80's in Houston just getting to the gate maybe around an hour before departure got you an A card.

C16 for my flight tmrw. Yaaynot

My motto is there are two kinds of baggage - carry on and lost. Even on overseas trips for 2 weeks, it's legal carry on size roll around and a backpack with essentials & anything valuable.
SWA is a joke for comfort, I flew them from coast to coast one time but never again. Crew is friendly, sometimes funny, but you have to like peanuts or pretzels and screaming kids. Hard to beat their prices or basic schedules. They do try, the other domestic not so much. Just my two pesos.

I think you can upgrade at check in

Probably doesn't work anymore, but an old boss of mine had some kind of trick, maybe with Photoshop, where he'd change his boarding group number on his boarding pass before he printed it. AFAIK, it worked every time.

Delta for me, unless its a quick flight like from Nor Cal to So Cal than I'll use SW and don't really care about the seating too much.

Some of my friends flew to Germany many years ago as a group. The were going to arrive in Germany in the morning, and with the time change they did not want to waste a day with jet lag. One of the group was a doctor. He gave all of them a large green pill that they took on takeoff.

The next thing they remember was a Fraulein yelling "You vill get off the plane NOW" and they all gathered their stuff and got off the airplane. Everyone else was gone. No wait at the customs and they all felt rested and ready to start drinking German beer.

Is it me or SW does seem to have smaller seating areas?

Sure seems that way, and it's just enough that it give me headaches flying it. Oh and the SW crowd seems to be animals.

Delta rocks.

rjp

Used to fly every week for work.
An "A" was just a photo shop away!!

Have you ever flown in and out of the SWA terminal in Vegas? It’s a madhouse. Too many people, not enough space. I hate it but have to go there monthly.

That’s the circle shaped terminal? Slots in the center and the human-lines radiate towards them like spokes causing log jams to the circling traffic?