Airport arrival time

[Eeyoreluver]

My DD and I are flying on Southwest Airlines. My question is do we have to be at the airport 2 hours before our plane takes off? What is a good time to arrive?
Thanks,
Gina

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I'd say getting there an hour and a half ahead of time is fine. The earlier the better with Southwest though. How old is your dd? Families with children under 12 are allowed to preboard, which means you wouldn't have to get to the airport quite as early.

 

[Eeyoreluver]

Thanks DisneyAdditt_M, I was hoping maybe I could wait until later to arrive. We live 21/2 hours from the airport. Oh well, we will just have to get up really early. My DD is 19, so I think I will miss out on early boarding. At least we are going to DisneyWorld.
Gina

 

[Jestocost]

If you check in online you can get an earlier boarding group and not have to get to the airport too early. If you're checking luggage I'd still suggest at least 90 minutes before your flight time. If you don't check in online, you might want to plan to be there the full two hours early to give yourself a better chance of being in the first group to ensure that you get seats together. With just two of you, your chances of not getting seats together is pretty slim unless you're really late (or everyone else is really early), so you shouldn't have too much to worry about in any event.

To be clear for other DISers, I'm pretty sure that the SWA cut off age for pre-boarding is children under 5, not children under 12. Many other airlines don't even offer pre-boarding at all anymore.