Buying 2 Seats on Southwest...Kevin? Anyone?

[WaltD4Me]

A friend of mine is going to Las Vegas with her husband. They are both larger than average size and she was worried about the seats, being removed from the flight and generally just being comfortable for the 4 hour flight. I told her all about how they can buy 2 seats and the whole spiel. She called Southwest to ask something about this and the CSR told her that she and her husband would each have to buy 2 seats. I told her to just buy one extra seat so she and husband would have a 3 seat row to themselves. The CSR told her that if they were "pulled" before boarding the flight they would each have to have their own extra seat. Which makes no sense at all. I guess the thinking is if they have to sit seperately they would each have to have an extra seat, but I thought Kevin had said when you buy an extra seat like that you can board early to ensure that you get two seats together?

My friend and her husband aren't that large. I can't imagine they would be "pulled" as the agent put it, but now my friend is worried. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Launchpad11B]

Getting "pulled" is very rare, but it does happen. I would assume the CSR was just trying to cover all the possibilities. Any number of things can happen at the airport to cause disruptions to your flight plan. The fourth seat sounds like the way to go to avoid the stress of such problems.

 

[wishspirit]

Isn't it also South West's policy to refund the tickets if they wouldn't of been sold? Maybe that's a bit of an extra help?

 

[DisneyKevin]

I have three seats heading to California and three seats headed home.

I book the three seats online to get the best price. I book one under John, one under XSJohn and one under Kevin.

I then call SW and speak to CS. I explain the situation and have them note my reservation.

I'm told to let the boarding gate agent know when we get there that we are doing this and that we are allowed to pre-board in order to get three seats together.

They give me a slip of paper to put on the additional seat showing that the seat HAS been paid for and that it is to remain empty. Once the plane is done boarding, I remove the paper.

If the plane is sold out....you've bought the extra seat. If there is even one empty seat on the plane, you get refunded for the extra seat.

SW might be a bit gun shy with the Kevin Smith debacle and thats why you are getting conflicting info, but we have done this numerous times and it's always worked well.

We've had to fly back home from Las Vegas one time and I did it the day of the flight without issue.

Hope that helps.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I have three seats heading to California and three seats headed home.

I book the three seats online to get the best price. I book one under John, one under XSJohn and one under Kevin.

I then call SW and speak to CS. I explain the situation and have them note my reservation.

I'm told to let the boarding gate agent know when we get there that we are doing this and that we are allowed to pre-board in order to get three seats together.

They give me a slip of paper to put on the additional seat showing that the seat HAS been paid for and that it is to remain empty. Once the plane is done boarding, I remove the paper.

If the plane is sold out....you've bought the extra seat. If there is even one empty seat on the plane, you get refunded for the extra seat.

SW might be a bit gun shy with the Kevin Smith debacle and thats why you are getting conflicting info, but we have done this numerous times and it's always worked well.

We've had to fly back home from Las Vegas one time and I did it the day of the flight without issue.

Hope that helps.

Thank you! This was very helpful. I knew to book online, but I didn't know about calling so they could note your reservation or about getting the slip of paper for the extra seat. I will relay all this to my friend. I appreciate it very much, I'm sure your detailed instructions and explination will make her feel better. I'd hate for them to buy 2 extra seats and wind up on a full plane and not get refunded for a seat they didn't need.

I was thinking of the the Kevin Smith thing too after my friend called.