anyone fly southwest?

[speechpath01]

I'm contemplating using Southwest for our December trip to WDW, I've never flown them and I'm worried about not having assigned seats. Is it a pain to get 4 seats for our family to fly together? I have a DS 3 and a DD 4, myself and my DH. I just don't want to add any unneeded stressors to our upcoming magical vacation.
thanks

 

[Disneychix]

Southwest has the option to print out baording passes exactly 24 hours in advance from your home. Doing this will almost guarantee you get on the plane in the 'A' boarding group. That means one of the first 60 people. I haven't had a problem on SW getting seats together by doing this. Also, I believe with a 3yr old you would still qualify for 'special' boarding for families with little ones. This will allow you to get on the plane after the 'A' baording group and before the 'B' group. You would certainly end up with seats together doing this as well.

Don't be afraid. SW is great for families! And I love the fact that you don't have to pay for extra baggage!

 

[QVCshopper]

We flew Southwest in March with our almost 3 year old and 4 year old. We loved it. They let families board inbetween A & B, and had no trouble finding a seat. Plus, you can't beat the price--I think we paid $55 each way from PA to FL. I kinda liked Southwest better than AirTrain and USAir.

 

[El&Asmom]

We will never fly anything other than SW to MCO. We have tried others when the rates were a bit lower and regretted it each time. We have three kids under the age of 6, and we always find seats together. The other benefit is that people actually load pretty quickly without the assigned seats. Once everyone is on, they take off. We flew Air Tran last Sept, and it took forever to leave after the entire plan was boarded. I would rather sit in the boarding area a bit longer than sit on a crowded plane for 45 minutes until take off.
Plus they will credit your account if the flight drops in price after you buy your tickets. This way we will buy tickets when they seem like they are at a low point, but don't fret if they drop even lower. We now have a $300 credit to use for our trip in Jan after the prices dropped for our April trip.

 

[speechpath01]

Big thanks to all You've eased my mind and I'm going to try SW for our December vacay to the World. I'm so excited, wish it was next month instead of 6 months away
Thanks again everyone.

 

[Mom2SamandJames]

We flew Southwest to MCO last year with a 3 year old and an 8 month old. We had great experiences both coming and going. We will fly with them every time we fly to MCO or anywhere else they fly. The fact you get 2 free suitcases per paying customer is awesome too!

 

[williamson_ja]

We flew Southwest last year and had an awesome flight! This year, we booked with USair and are regretting it. The initial ticket cost looked cheaper in the beginning, BUT you have to pay for your FIRST bag checked ($20/each) and they are aweful about changing flights, etc. With southwest, if I wanted to change flights (which I have done frequently with them) it is no big deal and they just credit what you paid for your original flight towards your new flight. With US air, they charge a $150 fee for changed flights. Well, I only paid $98 for the flight in the first place!!! I would have LOVED to change my trip to NOV. when I got the pin for free dining in Nov. because I am traveling with my parents and inlaws and they just can't handle the heat very well (our original trip is planned for Sept.) Well, none of us could afford the money involved in changing our airfare, so we kept our original trip. BUMMER!! November would have been really nice.

 

[sparkyboy]

we love SW and try to fly them exclusively. Check in on-line, no baggage fee, friendly staff = happy vacation.

 

[AndyMcV]

Hi speechpath01

We flew SW last June for the first time. We live in Canada near Toronto, Ontario and we few out of Buffalo. For us (DW, DS9, DD5, and myself) we could not believe the difference in price and service. For us to fly Air Canada was about $2600 for the 4 of us. SW's price out of Buffalo was $800 total. Not bad for driving an extra 1.5 hours to Buffalo.

It's a little different with the separate boarding groups but once you get there it's a no brainer. With your children under 4 you're automatically put into boarding group A in which you'll have no problem at all getting seats together. Just to make sure I'd get your boarding pass online 24 hours before just to be safe.

We found the whole experience with SW great. Infact we are flying with them again through our trip booked with Southwest Vacations in late August.

Have a great trip!

 

[natale1980]

I LOVE Southwest!!! It's the ONLY way I'll fly to Disney World!!

Like one of the other disers said - SW will give you a credit if your flight gets priced lower... BUT... you have to keep on checking and request a credit yourself. They will not (in my experience) credit your account automatically.

