





Southwest Boarding Process




Now, let’s go through the order.

Big Money (Business Select)




Eager Beavers (24 hours)

Swee’ Pea (Families)



225 comments on “How Southwest Determines Your Boarding Card Number, and How You Can Now Jump the Line for $40


      The flight was half full, so no cattle call :(


    1. I used to be a big southwest guy. Then I realized every other airline is generally cheaper.


      1. I agree that Southwest is now generally more expensive than other airlines except if you could snag a wanna getaway fare during one of their great sales. I would disagree, however, that Southwest has the friendliest service. It seems that the SW crew is going the way of legacy carriers in terms of poor, unsmiling and unfriendly service. I understand, though, that it’s a tough job dealing with all of us cranky flyers day din and day out. If you’re lucky enough to have Virgin America in your area, you are indeed blessed. Virgin America has undoubtedly the friendliest personnel from top to bottom.











    3. I just checked in exactly at 24 hours before on the minute and got B59 and B60 so to me this is ridiculous. Not sure I will use Southwest again. Hoping my daughter and I can get seats together tomorrow. We will see.

      1. I just checked in exactly 24 hours ahead, and got a C boarding pass, but even though it’s the only airline flying nonstop from Phoenix to Chicago’s Midway, I won’t be flying SW again!

    4. On a recent MDW – DEN flight (departing at 7 am on a Tuesday), I checked my friend in 23:53 before the flight (7 minutes after 24 hours), and got B48. On the same MDW – DEN flight six weeks earlier, checking in at 23:58 got him B56. Both planes were (obviously) nearly full.

      I personally will never fly Southwest. Between this horrible boarding system, and the peanuts they insist on serving, it is not for me.




    2. Now most of the carriers offer group boarding & it goes very quickly & you know the seat you are getting so people get in, get to the seat & settle in, rather than have people mosey along browsing for seats & not being able to decide where exactly they want to sit. Much better to have seat assignments, no contest!!




      1. If you happen to be 6’5″ tall, you would agree that seat assignments are a MUST! My boyfriend will not even fly Southwest if we are flying together, I have to go on another airlines as he is too cramped in a regular seat & always pays to upgrade his seat to be sure he has more legroom & it definitely slows down the boarding process to now have assigned seating as people can’t make up their mind where they want to seat & really hold up the lines. NO reason for not assigning seats, really wish Southwest would wise up & assign seats!












      2. Cranky,




        1. Sean, people with special needs get Blue Boarding Passes. People with a blue boarding pass can board before everyone else, even A1

      3. My husband and I paid 60 dollars for early bird seating.Each way. Thats 120 dollars extra. I am not too happy with the fact that some late comer can pay at the last minute and get on ahead of the people who paid a long time ago to get an A position. I get very dizzy and sick in the back of the plane, so I pay the extra money to make sure I can sit closer to the front. Its not fair they can come along at the last minute and get ahead of us. It makes the people that pay for early bird feel ripped off.

          1. Is it $15 per leg? If a flight isnt non-stop do you have to pay $15 for each hop or $15 per flight?

      4. On flights as short as many of Southwest;s, you can usually upgrade your seat on Alaska for <$25 as late as the moment they start boarding. The app closes seat changing about 35 minutes before scheduled departure (unless the flight is late, and then it stays open longer). $40 seems quite high to me and you're just choosing a "better" exactly-the-same seat. On Alaska, the better seats are either up front for earlier deplaning, and/or have extra legroom too.





  10. I would be in the slacker category, I don’t care where I sit, its just a plane
    ride after all, not a lifetime committment. :)


  11. FWIW, here’s been my experience:











    1. While living in Baltimore I flew SWA regularly. My boss said having A was like being prey and holding a C was like being a predator. With his C in hand he’d go slowly down the aisle looking for people averting their eyes and storing their coats/books/laptops on the middle seat. He’d say “Is that seat taken?” They would begrudgingly move their stuff, then he’d say “On second thought I’m going to go further back.” He was looking for two thin and preferably attractive females to sit in between. Pretty much never got stuck next to a screaming baby or a person of size.









    1. This system may not be complicated but it surely isn’t as simple as, “this is your seat, sit here, done.” To most, myself included, there would be apprehension associated with a system I didn’t know or understand. Nevertheless, I’ve never flown Southwest but I’ve always been curious to try their system.
























    1. More thoughts on SWA versus the legacy boarding process…










    Uncomfortable flights packed 3 in a row.

    1. “Almost always the flights are fully booked so youre sitting there cramped with 3 in a row.”



    1. LAX has long lines at every terminal, and in NOLA (my home airport) I’ve never had longer than a 15 minute wait.


  30. Hi cranky.




































  57. Thanx for your January 2013 unravelling of the Southwest early-bird and boarding pass mysteries.

    1. the primary problem for many of us isn’t whether you get to pick a seat, it’s how early you get on. these are different things. If you get on early, you not only have a better chance a a good seat, you also have a better chance at OHB space. that’s huge if you’re making a tight connection. When traveling for work by myself, the ohb space is worth a lot more to me than a preassigned seat.



