SWA EBCI questions - kind of panicking :)!

A

aidansmom

Mouseketeer
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
My family (myself, dh, ds13, dd10, ds7, and dd4) are flying Southwest for the first time next week. When I first booked our flights, I had looked into the boarding procedures and felt comfortable with checking in at 24 hours and not purchasing EBCI.

As the date approaches, and the more I read about it, I'm starting to get really nervous about it. I'm considering purchasing EBCI for myself and the older kids and letting my husband board with my youngest in family boarding. We actually prefer to sit in the back of the plane, but also would rather to be close together. Is ECBI necessary to accomplish that? Any opinions or experience with this would be greatly appreciated!
 
If you are flying Southwest next week, in my opinion, purchasing EBCI at this point won't help you much. EBCI boarding numbers are assigned according to order purchased (yes I know there are other factors like Business Class A1-15 and whatnot). Essentially, everyone on the plane who purchased EBCI up to this point will have a better boarding position than you if you purchase your EBCI now. I doubt it is worth it at this point since your trip is so close. I know hindsight is 20/20, but if you have that large of a family (6 people) and you were nervous/worried about all sitting together, you should have bought the EBCI when you bought the tickets. If you want to split 3 and 3, you could let your husband board during Family Boarding with the younger kids, and then the other 3 can board together with whoever has the worst boarding position (you can move back but not forward). But according to Southwest's website, the Family Boarding cutoff age is 6, so you only have 1 child that fits the criteria.

Others might have other opinions, but I really don't think EBCI would help you all that much this close to your trip. For example, if you are one of the last to get EBCI, you could get B12 for your boarding position, and if you just checked it at 24 hours, you could have B20.

I hope everything goes well for you. You will probably have a lot of people on here tell you that if you were that worried, you should have bought the EBCI right off the bat. You didn't and there is nothing you can do to change that, so you just have to figure out what you can do from here to ease your mind and help everyone get close together on the plane. Good luck.
 
Thanks so much for your response. Having never flown Southwest, all of this is new to us and the boarding procedure is a very foreign concept having only ever flown JetBlue since having kids. When I first booked the trip, I was reassured by the number of people who stated that booking at the 24 hour mark would be fine. At the time, I just figured I could add ECBI if I got nervous about it. Your point hadn't even occurred to me. In the future, we'll definitely either book it that way or, more likely, forego flying Southwest. It's looking more and more like it might not be the best option for large families with young kids.
 


Shelly F - Ohio said:
The family boarding is for anyone with a child age 4 and under not 6
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Not anymore. From the SW website:

https://www.southwest.com/html/travel-experience/boarding-your-flight/


An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. If the child and the adult are both holding an “A” boarding pass, they should both board with the “A” boarding group
Click to expand...

Doesn't really make a big difference for the OP - even using the cut-off of six years, only one child qualifies, but it is officially six years.
 


I imagine the dad could board with the four and seven year old without any issues. I'm not sure what the official rule would be on that.
 
Anytime I've flown SW, they have allowed both parents and all siblings board in family boarding. I have seen them turn away grandparents as part of the group. If you don't mind the back, I would take your chances. If they only allow 1 parent and the child, give them your jackets so they can save seats, everyone seems to get away with that.
 
Nothing to add, except we flew them 3 weeks ago out of mco to dca and they did announce family boarding was for children 6 and under. Op let us know how it goes. I would suspect you will be in B for sure if you do it at the 24 time. The 13 and 10 year old will probably manage 2 seats together. Hopefully the op and 7 year old can grab 2 seats together somewhere. We have flown SW 2 times this year and always buy ebci. I agree that buying it now won't help you. Btw, are you also flying them home? Will you be able to do the 24 hour call then.
 
I think you will be fine checking in at 24 hours exactly. Probably B, but you should be fine heading for the back of the plane.
 
Thanks for all the great advice! My oldest son will have no problem being on his own (in fact I think he would probably prefer it). But, my middle kids would definitely want to at least be able to see myself or my husband. It seems we'll be fine with family boarding for the youngest, so I'm hoping we'll be able to find something nearby for the middle kids.

It will be interesting to see how it goes. We're definitely tension/ confrontation averse people, so the idea of holding seats, etc. definitely makes me uncomfortable. It may turn out that Southwest just isn't for us, but I'm hoping we'll be pleasantly surprised.
 
supersnoop said:
I imagine the dad could board with the four and seven year old without any issues. I'm not sure what the official rule would be on that.
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I doubt the gate agent is going to even pause with a 4 and 7 year old with only one adult. Just don't make it painfully obvious in the gate area that you have multiple adults in the family, and your husband could probably board with your three youngest.

DebbieB said:
If they only allow 1 parent and the child, give them your jackets so they can save seats, everyone seems to get away with that.
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Just because "everyone is doing it", doesn't make it right. Don't be upset when I remove your coat from an empty seat if there are no better options. :wave:

aidansmom said:
We're definitely tension/ confrontation averse people, so the idea of holding seats, etc. definitely makes me uncomfortable. It may turn out that Southwest just isn't for us, but I'm hoping we'll be pleasantly surprised.
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Don't hold seats. Not only is it against the rules (regardless of enforcement), but it's also extremely rude. Despite all the fuss about ECBI and boarding groups, Southwest is a generally decent airline, and their boarding system is simple: see a seat you like, and sit in it. You mentioned that you like the back, that will greatly work to your advantage, as most people sit in the first seat they see. By just putting your head down and going straight to the back, you'll miss a lot of the fuss. As long as you have your finger on the button at 24 hours, you should be just fine.
 
Plaid Princess said:
Just because "everyone is doing it", doesn't make it right. Don't be upset when I remove your coat from an empty seat if there are no better options. :wave:
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I agree but SW doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. I've gotten to the point that you may as well do what is best for your or your family. You follow what is right and your family gets split up and the seat savers are together.
 
We just flew with SW less than a month ago. It was my husband, 8 year old, 7 year old, 5 year old and myself. i checked in 24 hours and was given boarding C. i was pretty surprised and was now getting nervous. When we got there they announced family boarding was 6 and under. We got in that line and everything was fine. There was still plenty of rows together in the back. We all boarded together. i think you will be fine and your whole family can board together.
 
Plaid Princess said:
Just because "everyone is doing it", doesn't make it right.
Click to expand...

Plaid Princess said:
Not only is it against the rules (regardless of enforcement),
Click to expand...

There is NO rule.

Save seats, sit in a seat being saved...it's all OK. There is NO rule.

I don't want to save seats, and I don't want to sit next to someone who was trying to save a seat until I sat there. I'm out of the whole situation. But there's no rule. That means that both sides are in the right.
 
We just flew Nov 19 and returned the 26. I have an 8, and three 6 and under. I checked in exactly 24 hours and I mean had the info loaded on the computer and hit check in as soon as the time on my computer changed to the minute I was 24 hours and we flew down with A40's. On the way back I checked in on my phone at the exact minute and five of us had the last of the A's while my 5 year old daughter had B1. Both flights southwest announced children under 6 and their parents and siblings for family boarding. I asked two different southwest agents how we should board since our five year old had B1, meaning should one of us stay with her and board with the family boarding and both told us just to have her board with us since the rest of us were A57-A60.
 
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