Ding question about Southwest Air

[bigcrit]

I just booked a flight for 4 from Philadelphia to Orlando in December. I was amazed at the rate i received. 34.88 per person. After taxes for 4 seats (one way) my total cost was 190.80. I am very happy about the fair. Tonight I spoke to a friend about it and they said they would never fly soutwest air again. It seems on there last trip they had no assigned seats and almost weren't able to sit with their child. Does anyone know if this is the norm? I have twin 8 year olds and want to be with them on our flight. Any help, thoughts, experience or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks......

 

[Poohbush]

Great price for that air!

A friend of mine, who flies on Southwest quite a bit, gave me this info. Southwest offers same day online checkin. If you go online, and do the checkin procedure, you should get a boarding pass with an "A" on it. The "A" passes get to board first. That should better your chances to sit together.

Good luck!

 

[cabmom]

Arrive early and line up as soon as you get there to get seats together. To get A boarding passes you should log on right after midnight to get them.

Good luck and that's a great price!

Marilynn

 

[bigcrit]

Let me get this right. I should log on at 12:01, check in and I should be given a boarding pass withg an A on it? So other passes are B and or C?

What should I do on our return flight? Although we dont have one yet. Supposing we use Southwest for our return. Can we access a computer from POFQ? Do they have internet access? Does anyone know the fees? Thanks everyone! The dis is always reliable

 

[cabmom]

Yes, you will most likely get an A pass if you log on right at 12:01. I'm not sure about the hotel and fees for use of internet.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yes, we went online at Pop Century this year at midnight and printed up the passes at the Guest Services desk, no problem.

We always fly SWA and never have a problem sitting with our family together. Only once did we have to sit across the aisle from our children and that was because we changed flights home at the last minute (due to the hurricane last year), they searched us at the gate, and we had just a minute or two to spare when we boarded the plane and all the seats were full. Others offered to switch with us but it was actually fine after a few tears at the beginning from our two 6 year olds.

Congratulations on getting such a great fare. Wish I could find the same.

 

[bigcrit]

Whew!

Thanks all I really appreciate the input. Pea how did you connect to the guest services printer? Will they tell you the print server name ? Just curious.......

 

[Pocahantas]

We usually have a family member at home log in at 12:01 am to check us in online for our return flight so we can get "A" boarding passes. When we arrive at the airport, we ask the SW agent who checks our luggage to print our boarding passes for us. We love Southwest and their wonderful prices!!!

 

[bigcrit]

Pea - I was suprised at our fair too. Hopefully I can get similar pricing for our trip home. Sadly Ding is only offering up to the 18th of December now and we are leaving on the 19th (hehe). I'm hoping they extend that same offer to you folks up in the far NE.....

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Just asked DH what he did to get our passes at Pop. He went to Guest Services right after midnight. They had a room out back with a computer. A CM logged him on to the SWA website where he confirmed our flights and printed up the tickets, just like we did at home. (We did actually have our laptop with us but had trouble logging on to the internet from our room so basically just used it to download our pictures). Pretty painless.

Funny, DS7 informed me tonight that SWA is flying out of Logan now. Darned if he wasn't right, LOL, but unfortunately they don't fly to Orlando from there. I'll keep looking...

 

[bigcrit]

He's 7? lol ! Kids today are very smart. I noticed you said you had 2 children that were 6. Are they twins?

I am floored by the prices Southwest offers. I am really impressed by their service department. When I forst booked my flight online I accidentally hit my scroll button to go down the page which inadvertently changed my date. I never realized I was booking 2 months earlier than I wanted too (December). When I realized my mistake I called them. They had it resolved in minutes and I was only charged once on my credit card.I figured I would have to place another order than wait a few days to get my money refunded.....nope....They fixed it very fast. So far I am really impressed by them. I hope I can get a flight back with them.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Yes, I have boy/girl twins. They were 6 at the time of Hurricane Frances, but they will be 8 too in a few weeks! Are yours boys or girls or one of each? Boy, life sure is a lot easier now than it was a few years ago, huh?

Yes, we've really liked SWA. Did you know that after you book if the price of a flight is lowered and there are seats available they will give you a SWA credit for the difference? For our flights last year we were credited $240 when our flights went from $79 to $49 each way! They are also very easy when it comes to changing (as you've seen) or cancelling flights - if I recall they give you a year to use your credit if you have to cancel your flight.

