Another Southwest question

[Malibustyle23]

I'm saving up to fly for our next trip from BWI to MCO through Southwest next year.

We didn't fly our last two trips and haven't flown since 2006 and 7 when our son was only 2 and 3 and our dd was yet to be born.

Needless to say a lot has changed and I have forgotten. I believe we got early boarding since our son was so young and possibly I checked in early.

Now I'm starting to get worried about checking in early, not getting an early enough boarding pass, no assigned seating, etc. It's really starting to stress me out an old haven't even set a date yet!

By next year at time of travel it will be DH, DS 12, DD7 and I traveling next year. While I know most think 12 year olds are perfectly fine on their own my dd is developmentally delayed, has socializing issues, tics, etc, etc. He's not looking forward to the plane ride already and is nervous. And of course I wouldn't want my 7 year old sitting by herself either. I guess my question is has anyone had 4 completely separate seating areas for their family on SW? I don't expect us 4 to sit together but is it unreasonable to hope and expect we could sit two together on the plane without having to buy extra early boarding stuff or business select or anything else I'm not aware of?

Please help with your experiences, I'd really like to calm down my nerves!

 

[kateandy08096]

Im almost certain people with children board first. I have flown SWA several times and never had a problem all sitting together

 

[gncntry]

Southwest family boarding occurs between groups A and B. Family boarding only applies if you have children age 4 and younger. I would recommend you investigate purchasing Early Bird checkin for your family. It costs $25 per round trip ticket and automatically checks you in 36 hours prior to the flight. There is no guarantee that you will get Group A but it is more likely if you have Early Check in

 

[Gracie09]

Family boarding is between a and b groups. It is usually restricted to those traveling with children under four sometimes to the child and one adult. Your best bet is to purchase early bird check in which will check you in at 36 hours before everyone who does not purchase it. If not I would check in at exactly 24 hours. When you get there the first person head to the back of the plane. If you don't get sequential numbers say b23, b26 b29 and b31 the person with the lower number can stand and bird with the later number but not vice versa. You should be able to find two sets of two seats.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Plan on buying EBCI or fly an airline with assigned seating.

 

[kamik86]

I would do early bird checkin. Especially since you are flying out of BWI which means your more likely to already have people on the plane and have others that are connecting to your flight that had an earlier check in time due to their first flight. Be prepared for a couple of seating possibilities in which I mean:

If you get on board and can have 3 together and one separate do you or your husband sit with the kids?
If you split 2 and 2 who goes with whom.

Make sure each person has their own "Stuff" for the flight so that if you do end up in 2 groups of two away from each other you don't have two people without any of the food or entertainment while the other group has it all. Or at least make sure both parents have some of it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Another vote for early bird check in. If paying the extra bothers you, keep in mind that if you were flying another airline you would most likely be paying luggage fees so the total works out the same. Also I usually fly out of Philly and have compared BWI flights on SW, also Spirit out of Atlantic City, Frontier out of Trenton, Jet Blue out if Newark and by far BWI has the most reasonable prices and choices of non stop flights with SW.

 

[DonaldnDaisy5]

We just flew SW. Two families with 3 kids each ranging from 5 to 12. Neither family did early bird check in (one person insisted it was necessary) and i stressed out about the choice but i checked us in right at the 24 hour mark. Leaving Flint we were the last 7 of the A (one family of 5 complete and 2 of second family) last 3 people were the first 3 of B.

Coming home both families checked in at Typhoon Lagoon right at the 24 hour mark again. This time we were in A around 43 to 53.

We had two different reservation numbers for the 2 families so checked in separately but were ok with seating positions. Both flights we were able to sit in 4 rows across from and in front of one another.

If you are super nervous i would do the early bird check in at least for the ride home.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Keep in mind anyone who books with Rapid Rewards points will automatically get separate confirmation #s for each person and each way. We've been using the SW credit card for points for so long I can't remember when we last were all on 1 reservation.
This is probably why I'm so quick to just buy EBCI.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm saving up to fly for our next trip from BWI to MCO through Southwest next year.

We didn't fly our last two trips and haven't flown since 2006 and 7 when our son was only 2 and 3 and our dd was yet to be born.

Needless to say a lot has changed and I have forgotten. I believe we got early boarding since our son was so young and possibly I checked in early.

Now I'm starting to get worried about checking in early, not getting an early enough boarding pass, no assigned seating, etc. It's really starting to stress me out an old haven't even set a date yet!

By next year at time of travel it will be DH, DS 12, DD7 and I traveling next year. While I know most think 12 year olds are perfectly fine on their own my dd is developmentally delayed, has socializing issues, tics, etc, etc. He's not looking forward to the plane ride already and is nervous. And of course I wouldn't want my 7 year old sitting by herself either. I guess my question is has anyone had 4 completely separate seating areas for their family on SW? I don't expect us 4 to sit together but is it unreasonable to hope and expect we could sit two together on the plane without having to buy extra early boarding stuff or business select or anything else I'm not aware of?

Please help with your experiences, I'd really like to calm down my nerves!

