http://www.moneycrashers.com/southwest-charges-10-for-early-boarding-privileges/ Personal Finance Blog, Your Guide to Financial Fitness Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:13:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.moneycrashers.com/southwest-charges-10-for-early-boarding-privileges/#comment-10752 Mac Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:21:41 +0000 http://www.moneycrashers.com/?p=1224#comment-10752 Yuck. I'm not liking how all the airlines have started nickle & diming passengers now. Miss the old days. I just got a ticket from Sun Country and only then found out that you can't get an assigned seat ahead of time unless you pay about $10. Not much, but I still won't pay it. And of course, they'll be charging me for every checked bag ($25 EACH WAY). Now wonder why the plane tickets still seem low. You're only seeing the "before" price. Yuck. I’m not liking how all the airlines have started nickle & diming passengers now. Miss the old days. I just got a ticket from Sun Country and only then found out that you can’t get an assigned seat ahead of time unless you pay about $10. Not much, but I still won’t pay it. And of course, they’ll be charging me for every checked bag ($25 EACH WAY). Now wonder why the plane tickets still seem low. You’re only seeing the “before” price.

]]> http://www.moneycrashers.com/southwest-charges-10-for-early-boarding-privileges/#comment-6736 Jon Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:56:07 +0000 http://www.moneycrashers.com/?p=1224#comment-6736 My wife and I just flew Southwest on Labor Day Weekend. Getting there early won't get you the best seat. They have a couple of ways you can check in early, either at the kiosks in the airport, or online up to 24 hours prior to your flight. Either option lets you print a boarding pass, with a boarding number on it. The boarding group you are assigned to determines the order in which you board the plane, and thus the "quality" of your seating. I'd guess that they hold open some slots in the "A 1-30" group for people who are willing to pay the extra $10. We were in the B 1-30 and B 31-60 groups (last to board), and still didn't have much problem finding decent seats together on flights that were full, so unless it was extremely important to me to be first off of the plane on landing, it's not worth the extra cost. If you're first to board, you also spend quite a bit of time just sitting in your seat waiting for everyone else to board and settle in before departure. My wife and I just flew Southwest on Labor Day Weekend. Getting there early won’t get you the best seat. They have a couple of ways you can check in early, either at the kiosks in the airport, or online up to 24 hours prior to your flight. Either option lets you print a boarding pass, with a boarding number on it. The boarding group you are assigned to determines the order in which you board the plane, and thus the “quality” of your seating. I’d guess that they hold open some slots in the “A 1-30″ group for people who are willing to pay the extra $10. We were in the B 1-30 and B 31-60 groups (last to board), and still didn’t have much problem finding decent seats together on flights that were full, so unless it was extremely important to me to be first off of the plane on landing, it’s not worth the extra cost. If you’re first to board, you also spend quite a bit of time just sitting in your seat waiting for everyone else to board and settle in before departure.

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