Mini-Rant about Southwest Early Bird Check In

Almost all of our trips to Vegas are flown on Southwest where I have amassed over 100,000 points.  We are able to get direct flights from the Seattle airport which makes for a quick and easy 2.5 hour (or less) flight.  We only need to pay for the Sept 11 fees which are $11.20 per person for the roundtrip flight. 

On our most recent trip in June 2015, I paid for my husband to have the Early Bird check in which cost $12.50 each way, a total of $25 extra.  Early Bird check in is a fee service where Southwest will automatically check you in and supposedly you get a much better assigned spot in the boarding line.  Since boarding is first come first served according to when you check in, this can often be a great service to have if you're unable to check in right at the 24 hour mark.  This would allow my husband to get on board before I do, grab 2 seats together closer to the front of the plane and have a spot in the overhead bin for our rolling carry on.

Well, I've since discovered that paying for the Early Bird is something of a crap shoot.  Early Bird is available to everyone - Southwest does not limit it to a certain number of people.  What ended up happening on our flight to Vegas is that my husband was a whole 3 seats ahead of me in the boarding line.  This specific flight, it was not worth the extra fee paid.  :( 

I tried asking what the deal was at the check in counter and they tried to upsell me on the premium boarding for another $40.  Um, no thanks!  Early Bird is also first come first serve based on who paid for it when.  Since there is no cap on the number of people who can purchase this "service", this is how we ended up paying $12.50 for my husband to be a whopping 3 places ahead of me.

So, I guess my lesson learned is - you might not get what you pay for. ??  I think it's still worth the small cost and the small risk even though you might end up with a poor boarding spot barely better than self check in at the 24 hour mark.  It would be Great if Southwest put a cap on the Early Bird to A16-60 so at least if you're buying it, you know you'll be in the first boarding group.  I highly doubt that Southwest would cap their own cash cow however so I'm not holding my breath.