Southwest short connection at BWI

[pigletto]

I did a google search and have been reading similar threads about this issue but decided to start a new post to get recent experiences.

Our departing flight from Buffalo has a connection. When I booked it, the connection time was 1 hour and 35 minutes which I was more than fine with.
This morning the flight times were changed. Now the connection at BWI is 35 minutes.

I am assuming it is doable. I went ahead and purchased EBCI to increases our chances of being near the front of the plane and we will grab our things and get off as soon as possible. I realize this is no absolute guarantee of an A boarding position though.. especially now that I have purchase EBCI at the 3 week mark.

Does anyone have experience with Southwest connections at BWI? Unfortunately it is not an airport I am familiar with. My plan is when I print my boarding passes and can see what gates the flights will be landing and departing from I can pull up a map of BWI and determine the exact walking route we need to take to get to our connection.

While I would obviously prefer to sit together, we will have to manage. I do have an 8 year old that would be very nervous if he couldn't at least see us so I am hoping one of us can be as near as possible to him. He is well behaved and would not disturb other passengers or cause a scene, but he would be much more comfortable near one of us. The rest of us are 15 or older and can manage being apart with no issues.

So if anyone could share a recent experience with a short Southwest connection at BWI I would love to hear them.
It is a very late flight (8:05 pm departing, arriving at MCO at midnight).

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

As long as your first flight is on time, you will be okay; your departing gate should be pretty close to your arriving gate. You can use Google to find a map of BWI so you can see the terminal.

That said, if your flight is on time, your connecting flight will very likely already be boarding by the time you get to your next gate, so just be prepared for possibly not getting seats together, although you should be able to find sets of 2 together.

 

[pigletto]

Thank you

I think you are right that it will be ok. In all of my reading of old threads I haven't found anyone who says they missed the connection with Southwest so they must be pretty good about it.
Ideally we'd like to sit together but it won't be the end of the world if we can't. Even with 8 year old ds, I can put a movie on the tablet for him and put his head phones in and the flight will be over before he knows it. He's an awesome traveller and very polite, so I don't worry about not being directly beside him, but we do need to be close enough that he can see us and we can see him easily(a row in front or behind for example).

 

[MickeynMinnie]

Hi!! Im on the same flight!! just got a call today with the schedule time change! i was a little worried too but think it should be ok!:O)

 

[MickeynMinnie]

wait, are you leaving May 4th?

 

[pezheadmeg]

I did a 30 minute connection back in January, it's doable at BWI. Register for the text alerted, when the first plane lands you'll have the gate for flight 2.

And be ready to walk quickly! I had to go from A16 to B6. But I still went to the restroom and got a snack before they started boarding. EBCI had given me A32 on a flight where Business Select was to A20.

 

[ccgirl]

I did a google search and have been reading similar threads about this issue but decided to start a new post to get recent experiences.

Our departing flight from Buffalo has a connection. When I booked it, the connection time was 1 hour and 35 minutes which I was more than fine with.
This morning the flight times were changed. Now the connection at BWI is 35 minutes.

I am assuming it is doable. I went ahead and purchased EBCI to increases our chances of being near the front of the plane and we will grab our things and get off as soon as possible. I realize this is no absolute guarantee of an A boarding position though.. especially now that I have purchase EBCI at the 3 week mark.

Does anyone have experience with Southwest connections at BWI? Unfortunately it is not an airport I am familiar with. My plan is when I print my boarding passes and can see what gates the flights will be landing and departing from I can pull up a map of BWI and determine the exact walking route we need to take to get to our connection.

While I would obviously prefer to sit together, we will have to manage. I do have an 8 year old that would be very nervous if he couldn't at least see us so I am hoping one of us can be as near as possible to him. He is well behaved and would not disturb other passengers or cause a scene, but he would be much more comfortable near one of us. The rest of us are 15 or older and can manage being apart with no issues.

So if anyone could share a recent experience with a short Southwest connection at BWI I would love to hear them.
It is a very late flight (8:05 pm departing, arriving at MCO at midnight).

I have had a connection of 40 minutes at BWI and by the time I got to the gate they were already boarding. I had an A boarding pass but ended up boarding at the end of the B's. IF there is another flight that interests you more, you could call SW and see about changing that. I know they have let me change flights (with no payment needed) for a 45 minute flight change before.

