Princess passengers using Southest air...and WIFI

[beg3yrs]

Southwest has more frills than United.

 

Last time I flew United (not by choice) it was during their bankruptcy and the employees were beyond surly. They still had frills back then though. I do seem to recall they changed their model though ...

[beachgirl50]

Southwest is the most user-friendly airline operating in the US today, and we choose to fly with them whenever possible. For example, just today I cancelled two flights for this afternoon. Within seconds, my FF points were returned in full and my 9/11 security charges refunded. No penalties. It's almost shockingly good service.

 

Has anyone used EZ Check without purchasing Early Bird Check in? We are going to do that in ten days, and wonder if our boarding priority is assigned by EZ Check or by checking in 24 hours in advance. (And I'll come back to this thread with our experiences). We think we stand a good chance of getting bumped, and if we do, we lose Early Bird for the rescheduled flights; hence, don't want to waste $25.

 

There has been a final day 15 minute Internet package for $9.95 available on the Emerald Princess all winter. RC allows you to check in online at no charge; it's a nice service and I wish Princess would do the same.

 

 

Hi ---- We used EZ check on our SWA flight home from our Ruby cruise in January. We have never purchased the Early Bird check-in service (although it does sound like a good idea for a flight at the end of a cruise), and the boarding passes we received the night before disembarkation were in the mid B group. We did not check in on our own on the ship 24 hours prior to the flight as I didn't want to confuse the issue with the EZ Check process. Lately, even when we are checking in for a flight on our own and clicking the "check-in" link at exactly 24 hours prior to the flight (you know the visual --- one eye and finger on the check-in link and the other eye anxiously watching the time on the cell phone!), we rarely get into the A group anymore, so using the EZ check worked fairly well for us. Good luck, and looking forward to your experience with it. And, by the way, I have so enjoyed your blog this winter and will be sad to have this chapter end. Enjoy the rest of your cruise, and thank you for posting your cruise experiences in such an enjoyable way!

[caribill]

Sounds like more of an issue with the travel agent.

 

Southwest ticket agent, not a travel agent.

 

However. when the ticket agent rebooked our second leg they completey cancelled our entire reservation.

[Typhoon1]

I'm also getting extremely fed up with the people who pay for one early bird service and then get on and save seats for others. On one of our recent flights, one woman saved a total of five other seats.

 

Darn ... probably shouldn't give others ideas.

 

If anyone saves seats, feel free to take that seat. SW policy prohibits seat saving. If necessary, ask a flight attendant to intervene.

[ar1950]

Southwest ticket agent, not a travel agent.

 

Oops, I re-read the post, you are correct. Probably why the supervisor worked so hard as did the "other gentleman" who showed up to at least get them booked to go home in timely manner. As far as the mistake that was made by the original ticket agent I wonder what the OP and their group did to contact Southwest to inform them of what happened. Also, was the connecting flight that was late also Southwest? Possibly, more than one thing may have gone wrong with this situation.

[caribill]

Oops, I re-read the post, you are correct. Probably why the supervisor worked so hard as did the "other gentleman" who showed up to at least get them booked to go home in timely manner. As far as the mistake that was made by the original ticket agent I wonder what the OP and their group did to contact Southwest to inform them of what happened. Also, was the connecting flight that was late also Southwest? Possibly, more than one thing may have gone wrong with this situation.

 

It may not have been anything the agent did.

 

Normally if any segment in a booking is missed, the rest of the trip is automatically cancelled. I suspect the Southwest computers did not properly know the first flight had been delayed and then automatically cancelled the return flights when the second flight was missed. The agent should have caught this but did not.

 

I once checked into a flight (not Southwest) where the airline's computer system was not working, at least not at the airport where I was checking in. Without the computer system working, check-in was all done by hand, so when the flight took off (on time), the main airline computer system had everybody on that flight as a no show. When I tried to check-in for my connecting flight, I learned that reservation as well as for my return flights had all been cancelled by the computer system. However, the agent getting me back on the connecting flight also put my return flights back to active status.

[ar1950]

It may not have been anything the agent did.

Normally if any segment in a booking is missed, the rest of the trip is automatically cancelled. I suspect the Southwest computers did not properly know the first flight had been delayed and then automatically cancelled the return flights when the second flight was missed. The agent should have caught this but did not...........

 

Exactly, the agent should have caught it, but, did not. And I understand about the cancellation of one segment leading to the cancellation of the whole booking on Southwest. It is why I book my trips going and coming back separately. Sometimes I need to change one way or the other and don't want to lose the whole trip's booking.

 

................. When I tried to check-in for my connecting flight, I learned that reservation as well as for my return flights had all been cancelled by the computer system. However, the agent getting me back on the connecting flight also put my return flights back to active status.