    1. low b isn’t bad, especially at the rate swa changes for eb. I’ve never had a B and ended up in the middle, and at the eb price,. avoiding middle and having ohb space is plenty worth it that inconsequential cost.


  61. Man you really do have some Cranky Ass Fliers.




    They still give out a small snack with their drinks for free







    …makes me prefer flying SW…










  66. What is with the PREBOARDING??






    Other Carriers———> Usually what we fly.

















  81. I will lament the loss of AirTran, almost always on time and great seating options. As a business traveler a cost effective alternative to the full fare airlines. Over 400 time I flew Airtran, very few complaints
    Southwest in the past was OK. They have fallen low, late and canceled flights are the norm and the “new seats” are nothing more than greed. Squeeze as many passengers as possible on the plane. I never checked fares when flying Airtran, I will always check for alternatives to SW.

  82. SafetyMan, I’m with you on that one……..I dread the cattle call and game playing of SouthWest and I loved Air Tran.

  83. Ok, Since when is getting on a plane first the best?

    I say B1-15 is the best…..Why?
    I feel who sits near me for the next 5 hours matters most than being the first off the plane.
    All the A’s, well you get on the plan first, but its not going to leave without everyone, so getting on first doesn’t get the plane in the air any sooner, AND, most importantly, you do not get to choose who sits next to you. Sitting there, you analyze everyone coming down the aisle. Please, please, don’t sit near me, please!!!
    At the end of the A’s comes the families, let them get on so you can see where not to sit. Then comes B1-B15.
    As you waltz down the aisle you can still have 1)your pick of aisle or window, 2) you can review the A listers and decide if you want to sit near them, AND 3) you can steer clear of the families.
    My ideal seat mate? Small asian women. They are small, they don’t hog the arm rest, and they typically have good hygiene.

  84. We are traveling with 2 young kids (2 & 5). Do I still need to purchase early bird or will we automatically board after group A?

  85. Brett, how about doing an update? This – while basically accurate – needs tweaked. It’s now only $12 to get on the “A” List! Lol And, of course, there is no longer the restriction on flights out of DAL. Bob

    1. Bob S – I don’t generally go back and update old posts, and it hasn’t changed enough for me to write a new one. But I suppose if a lot of people are still referencing this, then it might be good to show the updated pricing.

  86. I dont remember SW being bad, I havnt flown with them in years, but had to go to a job for a week, and my employer used SW. had to take 4 flights. Holy eff never again. I felt like I was on a city public bus, the line felt like cattle being herded… everyone had huge full size suit cases trying to be passed off for carry on, Im usually good with a backpack and laptop bag…jesus christ people were trying to cram full size suit cases overhead screwing everyone in a seat over the B’s.
    Screaming kids, plenty of them, 3 out of 4 flights were ridiculous.
    Im not saying every other airline is perfect, but thus experience with SW was THE WORST, I have ever had. I would have rather drove 8hrs than do this again…. thats saying a lot , im nt a complainer usually, i like to get on, get where im going and be done with it… but this experience with Southwest had me so disgusted I took to their website and the internet.
    Never again SW. I much prefer buying my ticket online, picking my seat… get to the airport with my one carry on 1 hr before, get to the terminal after everyone boards and walk right on to my assigned seat that I picked… non of this massive glut of people in line and hovering around the line, free for all, that doesnt save any time. No thanks SouthWest, sriously felt like riding a disgusting north philadelphia route bus at 24,000ft….. you are definitely Septa of the skies.

  87. I’ve flown Southwest for over 17 years between SAN and SMF…..I remember the good ol’ days for the 1st several years when the internet was less used and smart phones did not exist. Southwest had online check-in and you’d get in the first 20 spots almost guaranteed – this was before business select or earlybird. Most people didn’t use the online check-in feature then. That slowly changed about 10 or so years ago. These days you have to be on the second of 24 hrs to get a sub-A on a full flight. Poor sheeple actually pay money for the Early Bird. Have never once paid for that money-throw-away. There are always folks who don’t care much who check-in at the airport to ensure you get an aisle seat with bin space.

  88. Personally, I can’t stand the SW boarding process. I don’t need the hassle of trying to figure-out the best strategy for landing a decent seat. Who wants to waste their time on that nonsense?

    I’ll only fly SW if they’re the only carrier with a direct flight. …and when I do, I checked-in right at the 24 hour mark and still often get a sport in group C. …probably for the reasons mentioned in the article.

    It’s just dumb system IMHO.

  89. I’m with Matt – I fly SW a bunch, but I hate the boarding process. We travel light, so I don’t care about overhead bin space or being first on/off the plane (an extra 5 minutes to disembark isn’t going to ruin my trip). But I do care about getting to sit with my family.