-natale

 

[mejkjj97]

We fly either Southwest or Jetblue depending on the cost of flights and i have nothing but good things to say about either.

As for southwest, we boarded between groups A and B with a child under 4 even though we had group C on our boarding pass. It really was not a big deal and easy to gets seats together.

Our luggage was also too heavy (2 bags) and the guy allowed us to take things out into our carry ons to reduce the weight. We still had 1 bag too full but that was ok better than 2.

As for the "credits etc", if the flight is not a web fare special they will actually refund your credit card. Happened to us when we had to cancel last year. if you book a web fair special it is a credit but it has to be used by the purchase date of when you bought your tickets. also you can give it to anyone- it doesn't have to be in your name. We ended up giving our credit to our neighbor when his dad fell ill and he wasn't going to be able to get home to visit. It's nice little perk!!

 

[alyssa810]

We fly SW exclusively as well. Also, if for some reason you don't get an "A" boarding pass, you can board during the family boarding time, which is after all the A's and before the B's and C's start boarding.

 

[CLR4321]

I LOVE Southwest! They are an awesome airline. I won't switch unless I have no choice but to fly with someone else. As far as boarding without assigned seating, it is great! Check this out for info on how the boarding works: http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/faq.html Also, you can check in up to 24 hrs before departure. Here is info about online check-in: http://www.southwest.com/help/online_checkin.html
Trust me...you will love them. They also have no baggage fees like the other airlines all do anymore, and they let you change your tickets for free! I have changed DS's ticket twice because the fare went down $17, then went down an additional $43 from the original price for the same flight. Originally it was just going to be me and my boyfriend for an adults only trip, but we decided to bring DS with us. They store the difference as credits that you can use within 1 year. I love it! They also have better free snacks than any other the other airlines. Have a good trip!

 

[speechpath01]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyones input, we will be flying SW from Chicago to Orlando December 19th for our Christmas Disney adventure

Can't wait.
Thanks again everyone

 

[DISNEYNV]

We flew Southwest in March with our almost 3 year old and 4 year old. We loved it. They let families board inbetween A & B, and had no trouble finding a seat. Plus, you can't beat the price--I think we paid $55 each way from PA to FL. I kinda liked Southwest better than AirTrain and USAir.

We are also from PA and fly SW! We print out the boarding passes at home and have always gotten A or B. Never had a problem with boarding, stroller storage, or the service. Actually the service is great and friendly. We have flown US Air only in the past, but prefer SW hands down! You can't beat their airfare prices and they don't charge for baggage

 

[Kae]

Do go online at the 24hr mark to get a boarding pass. When we flew out of Indy they did not do Family boarding. It was the day after school let out & almost every group was a family with a 4 & under. So they annouced they would not be doing that. That being said no one got separated for little ones.

Kae

 

[pooh4evr]

We always fly SW and haven't had any trouble sitting together- check in online 24 hrs ahead and get A passes- and you'll be fine though the seats are in groups of 3 so decide you'll have to kind of split up - we always have my sister check us in for departure so we can get A passes for our return. The price is GREAT too we have $89 tickets for Dec (each way). It will be great!!!

 

[katierae81]

I love flying southwest and have never had a problem getting seats together. I also love that the flight attendants have fun...they get on the intercom and sing, tell jokes, etc. It really is an experience!

 

[momtoBrandon&Jacob]

I LOVE Southwest!!! It's the ONLY way I'll fly to Disney World!!

Like one of the other disers said - SW will give you a credit if your flight gets priced lower... BUT... you have to keep on checking and request a credit yourself. They will not (in my experience) credit your account automatically.

-natale

We are also from PA and fly SW! We print out the boarding passes at home and have always gotten A or B. Never had a problem with boarding, stroller storage, or the service. Actually the service is great and friendly. We have flown US Air only in the past, but prefer SW hands down! You can't beat their airfare prices and they don't charge for baggage

Count us in as a very happy SW family! Only way to fly PHL-MCO!

 

[melzseb]

Do you have to have a child that is under 4 with you, or can the child be 4? My DS is 4 and I was wondering if we would qualify for the family boarding. Do they limit, or can the whole "family" board? We are a group on 9, including my DS, myself, MIL, FIL, 3 BIL, 1 SIL, I nephew, all of us having the same last name except for nephew. Would we all get on as a family?