Southwest Airlines Takes On Site That Makes It Much Easier and Cheaper to Check In Early

By Robert Wilonsky Tue., Feb. 28 2012 at 9:00 AM

Remnants of a simpler time ...

Love Field-based Southwest makes it easy to check in early: Pay the carrier an extra $20 for a round-trip flight, and as soon as the early-bird check-in line opens, some 36 hours before take-off, you'll get a boarding pass in the much-coveted Group A. Which isn't guaranteed, mind you, but it couldn't hurt: Says the airline, hey, cough up the $10 for each leg of your trip, and "it improves your seat selection options to help you get your favorite seat" and gets you "your pick of available overhead bin space." Because nobody likes to get stuck in Group D.

But no so fast, promises the website MySouthwestCheckin.com. Why give Southwest an extra $20 for round-trip early check-in when you can pay just ... waitaminute, $5? Says the Arizona-based site, it you download and use its check-in app, "As soon as the check-in window opens, the software on your computer will contact the Southwest website and perform the automatic check-in on your behalf." And the folks running that site are pretty proud of sticking it to Southwest, taunting its legal department by insisting they aren't doing a damned thing wrong:

Southwest seems to think this means we are violating the "browser wrap" agreement that says we can't use their website to provide a Southwest Boarding Pass. We're not using their website -- you are. In effect we're just saving your keystrokes and running them at a more convenient time on your behalf. Our computers don't connect to Southwest's computers -- your computer does.

Well, Southwest has had enough of that: A flip through PACER this morning reveals that Southwest sued the site in Dallas federal court Monday, claiming that passengers using MySouthwestCheckin.com's software are cutting to the front of the virtual line, which ain't right. And the software, says the carrier, is also "preventing Southwest's customers from visiting Southwest.com" and "[depriving] Southwest of selling and advertising opportunities and interfer[ing] with the purchasing cycle of Southwest's customers." Which is causing "economic injury." Which is why the carrier filed the suit you can read below. Southwest v. MySouthwestCheckin.com

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Jillyjiller

Cattle finding a way to get to the front of the stampede. Fly a real airline if you want top be treated like a real passenger....

Omar Jimenez

So then whos the fake airline?

ScottsMerkin

you ever seen a guy with a fake head

i don't understand why anyone would even pay the $5 - dense i guess - it's about the trip not the seating - the seats are all bad

Stylesjw78

Does anyone edit these blog posts for grammar and punctuation?

ScottsMerkin

Where is the uproar over this early check in FEE

DuckDuckGoose

Early check in gets you to the destination how much sooner?

Arthur Alford

It doesn't; just reduces your chances of being stuck in Middle Seat Hell.

ScottsMerkin

I fly the bankrupt airline everytime, of course my wife works for em so im either in first or stuck in the middle seat at the back of the plane. Oh well, if it gets u where ur going, thats the idea right

Gus Mitchem

Fucking whiners !

its an optional fee and a little simple math will tell you that your not getting stuck in a middle seat, there are only 60 A's.

and if you are so worried about your assigned seating, drive to DFW and get on one of those bankrupt airlines

ScottsMerkin

You know how to guarantee no middle seat hell? assigned seating

Marvin Haggler

I wonder how much Southwest would charge me to sit in a rear middle seat without bringing any carry on bags and let me board with the business select class so I could look important. Probably not much of a discount to be found there because the looking important aspect seems to account for most of the premium on the ticket: I can't imagine that a 3-4 minute earlier exit and first dibs on baggage compartments would otherwise account for the 200% jack over other available fares.