RAC and southwest grouping assignments

alisonslp

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
We are new to RAC or DME and have some questions specific to Southwest. I tried searching but it is so hard weeding through the thousands of posts on the threads and the search function didn't help much.

I understand that RAC can check us and the luggage in and print our boarding passes. Does that occur when we bring our luggage down the morning of departure or do they check guest in at the 24 hour mark? If it's the first, how do people who fly on SW handle this since you really need to check in at the 24 hour mark to get a good boarding group? Is it better just to plan to check in ourselves? If we do that, can we still use the baggage check-in the morning of?

Thanks!
 
I just check-in online or on the SWA app, without regard to what time I take my luggage to RAC. You do not need to have RAC check you in, they just can. This is the same when you take your luggage to your home airport, you don't wait to check in when you arrive at the airport. You check-in at 24 hour mark and handle luggage later. Have a great trip!

You will check yourself in at the 24 hour mark. You will take your luggage on day of departure (between 5am and 2pm) to RAC where they can give you Boarding passes and luggage claim tickets.
 
When we flew Southwest in January, we checked ourselves in at the 24 hour mark. RAC I don't think does it until the morning of, so I would do it myself. We checked our suitcases with them the next morning no problem and they printed our boarding passes with the correct boarding group on them. Have a great trip!
 
Definitely set an alarm on your phone and check in 24 hours out yourself. It's so easy to forget if you're in the parks though. So so either set the alarm or spring for Early Bird.
 




We were at AKL last week, RAC open 5 am to 12 pm. I checked us in at the 24 hr mark (SW) and found our boarding passes and luggage tags on our door the next morning. We put the tags on, brought the luggage to RAC around check out time (11 am) and they took it from there. Very easy!
 
A word of warning if you are setting an alarm on your phone and coming from a different time zone - make sure the alarm is set to the proper time in the Eastern time zone. The last time I was there, I set the alarm at home before we left and it got set for our home time zone. When my phone automatically changed time zones, the alarm did not and it went off two hours late. We got the worst possible boarding position - there were only four people behind us in line. Not fun with two small children who at the time were just barely too old for us to qualify for family boarding. We will be springing for early bird boarding next time.
 
I just check-in online or on the SWA app

Same thing we do wherever we are traveling. With Southwest, 'checking in' on-line relates to getting assigned a boarding group (since their flights don't have assigned seats) and has nothing to do with luggage. You can also pay for an upgrade with Southwest where they automatically check you in without having to worry about the 24 hour timeframe.
 
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I always get the Early Bird when booking Southwest. I have found its definitely worth it.
Me too...especially when flying home. I never want to have to worry about where I will be at T-24 before we go home. It's not as difficult for the trip TO Florida because we are so excited and it is part of the preparation. Coming home is a different story. I don't want to have to concern myself with finding internet access or whether or not I will be on a ride or in a show and have to check in. I have found that it is VERY important to check in EXACTLY at the 24-hour mark. Even a few minutes late will almost always result in High-B or even C-group boarding and that is not something I want, especially when travelling with my family. I just factor the cost of EBCI into the cost of the ticket.
 
Me too...especially when flying home. I never want to have to worry about where I will be at T-24 before we go home. It's not as difficult for the trip TO Florida because we are so excited and it is part of the preparation. Coming home is a different story. I don't want to have to concern myself with finding internet access or whether or not I will be on a ride or in a show and have to check in. I have found that it is VERY important to check in EXACTLY at the 24-hour mark. Even a few minutes late will almost always result in High-B or even C-group boarding and that is not something I want, especially when travelling with my family. I just factor the cost of EBCI into the cost of the ticket.
We will be paying for the early bird on the way home. I checked in at exact time and got kicked out for being "early". 30 seconds later, it let me check in and we were already at B15. Now, there may be a lot of early birds for this flight, I don't know. But I am not risking missing the T24 time on the way back.
 

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