Good luck.

 

[Ed J]

I know they have let me change flights (with no payment needed) for a 45 minute flight change before.

Wow you must have really sweet talked that CSR to wave the change fee on a Southwest flight

pigletto, I've had connections on Southwest 1/2 a dozen times this year, half of those flights had families wanting to sit together. The fight attendants encouraged people to move so at least each kid got to sit next to a family member. One flight last year going to MCO they even asked for people to move so the last family on could sit 2+2. My experience on SW tells me you have no worries.

 

[MickeynMinnie]

I did a 30 minute connection back in January, it's doable at BWI. Register for the text alerted, when the first plane lands you'll have the gate for flight 2.

And be ready to walk quickly! I had to go from A16 to B6. But I still went to the restroom and got a snack before they started boarding. EBCI had given me A32 on a flight where Business Select was to A20.

Where do you register for text alerts? i don;t see it on their website

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Wow you must have really sweet talked that CSR to wave the change fee on a Southwest flight

pigletto, I've had connections on Southwest 1/2 a dozen times this year, half of those flights had families wanting to sit together. The fight attendants encouraged people to move so at least each kid got to sit next to a family member. One flight last year going to MCO they even asked for people to move so the last family on could sit 2+2. My experience on SW tells me you have no worries.

The nice thing about SWA is that they do not charge change fees!

I would sit in the front of the plane. Nothing like having to wait for a ton of people ahead of you to grab their stuff and get off the plan which will eat into your connection time.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Where do you register for text alerts? i don;t see it on their website

Here is the link

http://www.southwest.com/flight/flight-notification-subscribe.html?int=GSUBNAV-TOOLS-MESSAGING

 

[pigletto]

Hi!! Im on the same flight!! just got a call today with the schedule time change! i was a little worried too but think it should be ok!:O)

It looks like we are a week earlier than you I can post and let you know how it went though!

I didn't get a phone call. They just resent my confirmation email which I thought was weird until I noticed the time change! It didn't say anything about noting the time change specifically so I hope people read them carefully.

I might call tomorrow and see if we can switch. But to be honest I can't go earlier (work) so that would put us leaving Saturday morning and I'd prefer to be there already when we wake up Saturday. It would mean changing the rental car and dropping a hotel reservation for the night. Not sure I can do that without fees at this point. It's worth thinking about though.

Thank you for all the detailed answers. And I will sign up for the text alerts

 

[ccgirl]

Wow you must have really sweet talked that CSR to wave the change fee on a Southwest flight

pigletto, I've had connections on Southwest 1/2 a dozen times this year, half of those flights had families wanting to sit together. The fight attendants encouraged people to move so at least each kid got to sit next to a family member. One flight last year going to MCO they even asked for people to move so the last family on could sit 2+2. My experience on SW tells me you have no worries.

The nice thing about SWA is that they do not charge change fees! I would sit in the front of the plane. Nothing like having to wait for a ton of people ahead of you to grab their stuff and get off the plan which will eat into your connection time.

SW does not charge change fees even if they did not move the time of your flight. If the price of my new flight is less than my old one, I get a ticketless travel credit. If it is more, I do have to pay the difference. The exception is if SW changed your flight time. I just called and said it was not convenient for me as it was super early in the morning. They said no problem and booked me on another one. I just did that with Jet Blue too. Jet Blue said they allow changes to the flight when their change to the flight time is greater than 30 minutes.

 

[pigletto]

Success!!!! Thank you for your help everyone!

I thought about it and was worried about our luggage making it. I was worried about US making it, and I was worried about not being able to sit anywhere near my 8 year old. I figured it was worth a shot. I got a really nice customer service lady (who LOVES Disney by the way).
She originally offered me the flight that was departing a few hours earlier but I can't take that one because of needing to work a full day on Friday.
So they booked me on the Saturday morning non-stop
No fees, No upcharge. I did lose my EBC for that flight however. I will check in manually at the 24 hour mark.

So all in all it worked out. Thank you for all the advice.
And MickeynMinnie, it might be worth a call if there is another flight you are more comfortable with

 

[MickeynMinnie]

Success!!!! Thank you for your help everyone!

