Southwest Early Bird Check In Or Upgrade? What's The Difference?

 

Southwest early bird check in. Southwest Upgrade. Heck, what's the difference and how can you get them for FREE? I'll let you in on the secret, but first some background.

I recently flew from San Diego to Baltimore, it was President’s weekend and the pandemic is ending so the flights are getting really crowded. 

I checked in for my Southwest flight exactly 24 hours before takeoff. You know the drill. I got everything ready a few minutes before, myself on the app on my phone and my daughter's companion pass reservation on the computer. Yes, your companion has to check in separately. I even clicked check in once just to see if there was a glitch and the system would let me check in early, but no.

I got the message you can only check in 24 hours before your flight, darn. 

Southwest Early Bird Check In Or Upgrade? What's The Difference?

As soon as the clock turned, I pushed the button, yes I agree to not bring any explosives on the plane. Yes, you are checked in….your place in line B57.

What? 

B57 you mean I sat here at 6am and waited and I got B57. You mean to tell me that all the A1-60 and almost all the B1-56, clicked the button before me. Really, Southwest? Really?

When I got to the airport, I watched all the A’s and B’s line up next to their numbers to board our plane. I went to the gate agent and asked to upgrade since my Southwest Priority credit card comes with 4 FREE upgrades, but they were all sold out. So some people had used their upgrades. Okay, but that only explained 15 people at most. 

How did the other 100 people press the button faster than me? Honestly, they didn’t look particularly tech savvy. One woman traveling with her preteen looked very nervous when she ordered coffee in line. How could she possibly have gotten a better line number than me? Ah, she didn’t. I noticed she waited for the C group. 

I decided to start asking people. How did you get a higher number? What was your strategy?

There were a few A listers, a few A listers preferred, a few paid for early check in, a few used the FREE early upgrades from their credit card, more details on that later and a few just shook their heads knowing inside that they were faster than me pressing the button. 

Southwest Early Bird Check In Or Upgrade? What's The Difference?

So let's look at some of the ways these passengers got better numbers and how you can do it for FREE.

There are a few different ways: 

• Early Bird Check In - pay $25 per ticket or pay for one family member and save seats on the plane for the others in your party. The Southwest Plus, the Southwest Premier credit card and the Southwest Business Premier each come with two Early Bird check ins. 
• Upgrades - When you arrive at the airport, you can ask the gate agent if there are upgrades available. The price varies depending on the flight. If there is any availability in the numbers A1-15, you can buy that boarding number. Pay with your Southwest Priority or your Southwest Business Performance card and you will see a statement credit applied almost immediately for that amount. The 4 FREE boardings are awarded every year after you pay the annual fee. 

The other ways to get a better boarding number is to earn A list or A list preferred. So what are those and how do you earn them?

• What is A list - From Southwest website: A Member who flies 25 qualifying one-way flight segments booked through Southwest or earns 35,000 tier qualifying points per calendar year will qualify for A-List status. 
• What is A list preferred - From Southwest website: A Member who flies 50 qualifying one-way flights booked through Southwest or earns 70,000 tier qualifying points per calendar year will qualify for A-List Preferred status.

Once you reach A list or A list preferred, Southwest will automatically assign you a boarding number  36 hours prior to your flight departure. You still need to check in for your flight. 

So as travel returns and the planes get full, regard this as your reminder to use those perks that come with the credit cards. Yes, we use the cards to earn the companion pass mainly, but don’t let those other perks go to waste. 

If you decide to apply for any of these Southwest Credit Cards, please use my referral link and support this blog. Bonus offers on these credit cards range from 40,000 - 80,000. 

If you want your entire trip to be FREE and/or you want to earn the companion pass, let us help you. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn at Families Fly FREE. She has created a simple system to help families fly free forever. 

If you would like to check it out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) I'll be sharing testimonials from some happy members and I'll let you know when I'll be offering webinars.