COnfused, I am sure this has been asked plenty before SW boarding

[Shelly888]

We are flying 2 adults 1~ 6 year old and 1~ 1 year old. Buying 3 seats flying with a lap kid. If I understand correctly we can board after A, but before B. THose who get early bird can check in with A, is that right? I am trying to determine if we should use early bird check in? Do we need to go online 24 hour before to check in in all cases? What is the best case for us? If there is someplace that answers these please direct me.

 

[bookgirl2632]

Yes, family boarding is between groups A and B. If you don't A, you can board when A is finished boarding.

To make sure you get A, you can get EBCI. However, depending on where you are coming from and the time of year, you may not need EBCI to get A. For example, I flew out of BWI (Baltimore) last Wednesday morning. I checked in at the 24 hour mark and got A54, 55, and 56. At that point, there were more than enough three seats together. So, if you choose to just check in yourself at 24 hours, even if you get B, you can still do family boarding.

 

[Shelly888]

So if we early bird, we do not need to check in at the 24 hour mark. So chances are we should be able to find 3 seats in a row since we are flying Jan 27th pretty low travel time I would think.

If we do not EB, we will need to reserve seats through online check-in online before we leave on both legs. Do I have it

 

[clkelley]

Yep, you've got it!!

 

[dburg30]

Yes, family boarding is between groups A and B. If you don't A, you can board when A is finished boarding.

To make sure you get A, you can get EBCI. However, depending on where you are coming from and the time of year, you may not need EBCI to get A. For example, I flew out of BWI (Baltimore) last Wednesday morning. I checked in at the 24 hour mark and got A54, 55, and 56. At that point, there were more than enough three seats together. So, if you choose to just check in yourself at 24 hours, even if you get B, you can still do family boarding.

If you change that to "If you dont want to have to check in right at t-24 on your own, and want a chance to get an A pass, you can get EBCI" then I'll agree with it. While you probably WILL get an A pass using EBCI it isnt guaranteed. All it does is check you in early... Huh.. must be why it's called Earlybird Check In..... Unless I've missed something, you technically could pay for EBCI, get a B pass and actually board after those travelling with small children (like the OP)

 

[disneyfaninaz]

If the OP doesn't get EBCI and gets a "B" boarding pass, she can board during family boarding.

 

[Lewisc]

Family "midboarding" is limited to one adult and children under 5 years of age. That means one adult will be eligible for family boarding with their lap baby. The other adult and their 6 year old child is not eligible for family boarding.

The GA will frequently allow entire families to board. Flights to Orlando are filled with families. The GA will sometimes strictly enforce policy. Occasionally family boarding won't even be offered.

 

[DaisyD]

We signed up for early check in for our trip to Vegas two weeks ago. We got A 28 and A 29 on the way to Vegas. The return flight we got B 10 and B11. I was surprised we weren't given A passes since we paid for the early boarding. Was no biggie but just wanted to let you know that there is no guarantee you will get A passes when paying for early check in.

 

[helenk]

Family "midboarding" is limited to one adult and children under 5 years of age. That means one adult will be eligible for family boarding with their lap baby. The other adult and their 6 year old child is not eligible for family boarding.

The GA will frequently allow entire families to board. Flights to Orlando are filled with families. The GA will sometimes strictly enforce policy. Occasionally family boarding won't even be offered.

In all of the flights I've flown with Southwest I've never heard them limit the travel group to 1 adult. I fly Philadelphia generally they announce family boarding as 2 adults and the children.

 

[bookgirl2632]

Even if they did limit family boarding to one adult and child, you could still nab the seats you want for the whole party. It's not like you would be saving more than one seat, so no one would mind that.

That being said, I've always seen whole families boarding together when utilizing family boarding. I've never seen the gate agent enforce such a policy.

 

[kaytieeldr]

We signed up for early check in for our trip to Vegas two weeks ago. We got A 28 and A 29 on the way to Vegas. The return flight we got B 10 and B11. I was surprised we weren't given A passes since we paid for the early boarding. Was no biggie but just wanted to let you know that there is no guarantee you will get A passes when paying for early check in.

Just to clear things up, EBCI isn't early boarding, it's early check-in. For $10 per passenger per direction, Southwest will check in the passenger prior to the 24 hour window allowed the general public.

Even if they did limit family boarding to one adult and child, you could still nab the seats you want for the whole party. It's not like you would be saving more than one seat, so no one would mind that.

It looks like, in this case, IF family boarding were severely restricted, one adult and the one year old would be allowed to board - while the other adult and the six year old (requiring two seats) would need to wait and board in their group.

 

[tjmw2727]

In all of the flights I've flown with Southwest I've never heard them limit the travel group to 1 adult. I fly Philadelphia generally they announce family boarding as 2 adults and the children.

I fly SWA amost monthly and I agree - they usually let the immediate family board with family boarding. However, I they do limit you to immediate family only, nana and auntie must board with their boarding pass.

So in the OP's situation if they don't get an A bp then they should all be able to board with family boarding - esp with a 6yo. For extended families traveling with children you can expect to have only the immediate family board with with family boarding.

 

[lawgs]

We signed up for early check in for our trip to Vegas two weeks ago. We got A 28 and A 29 on the way to Vegas. The return flight we got B 10 and B11. I was surprised we weren't given A passes since we paid for the early boarding. Was no biggie but just wanted to let you know that there is no guarantee you will get A passes when paying for early check in.

could it have been your return las vegas flight was a connecting flight which had other ECBI passengers whose flight into Las Vegas could have been "boarded" at a t36 which was ahead of your "las vegas t36"