First Time Flying...help please!

[PMelhorn]

My DH is the only one in our family that has every been on a plane and that was 18 years ago. So, I need help.
We are booked with Southwest, great deal.

Can anyone please tell me about the system they us?
What do they mean you get to choose between A, B or C?
How do you get seats together?
We would like to sit together, we have 3 kids, DS16, DS5, DD12.
Not sure how they are going to do with flying.

Excited about the deal but confused about the seating/procedure.

Also was told I would need to get online 24 hours before our return flight and pick a section and print the boarding passes.

Sorry for so many question.
TIA

 

[GreatDaneMom]

I'll try to explain...

Exactly 24 hours before your flight time you can go online and print out everyone's boarding passes. The first 30 or so people who do this will be assigned "A" passes, the next 30 or so get "B" and all others get "C." (The number that actually gets each letter seems to vary with each SW flight I take.)

When you get to the airport boarding gate for your flight you'll see an area for the "A"s to line up, an area for the "B"s to line up and an area for the "C"s to line up. When it's time to get on the plane the people in the "A" line get on first, the "B" line goes second and then the "C" line gets on.

Your best bet for sitting together is to get "A" boarding passes for everyone in your family and get in line early at the airport. We park ourselves on the Internet 24 hrs before flight times to make this cattle call a little less awful. So far we've always been successful at sitting together. You can even do your boarding passes for your return flight home from the ship Internet at 24 hours pre-flight.

Good luck! It's really not as awful as it sounds.

Cheryl

 

[rawatts@mac.com]

If you get into the A or B groups you should have no trouble at all. I used to fly TOO much and from experience I can tell you that most people will try to accomodate families with young children. So don't sweat it. Just plan on being at the airport a little early and don't be afraid to ask someone for help if you are unsure of where to go/what to do.

Don't worry about the flight itself. Southwest flys Boeing 737s exclusively and they are good aircraft. It's almost like traveling in your living room (if your living room chairs are narrow).

And while Southwest isn't my first choice in business travel I don't hestitate to use them for personal travel because they are usually cheaper. By the way don't expect anything except drinks and peanuts on the flight. Meals are almost non-existent these days.

And finally, Southwest has some of the nicest and funniest people working for them. You should have a good time.

Bob

 

[PMelhorn]

Thanks so much that helped me to understand.

 

[tvguy]

Just to be clear, Southwest WAS the only airline not to give assigned seats, so you board in three groups, A,B and C and seats are first come, first served. HOWEVER, as of yesterday, Southwest is experimenting with assigned seating. It should not affect you though, because I think it only impacts flights out of San Diego.

They are concerned that assigned seating will slow down the turnaround time between flights. They say they can turn a plane in 25 minutes.....the only time I had connecting flights on Southwest I had 45 minutes between flights and I missed my connection in Phoenix...you really need at least an hour between flights.

Southwest had to do something I guess and try assigned seating since the lack of assigned seating was the biggest, and loudest complaint from it's passengers.

 

[disneypoor]

In May of 2005, my family went to WDW with other family members (9 of us in all), and we got C boarding passes but still managed to all get to sit together. I thought this might make you a little more relieved.