Does checking in early get you a better seat on Southwest?

Does Checking in early get you a better seat on Southwest?

Southwest doesn't provide several luxuries like First class cabins or other benefits like advance seat reservations. It is worth paying extra for early check-in and boarding so that you can quickly grab the better seat option. However, the charges depend on the travel distance, and how the traveler pays for the privilege to board among the first. Southwest does follow a highly conventional boarding system in which you will not assigned a seat rather than assigned a boarding position. Here you will find the things, you should know.

What does Southwest Early Bird Check-in mean?

Southwest Early Bird Check-in guarantees that you are the first one to board the flight by paying extra charges and the cost is subject to various factors like travel distance, mode of payment, and more approximately the cost ranges from $15 to $ 25 per person. If the traveler has booked a round-trip and wants to add the privilege on both ways then you should purchase it for each way. Therefore, it is not necessary that after purchasing priority Check-in you will be the first one to board the flight as Southwest gives the first 15 boarding spots to those who purchased Business Select Tickets.

How to get a complimentary Early Bird check-in on Southwest?

There are four ways that helps you to get the complimentary Early Bird Check-in on Southwest which is explained in the following information.

Prefer to fly on Business Select Ticket:

Southwest does provide generally four types of fares among which the Business Select fare is quite expensive and includes several complimentary perks like priority boarding, priority lane access, same-day changes.

Purchase an Anytime Fare:

Airlines do offer complimentary Early-Bird Check-in option to their Anytime fares but the fare should be purchased 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Select upgraded boarding:

If you don't want to purchase Southwest Business Select Fare then you can choose to buy the upgraded boarding option for which Airline charges nearly $ 30 and it can go up to $80 per way.  Passengers can easily purchase at the Airport gate or the ticket counter on the departure day. Otherwise, you can purchase it online by visiting the Airline's official website.

Use Southwest Credit Card:

Travelers can get the free Early-bird Check-in options if they make payment for the new purchase via Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card, Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card, and other cards. Therefore Early-bird check-in allows the travelers to board the flight first and then secure the preferred seat.

How to Obtain Early-Bird Check-In on Southwest?

You can purchase the Early Bird Check-in on Southwest Airlines either while making new reservations or in existing reservations. To learn the basic steps to add the Early-bird Check-in to booked flight tickets you should read the following information. Passengers who want to add Priority Check-in to booked flight tickets then you can book up to 36 hours before the flight departure time.

• Passengers should visit the Southwest Airlines official website.
• Then Log into your Southwest Account using the correct credentials.
• Now the customer should tap on the Check-in tab given on the homepage.
• The traveler needs to enter the booking reference code and Surname mentioned on the itinerary.
• Here you will find the Early-Bird Check-in option select it and follow further instructions to complete the process.
• Lastly, passengers should make payments to purchase the Priority Check-in option.

What can I get in Priority Check-in on Southwest?

There are multiple perks passengers will enjoy after purchasing Southwest Early bird Check-in starting from $15  per person on Southwest like Automatic check-in which assigns the boarding spot whether choose to print the boarding pass, Passengers will get earlier access to overhead bin space.