Best seat choice for us on SWA

[blessedby3]

I have not flown very often, the last time being in 1999. We are flying SWA out of Raleigh to Orlando the day after Thanksgiving and we have 8 in our party. 4 adults, 2 teens, 1- 10yr.old, and 1- 7 yr old. I am planning on having A boarding passes and checking in 24 hours prior. My question is whether there is a better place for us to sit. Is one area less noisy, have more room, etc? I know we cant sit on an exit row because of the children. Is there anywhere else we cant sit? I assume we will try and get one whole row across (6 seats) and my mom and stepdad will get 2 seats in front or behind us. Thanks for the help

 

[goofy4tink]

The only thing I can suggest is that you just head to the back of the plane, behind the wings. My dd and I flew SW in early Aug and were 8th in row in the A group. By the time the preboarders had been boarded, dd and I had to go to 3 rows behing the wing in order to find two seats together, with one a window seat. So, if you are going to need all those together, the further back you head the better.

 

[inkkognito]

We don't have children and don't check any luggage, so we like to be in either the exit row or towards the front for a quicker exit (gets us on our way quicker, since we don't have to wait for luggage downstairs). But I fly SW a LOT and have talked to several people who speak very highly of the back of the plane. All of them said it's because it's less noisy, close to a restroom (and a couple have said they like being able to look out without their view being obstructed by the wing). If I had luggage, I'd probably give it a shot myself; when we used to fly ATA, they had a great rear exit row (row 36, I think) that I really used to like. People will tend to sit in the front, so if you try it, you'll have a big choice of seats.
Barb

 

[beccasmom]

Even with lots of pre-boarders, sitting pretty far up front with an A pass has seldom been a problem for us. The few times I've sat in the back of any plane, I've noticed a lack of space - maybe the curvature of the fuselage?? maybe my imagination??? I know all planes are configured differently, but the front works best for us. And I like getting off the plane quickly.....with kids that may be a concern as they can get antsy even on a short flight (me too!)

 

[Dianne West]

I flew a few years ago but on the model we flew they had 3 seats facing each other toward the back of plane. We had a 3 and 5 year old at time and could board early so we were lucky enough to get one of the few rows like this. It was great because no one else wanted to sit with us and we had 6 seats to stretch out in. If not taken I reccomend them.

 

[SB in KY]

Since you are flying the day after Thanksgiving to a tourist destination I feel sure the flight will be full. There will probably be LOTS of preboarders.

My advice would be to have your family set into groups of 2 and/or 3 and know in advance of boarding who is going to sit with who....it will save you a lot of aisle time and confusion (and all of the people trying to board behind you will thank you as well)....then if you can move to the back and get 6 seats across with 2 in front or behind them.... great....but if you find 3 seats here and 2 seats there it won't turn into a family circus trying to decide who goes where....you can just put people in seats as you come to them.

I got stuck right behind a large family group on a recent SW trip and they delayed boarding for at least 5 minutes while they milled about the plane aisle and argued about who was going to sit with Grandma and who was going to sit with the kids and Johnny didn't want to sit with Suzy but Suzy HAD to have a window seat...I was ready to start telling them where to sit myself!! (and it wasn't going to be nice!!)....then they had to swap all the carry ons around because the snacks were up here and the game boy was back there....I felt like I had entered a bad Family Circus cartoon!!

So do everyone on your flight a big favor and have a contingency plan!! (just in case you cannot find 10 adjoining seats).

 

[wee-haggis]

(No disrespect to folks with young kids)...but, if the preboarders are typically families with small kids, would'nt it make sense for people without small kids (or older kids) to go further back in order to avoid the choir of perhaps screaming ,crying kids?

 

[CarolynNC]

I fly out of RDU, usually with an A boarding pass. I don't know if the flights originate elsewhere but it usually seems the only wide open spaces are toward the back. We always head back past the wing so my guys have an unobstructed view.

I should also mention I refuse to stand in the "A" line prior to boarding so I usually join when they start the preboard call.

Anyone know if there is a way to tell where the flight originates, just to satisfy my curiosity?

 

[welovedisneyx4]

Anyone know if there is a way to tell where the flight originates, just to satisfy my curiosity?

Giving this a bump...I would like to know that as well.

 

[blessedby3]

Thanks for the advice. I guess we will get in the A line and head to the back of the plane. I am mainly concerned about getting to sit with our 2 youngest (10 and 7) so if my DH and I can each get a seat with one each we will be fine. Hopefully we can all get in the same area. Thanks again. I am looking forward to trying out SWA. The tickets are so cheap it makes flying more affordable. We got 8 tickets for $599. What a deal.

 

[Dianne West]

just one more thing if you ask they have great coloring books and puzzles for kids

 

[byoung]

More important to me when I am boarding is that I will be in Disney in about 3 hours.

 

[riu girl]

Does anyone know if the BUF-MCO flights have the row facing each other configuration? If so, is it just one row of 3 that faces another row of three on the whole plane? That would be ideal.
If so, where is this row located?
Thank you
Suzy V

 

[Third times a charm]

Does anyone know if the BUF-MCO flights have the row facing each other configuration? If so, is it just one row of 3 that faces another row of three on the whole plane? That would be ideal.
If so, where is this row located?
Thank you
Suzy V

I did not see that row when we flew SW in February.

 

[CarolA]

I head for the back on any SW flight. My experience has been that if the flight is not full the back fills up last.

However, I would not assume you are going to get all of your 8 seats together. Are you sure your plane does not start someplace else first. For example, some of the Nashville flights to Orlando start in places like Chicago so when I board there are folks on there who boarded in Chicago.

 

[DonaldDuckFan]

Anyone know if there is a way to tell where the flight originates, just to satisfy my curiosity?

Don't know for sure, but when I was booking my flight from Philly to Orlando, one of the options was a layover in RDU. Most of them flew direct, but the one choice did have the layover, I'm guessing there are other flights from the Northeast that have a layover there also though.

Amy

 

[RweTHEREyet]

You might also note that the smoothest ride us usually near the wings. That is important to me with motion sickness.

 

[blessedby3]

Great, I wasnt even considering that we would be boarding a flight that already had people on it. I just thought it would be an empty plane. How do I find out if we are getting on a plane that was making a stopover in Raleigh? Guess I could call SWA and ask. Like I said, I havent flown in a long time and then we flew with assigned seats.

 

[lawgs]

third time

have not seen though planes on the buf-mco in over 3 years, i think most of the fleet now is newer and do not have the facing rows any more

they were 3 facing 3 , but not all over the plane, just in a couple of locations