Certain flight attendants are a riot, too. One did the whole pre flight talk in in a funny manner and sang a song when we landed! She had asked my DD to help her pass out snacks so that flight was memorable - she even gave DD a signed SWA postcard too thanking her for her help.

 

[4our4kids]

This will be our first time flying SWA and hope it all goes well. I'm not crazy about not having seat assignments. I hope to at least get 2 seats together so my 5yr DD can sit with one of us. I too got a great "ding" rate of $39.00 r/t out of Philly and booked it Sept. 1, for our trip Jan. 3rd - 8th. I need to book another ticket on our same flights for my 20 yr DD's friend, but the ding rates now only go to Dec. 18th. Anyone know what's up with that? They had been out til Jan. 9th.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Funny, DS7 informed me tonight that SWA is flying out of Logan now. Darned if he wasn't right, LOL, but unfortunately they don't fly to Orlando from there. I'll keep looking...

It's actually not Southwest - it's a codeshare with ATA.

Also, depending where you are, Allegiant Air (www.allegiantair.com) has started or is about to start flying out of Pease in Portsmouth NH with introductory fares of $39 each way. Four flights per week, off the top of my head can't tell you which days, and they'll be flying to Sanford.

 

[bigcrit]

Yes, I have boy/girl twins. They were 6 at the time of Hurricane Frances, but they will be 8 too in a few weeks! Are yours boys or girls or one of each? Boy, life sure is a lot easier now than it was a few years ago, huh?

Yes, we've really liked SWA. Did you know that after you book if the price of a flight is lowered and there are seats available they will give you a SWA credit for the difference? For our flights last year we were credited $240 when our flights went from $79 to $49 each way! They are also very easy when it comes to changing (as you've seen) or cancelling flights - if I recall they give you a year to use your credit if you have to cancel your flight.

Certain flight attendants are a riot, too. One did the whole pre flight talk in in a funny manner and sang a song when we landed! She had asked my DD to help her pass out snacks so that flight was memorable - she even gave DD a signed SWA postcard too thanking her for her help.

Pea - I have twin girls (fraternal). They are alot easier than they were a few years ago. (thank god). We will be celebrating their 9th birthday during this trip (december 18th). We are going to suprise them the day of our trip. I hope I can contain myself for that long.

Did I hear you right? Southwest will automatically give you the better rate for flights you have booked? Even "Ding" fares? I may book now for our trip and hope for a better deal. Thanks for sharing all your info.

I noticed you are from Mass. my mother always loved Barr Harbor. Sadly she lost her battle with breast cancer 3 years ago. I noticed you are a survivor are you doing the 3 day walk?

 

[WaltD4Me]

$39 ROUND TRIP!?!?!

Holy cow! I flew Southwest roundtrip Cleveland to Orlando and I thought THAT was a great price! I guess I better sign up for Ding!

Anyway......if you want to be SURE to sit with your kids, be sure to print that boarding pass at 12:01 and be sure to get to the airport early! Even if you have an A Boarding Pass, but are late (after the A passed board), you still could wind up sitting apart.

When I went on SW with my five year niece, we got to the airport early and planted ourselves on the floor in the A line.

 

[bigcrit]

I doubt it was 39 round trip. I would bet that was each way. My best deal from Philly was 34.88 each way.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It's actually not Southwest - it's a codeshare with ATA.

Also, depending where you are, Allegiant Air (www.allegiantair.com) has started or is about to start flying out of Pease in Portsmouth NH with introductory fares of $39 each way. Four flights per week, off the top of my head can't tell you which days, and they'll be flying to Sanford.

What is a codeshare with ATA? If you look on SWA website you can book a SWA plane out of Boston.

I checked with Allegiant Air yesterday and their fares were >$100 in October going to Sanford and $39 coming back but the dates they fly don't work for me. I don't think I'd want to drive an hour and a half up to Portsmouth anyway, but if there were to be a closer location this might be an option. Thanks.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Did I hear you right? Southwest will automatically give you the better rate for flights you have booked? Even "Ding" fares? I may book now for our trip and hope for a better deal.

Yes, but it isn't automatic (and I don't know about Ding fares). You have to watch prices and call if prices on the flight you are on go down and there are seats available. Still worthwhile. Sometimes one flight is lowered but not the other; or they may add it later on, whatever. You just have to keep checking. If you check after midnight that is when they reset the system I guess so that's when you have a good shot at finding what you want. When I did it prices went down on our flights about a week apart but I was still able to get everything I wanted.

So sorry about your mother. Your girls will have a wonderful birthday.