I have seen families get separated on Southwest, especially on Orlando flights. The majority of people travel that route are accompanied by children and they also want to sit with their kids. I saw one frazzled mom (no other adult) with 3 young kids who barely made the flight at PHL. There weren't 4 seats together anywhere on the plane. An announcement was made asking people to give up their seats in order to help her out but no one was interested in giving up the seat that they had claimed. I had paid for EBCI and certainly was not going to forfeit my aisle seat so that I could be relocated to a middle seat in the back of the plane. Eventually, they began to offer incentives to give up your seat and they got enough takers that she was able to be close to her kids but still not completely together.

With airlines cutting service and flying planes at (or close) to capacity, this is going to happen more and more on Southwest. If you want to sit together, you're going to have to bite the bullet and pay for EBCI. And even with EBCI, you may find yourself in the B boarding group. Passengers tend not to be inclined to give up their seat so that a 12 year-old (who can legally fly unaccompanied on Southwest) can sit next to a parent. They might be magically understanding when it comes to a 7 year-old.

Your other option is to choose an airline that assigns seats when your ticket is purchased. It may cost more, but the peace of mind might be worth it.

 

[PlutoPony]

Don't assume SW will be your cheapest alternative. In many markets SW is often higher than other airlines but because they were cheap for years, it's just assumed they still are. Yes they offer free bags (for now) but the EBCI fee is pretty much the same cost as a checked bag on other airlines so that's a wash. Do look at other carriers that do have assigned seating - and decide if it's worth any $ for your peace of mind to have a seat assignment from the get go.

 

[leahgoogle]

We are a family of 5 and flew on Southwest to MCO last October. I used rapid reward points so each of us had a separate confirmation. I bought EBCI for all of us and it was great! We had mid-A boarding and we had lots of seats to choose from and all sat in the same row on both flights (there and back). I recommend it to save some stress.

 

[kamik86]

I have seen families get separated on Southwest, especially on Orlando flights. The majority of people travel that route are accompanied by children and they also want to sit with their kids. I saw one frazzled mom (no other adult) with 3 young kids who barely made the flight at PHL. There weren't 4 seats together anywhere on the plane. An announcement was made asking people to give up their seats in order to help her out but no one was interested in giving up the seat that they had claimed. I had paid for EBCI and certainly was not going to forfeit my aisle seat so that I could be relocated to a middle seat in the back of the plane. Eventually, they began to offer incentives to give up your seat and they got enough takers that she was able to be close to her kids but still not completely together.

With airlines cutting service and flying planes at (or close) to capacity, this is going to happen more and more on Southwest. If you want to sit together, you're going to have to bite the bullet and pay for EBCI. And even with EBCI, you may find yourself in the B boarding group. Passengers tend not to be inclined to give up their seat so that a 12 year-old (who can legally fly unaccompanied on Southwest) can sit next to a parent. They might be magically understanding when it comes to a 7 year-old.

Your other option is to choose an airline that assigns seats when your ticket is purchased. It may cost more, but the peace of mind might be worth it.

One last point. Remember that even with EBCI, family boarding, A list, or being business select that if your plane is late to a connection and you can't get to the gate before your next flight starts to board that you can have this problem. Flight attendants will sometimes do the above with offering incentives if THEY believe your sitution warrents it. However if they don't think so and just want to get going so the flight isn't late you could be split up.

 

[Carolina26]

I would never waste money on EBCI...we always fly into/from MCO on SW and have never had a problem. At least one parent will be with the child...people will switch seats or sign up to babysit. My money is always on switching seats!!

 

[h518may]

You mention that your DS is developmentally delayed.

My DD is cognitively and developmentally delayed, we know there is no way she can fligh without a parents by her so we preboard with her. Only one parent can preboard with the child but this means DD and I preboard, leaving DH and DS to board together.

If you DS issues are bad enough that he can't fligh sitting by himself then this might be a solution.

I will also say that if I really wanted DH and DS to sit together I would buy the early check in thing, my DS is able to sit by himself if he needed too.

 

[Gracie09]

I would never waste money on EBCI...we always fly into/from MCO on SW and have never had a problem. At least one parent will be with the child...people will switch seats or sign up to babysit. My money is always on switching seats!!

For a 12 year old I'm not so sure. And your on a plane to Orlando it's packed with families who need to sit together

 

[ilovefh]

You mention that your DS is developmentally delayed.

My DD is cognitively and developmentally delayed, we know there is no way she can fligh without a parents by her so we preboard with her. Only one parent can preboard with the child but this means DD and I preboard, leaving DH and DS to board together.

If you DS issues are bad enough that he can't fligh sitting by himself then this might be a solution.

I will also say that if I really wanted DH and DS to sit together I would buy the early check in thing, my DS is able to sit by himself if he needed too.

I was going to suggest the same things. I would try and pre board with your DS. I've never done it so I don't know how to go about it but I think you just explain your situation to the people at the gate to obtain a blue preboard sleeve. This way you and DS (and they may even let DH and DD too as I've seen families preboard) can board before everyone else. This will give you time to get situated and help get him acclimated.