Connecting on Southwest

[maxiesmom]

I've flown Southwest before, but never a connecting flight. I understand that people may already be on the connecting aircraft, but is there a way to check that beforehand? Also, does anyone have any experience flying out of BWI with how many people will probably remain on the plane? I'd get EBCI no matter what, but I'm hoping the plane wouldn't be so full that I would have to sit apart from my travel buddy.

On a side note does anyone thing the costs will come down from what they have opened at?

 

[DaretoDis]

I fly SWA 12 to 20 times a year, and in my experience there is usually a sale a couple/few weeks after release date.

Regarding the connecting flight, SWA would be the best to call and ask. Otherwise, you can just do a Google search, for example "SWA flight ****", or check out Flightaware.com regarding where the flight originates.

 

[DebbieB]

I did a one stop PIT-BWI-MCO once, about 40 people stayed on. We were allowed to change seats after they did a head count and before the BWI people boarded. Unfortunately for those people, most of the continuing people scattered into seats in the front, making it difficult for the new boarders to find multiple seats together.

 

[nkereina]

I have flown Southwest through BWI before a few times. Only once was there a continuing flight on board, and I happened to be one of the ones continuing. I believe there were 6 or 7 of us already on when the new BWI passengers boarded. I agree that Flight Aware should give you an indication of whether there may be some continuing passengers.

As something else to consider when booking Southwest flights with layovers - if seats are a concern for you, make sure you book a flight with ample connection time. Southwest typically begins their boarding process 30 minutes prior to the flight time. If you arrive at the gate any later than that, you may miss your boarding position so EBCI becomes worthless. This has happened to me only once at Midway when our first flight left later than it was supposed to, and my hour layover became a 30 minute layover and the B group was boarding by the time I got to the gate.