 

Which should have happened for the OP and their group, especially if the connecting flight that was late was also Southwest. Initially not handled well at all, however, it was at least worked out for the OP's group in the end.

 

I guess my point was that things happen. The trip was completed without undue delay after things were sorted out. I could tell some nightmare type stories about some trips I have taken on other airlines, but, I wouldn't say that I would never again fly with those airlines because, in the end, they did their best to satisfy my situation. :cool:

[PescadoAmarillo]

Hi ---- We used EZ check on our SWA flight home from our Ruby cruise in January. We have never purchased the Early Bird check-in service (although it does sound like a good idea for a flight at the end of a cruise), and the boarding passes we received the night before disembarkation were in the mid B group. We did not check in on our own on the ship 24 hours prior to the flight as I didn't want to confuse the issue with the EZ Check process. Lately, even when we are checking in for a flight on our own and clicking the "check-in" link at exactly 24 hours prior to the flight (you know the visual --- one eye and finger on the check-in link and the other eye anxiously watching the time on the cell phone!), we rarely get into the A group anymore, so using the EZ check worked fairly well for us. Good luck, and looking forward to your experience with it. And, by the way, I have so enjoyed your blog this winter and will be sad to have this chapter end. Enjoy the rest of your cruise, and thank you for posting your cruise experiences in such an enjoyable way!

 

Thank you for this. That's what we're going to do...EZ Check without Early Bird, and then check in ourselves, too, in the event we haven't received our luggage tags by 24 hours pre-flight. We are hoping to get bumped (we once flew a year for free on SWA by being bumped between FLL and home). The flight has been sold out for a month, so I think it's a possibility.

[Debe7ing]

I've never paid much attention to the details of the internet packages because I usually prefer to stay away from it while on a cruise, however this year were are flying home on Southwest Airlines and to get seats together on the trip home, we need to "check in" 24 hours before our flight. We will be at sea the last day, can I just turn on my iphone and use it to check in online quickly? How will I be billed for that? Or is it better/cheaper to use the internet cafe's computers and do it that way? If it matters, I'm an AT&T customer.....

 

Leaving tomorrow and this just occured to me. Thanks for any advice!

 

Just opt for the "Early Bird" Checkin with SW today for your return flight (before you leave the terminal) and don't worry about the 24 hour prior option on your last day of cruising, as it will already be done. You ARE on vacation!!! :)

[PescadoAmarillo]

I'd said that I would report back with our experiences about using EZ Check without using Early Bird check in...

 

24 hours before our flight, DH and I both got on wifi (on our iPhones) and did the finger dance: check in, too early, check in again, too early, and finally we were checked in. I was priority B16 and he was B21. (We had different res numbers due to using Rapid Rewards points). We have not had a boarding priority quite that good in a couple of years, so I was pleased, but here's the thing...our flight was pretty late in the day, and it was not long after we checked in that our EZ check luggage tags and boarding passes were delivered. I really think that we had been automatically checked in, perhaps before we checked in online, but, of course, I have no way to prove that.

 

Our flight was full; our boarding priority still got us seat locations we were happy with. If we had not believed we might have a chance at getting bumped, we would have done Early Bird check in. But by the time we knew for certain what our return travel date would be, it was only 10 days before the flight, and had we added Early Bird then, we would have ended up at the end of the Early Bird passengers, and so probably were only 25 passengers behind where we would have been anyways.

[DMRick]

Maybe it's just me, but that makes me want to sit in those seats that much more. It would be difficult for me to choose another seat if I saw someone doing that.

 

 

You can be upset about it but

It's been discussed on the SW forums and it's allowed. I heard someone mention it to the stewardess and she said sorry, we allow it. They have even suggested it. And if you try to take a saved seat you might find yourself being escorted off the plane for being argumentative.

 

As for getting on with using the fewest minutes , the computer guy on the Star showed me the fastest way. Instead of going to Sw website which is so slow, go to google and google southwest boarding and you are taken right to the correct page. I did ours and then invited others to use my leftover minutes to get theirs. It was going quick, one after another (just used the back key and put the new number in) until one guy closed it out. That was a bummer for those after him!

 

 

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Edited April 9, 2014 by DMRick

[Baseball fan]

To avoid this, I paid for the "Early Bird" service from Southwest. They check you in 36 hours before the flight, 12 hours before anyone else. You are all but guaranteed Boarding Group 1. At $12.50 per person, each way, it seemed the best way for us to ensure that we get to sit together with our children.

 

 

I just did early bird on southwest and got A51. I was surprised. Now it makes sense when I check in 24 hours ahead and get the low Bs. Apparently the early birds get seats after their premium frequent flyers and full priced ticket holders.

 

However, I am signed up for it when I am on my cruise so I don't have to worry about it.

 

Good luck!

 

 

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