I guess my question is whether the boarding pass determines who goes on the plane first. I thought there are no assigned seats on Southwest - am I wrong?

People with an "A" boarding pass, get on the plane first

B Second

C Third

You can print out your boarding pass 24 hours in advance

So if your flight is at 1:30 pm Monday, you can print your boarding pass 1:30 pm Sunday. If you do this shortly after 1:30 you should get an "A" boarding pass

When you print the pass it will have a letter on it

If you get an A you will probably get the seat you want, maybe with a B and so on.

chele, boarding passes are issued on a first come, first served basis. Normally, first to load are passengers with small children and special needs. (You might want to call SWA to see if your child qualifies.) The "A" passes boards before "b" and "C". This is why you see the different lines (the A, b, and c lines.

Thanks everyone for the info, I'll be sure to be on my computer to print them out. I had to laugh hitchhiker 55 when you spoke about my child - she's 22 so I don't think she'll qualify!! She just tends to have motion sickness and doesn't seem to have a problem with it when she sits by a window.

Yes the borading porcess is based upon the letter printed on the borading pass. I've printed mine out within 23-24 hours before hand and have always gotten a "A" boarding pass. We also try to be at the gate area 1-1.5 hours before the flight to be able to be in the front of the line; take turns standing/sitting there (family of 3), and we have always been able to get seats together.

Non reserved seats are a small price to pay, for the reduced fares that Southwest offers; have fun.

I show up at the airport a couple of hours before my flight and still get an A boarding pass. If you really need it though, definitely check in early.

To guarantee the seats you want :

1) check in online asap. I always get "A" boarding when checking in online 24hrs in advance. A couple of times I didn't check in online until a few hours before and got "B" boarding. I always get "B" boarding if not checking in until I get to the airport.

2) Get toi the gate 30-45 mins before boarding time. I've been at the gate as much as an hour in advance of boarding time and have had to stand in the back of a 30-40 person "A" line.

Hope this helps!

My experience has been if I wait until I check in at the airport, I am always in the C line. Just came back from Vegas and asked the hotel clerk to print boarding pass at 8A for at 3P flight and got a B borading. Leaving, we printed out boarding passes 24 hours in advance and got A boarding. Since I was traveling with someone, I wanted to assure that we could sit together and not in the back of the plane, so I tried to get boarding pass earlier.

Of course, it was this forum where I learned the difference in the A, B and C boarding lines.

We just flew Southwest and I recommend checking in online and printing your boarding passes as soon as you can 24 hours ahead. We had 6 of us and I went on exactly 24 hours before our flight and got the A group. On the flight home, we logged on at the hotel the morning of of our flight and got the B group.