    This morning, I checked in at 23 hrs 58min and got C15, C17, C18. I guess that extra minute I waited really hurt. :)

  90. Southwest’s boarding process gets everyone on the plane faster and more comfortably, and with fewer announcements. the the other airlines. you can observe it at any gate concourse. If you have a b (like of you don’t have internet at home and had to check in at the airport. ticket you can usually still get a window or isle seat if you want. since they don’t have “business class” seats they don’t cram in the coach passengers as tight and you have appreciably more legroom then you would on a delta 737.

    There is a “Mythbusters” episode testing airline boarding methods that proves systems similar to southwest’s to be much faster than boarding systems used by most airlines.

  91. I am a northerner who now lives in the south and is forced to use SW as almost the only available carrier for most destinations. I mostly travel solo for business and I’m thin woman never have a problem getting a seat anywhere. However the boarding process still stresses me out. SW is so close to being an awesome Airline. I don’t understand how with the technology available in 2016 and the trouble they go to for boarding signage, why they couldn’t just put a button on there to allow you to reserve a seat? Even if they board faster with current system – as long as they leave on time, what difference does it make? I don’t get their end game? a man said to me, ‘at least we don’t have to pay extra for better seating SW”. Don’t you? Elite status? Paying $12.50 to jump the queue. What’s that? It frustrates me to no end if I have to stand under a number like an idiot when I’m used to knowing my seat ahead of time and not stressing negotiating with people. I’ll never get it!

    Contact: or text +12162207328

  93. Hi everyone, can someone explain the difference between the B and C boarding group, other than the obvious “C is lower priority.” This is my first time flying WN and I don’t really understand how (or even why) there’s a difference between the B and C groups. Why doesn’t WN just increase the number of B slots until they reach capacity? Why have a C group at all?

    1. Joe – No good reason. Each group has 60, so that’s why you go from B to C. Could they have put 120 in B instead? Yep, I assume they could have.

  94. I used to be a loyal Delta flier, then American. However SWA has won my business by (a) Not being cranky jerks to their customers (b) not gouging me with baggage fees; and the final straw (c) screwing over business travelers whose company will not pay for all the new preferred seat options.

  95. I used to pay to board early and then I noticed that because I am a small person, invariably a big person, usually male, would sit next to me after I chose my aisle seat. They would stretch out, always hog the shared arm rest and spill into my paid for space. So, now I wait and check in online. As long as I’m at the end of B or start of C, I get to find the smaller sized woman who will not crowd me out, sit in relative comfort and I don’t pay anything extra. Recently, however, the people who are only buying one early bird and then saving seats for their pals have made for a lot of post boarding squabbling so that the flight is pretty much unpleasant. Turns out SW doesn’t care to get involved and encourage a sort of a ‘duke it out’ approach to solve the issues. Now that I’m hearing other lines are cheaper, I may need to move on.

    1. YES, the agents don’t enforce the airline’s supposed “pick ANY seat” policy, it is a (very bad) joke!!! Too many people saving seats (whether for a person boarding later, or for own selfish “I want TWO seat spaces” purposes). AGENTS need to enforce this! AIRLINE is not supporting policy they claim to be so spectacular.

  96. I have yet to get into the A group, even when checking in exactly 24 hours before. Just now, I checked in exactly to the second at the 24 hour mark (I sat there watching my computer clock), and still ended up with B31. This is for a weekday, non-holiday flight from a smaller regional airport. Assuming the A16 start of regular check-in as listed above, somehow 74 people managed to click the check-in button half a second before I did?

    1. Matt – No, anyone who is an A List member (elite status) gets slotted first starting at A16. Then it’s anyone who paid $15 for EarlyBird checkin.
      Then you.

  97. Cranky, now the problem is the flyers who buy one early bird, get on first, then save premium adjoining seats for friends with a C position. So here I am with my high B-2 slot being denied a good seat, held for a C-48 friend. And the airline attendants are supporting the seat holders, outright or quietly, in my experience. And a problem too is the child boarding policy: often see children well OVER the age limit being used by families to justify their access to plane ahead of others in B/C boarding. Think the “open seating” claim has become a joke with all the work-arounds provided & supported by Southwest. Best to book a seat-reserved flight on another airline & KNOW where you’ll be, no added variables, no bait & switch!!!

  98. Flying from SEA to STL .. purchased the early bird ($15) about a week ago. Checked in 24hours b4 flight time and was assigned B3 so still didn’t get A group …on the flight to Washington I had done the same and was assigned A39 so you just have no idea what will happen… Not a big deal as long as I have a seat :)

  99. The early bird check in can be well worth it unless you end up on a flight with lots of elites. We plan our trips early and buy tickets early. We got early bird for a trip coming up tomorrow and we got A18 and A19! Chances are most business seats wont be sold and we will be the 7-10th person to board the plane with our pick of almost any seat we want.

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