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Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

checkintomyflight.com

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Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#61

Post by geekfactor »

Osiris wrote: post #25
wangarific wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some other factor is usually $.

Having been a frequent flyer, I have noticed that Southwest's rates are no longer as low and competitive as they were in the past. Frontier Airlines here in Denver usually has lower rates and better amenities, like Direct TV and stretch seating. Too bad I have all my airline points with Southwest.

I used to fly SWA pretty frequently too, and now I never even bother to check their site unless I'm planning very far in advance. They are usually 30-50% more expensive than even traditional carriers on most routes originating in St. Louis.

Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#63

Post by thronemonkey »

nikilster wrote: post #56
livestyle wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just signed up.. I fly Southwest all the time and this is a MAJOR pain point.. BRILLANT!! If you do get shutdown.. will you honor the existing reservations made?

haha thanks!!! Um... I'll try, wanna help?

even if you get shutdon you've inspired me to write a script to do it myself. any chance you would publish your code if you were shutdown?

Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#64

Post by srj55 »

This is a bad idea. Not only is it against Southwest policy, it also pisses off people like myself who actually go and check-in "exactly" 24 hours before and end up with a "B-7" boarding pass!!!!!

Clearly, Southwest has their reasons for assigning boarding priority 0-24hrs before flight on a first-come-first-serve basis, or else they would just assign priority during payment (early-bird checkin $10 notwithstanding).

Possible Reasons: 1) Loyal customers can get a "one-up" on new fliers or people who don't really care when they board and where they sit. 2) People who don't change flights within 24 hrs of takeoff can also take advantage of this --the rest might be "penalized" in this model.

Sites like "checkintomyflight.com" break apart the aformentioned model.

But, this is hacker news. So, congrats on building this service.

Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#65

Post by Radix_ »

nikilster wrote: post #38
jetcom wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, nice job on this Nikil- very cool implementation. HN has been becoming increasingly cynical as of late- don't let it get to you.

Thanks!! Really appreciate it! So this is actually my first time on the site (I've seen the homepage maybe once or twice before). A friend had told me to post it on here and so I did thinking that I could share this with some more people who could benefit from it and was pretty surprised at the negativity!

Well then you might like to know that HN used to be constantly positive when new projects were released here. And were always constructively critical with the critics writing directly to the author with an intent to help.

So when jetcom says HN has become cynical, it's really true.

Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#66

Post by Osiris »

nikilster wrote: post #30
Osiris wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. Early bird and A-List automatic checkins occur 36 hours prior to the departure of the flight. The general boarding checkin starts 24 hours prior.

Awesome, thanks for the info - just curious how did you find this out?

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?top...

Southwest Airlines automatically reserves a boarding pass for A-List Members beginning 36 hours prior to scheduled departure of the Member's confirmed Southwest Airlines flight.

Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#67

Post by dave1619 »

Simple yet brilliant. I love the simple design and clean user experience. Emailing me when I've checked in with my boarding pass is extra nice as well. Well done, Nikil!

I was just buying a Southwest ticket and was complaining about having to remember to check in when I found this site. It made my day.

Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#69

Post by ShabbyDoo »

srj55 wrote: post #64

This is a bad idea. Not only is it against Southwest policy, it also pisses off people like myself who actually go and check-in "exactly" 24 hours before and end up with a "B-7" boarding pass!!!!! Clearly, Southwest has their reasons for assigning boarding priority 0-24hrs before flight on a first-come-first-serve basis, or else they would just assign priority during payment (early-bird checkin $10 notwithstanding).…

A-List folks get auto-assigned a boarding order 36 hours before a flight starting with A-16. A1-15 are the "Business Select" seats for which a premium is charged. So, on flights with many frequent fliers, many of the "A" slots may be not be available even to those who check in early.

Re: Automatically Check In To (get an awesome seat on) Your Next Southwest Flight

#70

Post by timjahn »

nikilster wrote: post #43
patrickod wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're giving you enough information to get the itinerary through the website no? If so then I see no reason why I wouldn't just forward the email for the sake of convenience.

That's true - okay good idea - I'll see if I can whip this up. Any ideas on the best way to receive and have a system to grab and parse email?

SendGrid has a fantastic Parse API for this (available on the free plan): http://docs.sendgrid.com/documentation/api/parse-api-2/
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