What time to arrive for SW flight from Indy???

[Shelby5514]

Ok fellow Hoosiers, what time should we arrive for 12:55 Southwest flight from IND to MCO? We flew SW a few years ago and arrived 2 hours early and boarded in the first group. With the new online boarding passes should we go any earlier? Unfortunately we are booked on the same reservation so we can not use the online boarding option.

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

BTW there are only 2 of us.

Shelby5514

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

http://www.southwestair.com/travel_center/suggested_arrival.html

I am not from IND, but, I usually arrive about two hours early and have, until this new feature, not had a problem getting an A boarding pass.

 

[Battleship Bob]

Hi Shelby 5514,

Hoosiers Unite !!!

We're taking that same flight in about 3 1/2 weeks and are planning on being at IND no later than 11:00 AM.

NOTE.......We originally had one reservation for 3 of us but after SW came out with the online check-in option last week I followed the lead of several folks on this board.........I called SW and asked if I can change my 1 ressie for 3 people into 3 separate ressies so I can take advantage of the online check-in. The very helpful agent put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with 3 separate reservation numbers. One of us retained the original number and the others had 2 completely new numbers. The agent assured me that my cost would remain the same and that I would receive confirmation e-mails when their system processed the changes.

It was maybe 6 hours later that I could access my e-mail and sure enough........EVERYTHING was in order!!!

I called SWA Customer Service right then & there to let them know I appreciated the agents efforts. I was impressed !!!

I'm sure they can change your 1 ressie into 2 separate ones if you want to go that way.

Bob

 

[jl3614]

Hi,

This is my first post - so I hope I do it correctly.

I usually fly ATA rather than SWA, so I can not accurately answer your arrival time question. In fact the last time I flew SWA they boarded in groups of 30 rather than the current A, B, C system.

This flight (2489) originates at Chicago - Midway and is only on the ground for 25 minutes in IND. Will the Chicago passengers de-plane? If they do I would think the flight would be chronically late - no way to get everyone off and back on in 25 minutes, besides that it would be extremely unfair to those people - they would by default get all the "C" boarding slots - the people waiting IND will have taken all the "A" an "B" seats. Then again, if the Chicago passengers stay on the plane, the IND people will not have a shot at the best seats because the incumbents will have taken them all.

Regarding online check-in - is it allowed if you have checked baggage, I thought if you had checked luggage you had to check in at the airport - either out front with a sky-cap or at the counter.

I have a question for all of you. We are traveling with small children (ages 3 and 5) for the first time. Does SWA have pre-boarding for folks with small children? Within the A, B,C system what is done to insure families (especially those with small kids) board together?

We are traveling over spring break, so have another 6 weeks to wait, but I am curious anticipating how our first flight with the kids will go. We have driven down the last couple years - it is 16 to 19 hours depending on how fast you drive, length and number of stops, and the amount of road construction you encounter.

 

[DJT]

We flew SW out of Indy in September. We arrived an hour early and were boarded in the "A" group. SW recommends arriving at Louisville and Indy an hour early. Those airports are so much smaller than MCO which I suppose is the reason for only an hour early arrival rather than the two hours recommended at MCO.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by jl3614
Hi,

This is my first post - so I hope I do it correctly.

I usually fly ATA rather than SWA, so I can not accurately answer your arrival time question. In fact the last time I flew SWA they boarded in groups of 30 rather than the current A, B, C system.

This flight (2489) originates at Chicago - Midway and is only on the ground for 25 minutes in IND. Will the Chicago passengers de-plane? If they do I would think the flight would be chronically late - no way to get everyone off and back on in 25 minutes, besides that it would be extremely unfair to those people - they would by default get all the "C" boarding slots - the people waiting IND will have taken all the "A" an "B" seats. Then again, if the Chicago passengers stay on the plane, the IND people will not have a shot at the best seats because the incumbents will have taken them all.

Regarding online check-in - is it allowed if you have checked baggage, I thought if you had checked luggage you had to check in at the airport - either out front with a sky-cap or at the counter.

I have a question for all of you. We are traveling with small children (ages 3 and 5) for the first time. Does SWA have pre-boarding for folks with small children? Within the A, B,C system what is done to insure families (especially those with small kids) board together?

We are traveling over spring break, so have another 6 weeks to wait, but I am curious anticipating how our first flight with the kids will go. We have driven down the last couple years - it is 16 to 19 hours depending on how fast you drive, length and number of stops, and the amount of road construction you encounter.

If that flight starts from Midway and this is a stop for this plane, then the people going to Orlando will not deplane, BUT, anyone going somewhere else will. If, by chance, the pax are allowed to deplane, then they have little cards that state the seat is reserved and they do not have to get another boarding card. BTW, there are no "a", "b" or "c" seats, they are all the same and all subject to the open seating policy.

You can check in online with checked luggage, you will just use the sky cap (tipping them is nice) or the counter.

You can preboard with your children ages 4 and under and since you have a 3 year old, the entire family can preboard. If the flight has a lot of children, which does happen, there will be no preboarding except for special needs. They will issue a blue sleeve for your boarding pass and you get into a special preboarding line, usually to the left of the A line.

 

[jl3614]

Gail,

Thank you for the information.

Jeff

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by jl3614
Gail,

Thank you for the information.

Jeff

Jeff,
You are entirely welcome.

 

[Gary M]

We usually fly ATA from IND to MCO because we like the assigned seats on ATA. Last Dec. we flew SWA to MCO from IND. You can get your boarding pass at either curb side or at the check-in counter. The people from Chicago to MCO stayed on the plane. We got to the airport about 2 hours early and got the A boarding pass.

The preboard group was very large, but DW and I still got seats together. There were more people in the preboard group than in group A.