I thought about it and was worried about our luggage making it. I was worried about US making it, and I was worried about not being able to sit anywhere near my 8 year old. I figured it was worth a shot. I got a really nice customer service lady (who LOVES Disney by the way).
She originally offered me the flight that was departing a few hours earlier but I can't take that one because of needing to work a full day on Friday.
So they booked me on the Saturday morning non-stop
No fees, No upcharge. I did lose my EBC for that flight however. I will check in manually at the 24 hour mark.

So all in all it worked out. Thank you for all the advice.
And MickeynMinnie, it might be worth a call if there is another flight you are more comfortable with

What did you say to them??? Im not sure if i can change because i am using a free flight.
thats awesome for you!! im glad it all worked out!

 

[MrMarv]

Another thing to keep in mind is that SWA does pad their schedules like all of the other airlines; although your first flight is scheduled for 70 minutes, don't be surprised if you wind up arriving at BWI 5-15 minutes earlier, weather permitting, and the same goes for your flight from BWI/MCO--don't be surprised if you arrive early on that flight.

A 35-minute connection time at most SWA hubs is plenty; that's been the gist of their operations for 40+years!

 

[pigletto]

What did you say to them??? Im not sure if i can change because i am using a free flight.
thats awesome for you!! im glad it all worked out!

I literally just said what I said here. I had no expectations and was nice about it. I explained that we had booked because we were comfortable with the layover time being an hour and 35 minutes, but it had been changed to 35 and now we were concerned about possibly missing our connection as it is the last flight of the evening.
The rep literally said "I understand, let me see what we can do for you". She first offered me the flight earlier in the day, I thanked her and explained I couldn't do that because I had to work until that time. I asked if she thought the first flight out the next morning would be possible. She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and said "Yes we can do that for you".

It was easy peasy. I wasn't going to fuss or fight, just wanted to see what they thought. It seems they knew some people would call in because of the short connection change. It's worth a try. All they can say is no, in which case you are no worse off.

 

[MickeynMinnie]

I literally just said what I said here. I had no expectations and was nice about it. I explained that we had booked because we were comfortable with the layover time being an hour and 35 minutes, but it had been changed to 35 and now we were concerned about possibly missing our connection as it is the last flight of the evening.
The rep literally said "I understand, let me see what we can do for you". She first offered me the flight earlier in the day, I thanked her and explained I couldn't do that because I had to work until that time. I asked if she thought the first flight out the next morning would be possible. She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and said "Yes we can do that for you".

It was easy peasy. I wasn't going to fuss or fight, just wanted to see what they thought. It seems they knew some people would call in because of the short connection change. It's worth a try. All they can say is no, in which case you are no worse off.

I called this morning and got my flight changed back to 7:05pm! I feel alot better!! thanks for the info! she said that she didn't know why my flight got changed out of buffalo because it was the flight from balt to orlando that changed!! well back on my original flight and happy!! thanks!!

 

[SaraJayne]

Success!!!! Thank you for your help everyone!

I thought about it and was worried about our luggage making it. I was worried about US making it, and I was worried about not being able to sit anywhere near my 8 year old. I figured it was worth a shot. I got a really nice customer service lady (who LOVES Disney by the way).
She originally offered me the flight that was departing a few hours earlier but I can't take that one because of needing to work a full day on Friday.
So they booked me on the Saturday morning non-stop
No fees, No upcharge. I did lose my EBC for that flight however. I will check in manually at the 24 hour mark.

So all in all it worked out. Thank you for all the advice.
And MickeynMinnie, it might be worth a call if there is another flight you are more comfortable with

I wouldn't worry about your luggage. The ground crews are great.

Last year, due to various ground delays, we ended up with a 10 min connection window in ATL on Delta. We were certain our luggage wouldn't make the flight (we barely did! ), but it was there when it came time to pick up luggage.

BWI is pretty compact, so you should be ok. Just sit near the front of the plane and you'll be among the first off.

 

[SaraJayne]

I called this morning and got my flight changed back to 7:05pm! I feel alot better!! thanks for the info! she said that she didn't know why my flight got changed out of buffalo because it was the flight from balt to orlando that changed!! well back on my original flight and happy!! thanks!!

Great! Now you can stop worrying about the time.