1st time flying w/ 4yr old; which airline...SW or AirTran??

[JustMe&Kayla]

I'm still undecided on which airline to book. Right now, both SW & AirTran are offering flights for $79 each way. It's just going to be my daughter & myself, so I'm trying to take the easiest route here! LOL I understand that SW has no assigned seats and that we would be able to get first picks over others. I'm concerned about how would I be able to pre-print our boarding passes while I'm @Disney. Do most of the resorts on Disney property allow you to do this? We are staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. Do I even need to worry about this since my daughter is 4 and we will get to pre board before everyone else?! Has anybody ever had any problems flying SW? I'm leaning more towards SW because they offer more flights out of BWI, but don't want to set myself up for any uneeded hassles of printing boarding passes after midnight. Does anyone prefer AirTran over SW?

Thanks in advance!

Kelly

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I prefer SWA out of BWI. Like you said, they offer more flights and every single flight I've been on to MCO has actually arrived early!

Don't worry about printing the boarding pass at the resorts. Last I heard, all resorts can do that for you now. If you run into someone who is unwilling and not aware they are allowed to do it for you, then check back later with someone else. I would not worry about printing your boarding passes at 12:01 for BWI-MCO but I would try to have someone at POR print them out for you on the MCO-BWI leg because there has been a few times when there have been so many children that it was useless to pre-board. Better to be safe than sorry!

Hope this helps!

 

[Disney On A Dime!]

We have flown both SW and AirTran to Disney with children. We love both! We usually book with the airline that has the lowest rate. In your case both rates are the same - so I guess it comes down to flight schedule. I would go with the airline that has the best flight schedule to meet my needs. If you still can't decide - my pick would be AirTran - for the fact that they have assigned seats. Our family tends to be able to arrive at the airport later with AirTran due to them having the assigned seats. With SW we always feel the need to be there early - even to get into the line with children. Both are great airlines!