First Time Flying Southwest Questions!

[bksomody]

First time flying with SWA and I am really nervous about not having assigned seats. I have a bunch of questions if anyone can answer to help calm my nerves.

24 hour check in ?'s
If I'm traveling at 6:30 pm on Wednesday then will my 24 hour mark be 6:30 pm on Tuesday?
I have a confirmation # with 5 people on the reservation, do I have to check each person in separately?
Is it better to call or do it online?

Traveling with a child on your lap ?'s
Will the passenger with a child get to board with family boarding & can other board with her?
Can the mother wear a sling on the plane?

THANKS!!

 

[Jestocost]

24 hour check in ?'s
If I'm traveling at 6:30 pm on Wednesday then will my 24 hour mark be 6:30 pm on Tuesday? Yes
I have a confirmation # with 5 people on the reservation, do I have to check each person in separately? You will be able to check everyone in at the same time if they are on the same reservation.
Is it better to call or do it online? Online. Not sure if calling even is an option.

Traveling with a child on your lap ?'s
Will the passenger with a child get to board with family boarding & can other board with her? Board in your numbered spot if you are in the A group, or in family boarding if you are in the B or C group.
Can the mother wear a sling on the plane? For boarding, yes. I'm not sure if the child can remain in a sling during takeoff or landing, however.

 

[LisaS]

Will the passenger with a child get to board with family boarding & can other board with her?

The parent and child can board during family boarding (and if she has other small children, they can board then too) but no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, etc.

Here is what is posted on Southwest's "Boarding the Plane" FAQs which can be found here: https://www.southwest.com/html/generated/help/faqs/boarding_the_plane_faq.html

Do families get to preboard?

An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. If the child and the adult are both holding an “A” boarding pass, they should both board with the “A” boarding group.

 

[strat68]

Birth certificate for the child? It's probably obvious the baby is less than 2 but you may need it if you had not thought of it already. Does the baby need to be registered as a lap baby before hand?

 

[tigergrad]

Just got off the phone with Southwest regarding infant in lap. I was told to reserve the flight for the adults and then call Southwest to add the infant to the reservation. I was also told to bring the child's official birth certificate to the airport for age verification.

 

[Jestocost]

Just got off the phone with Southwest regarding infant in lap. I was told to reserve the flight for the adults and then call Southwest to add the infant to the reservation. I was also told to bring the child's official birth certificate to the airport for age verification.

Yes. FAA regulations actually require airlines to verify the child's age to ensure they are eligible to travel as a lap child. If you are unable to provide such verification you may be charged for a ticket (assuming seats are available) at the prevailing rate, which likely will be very high on the day of travel.

Some airlines are fairly lax about doing the age check but Southwest is known as being pretty scrupulous about doing it.

 

[Cars2006]

I have flow with a lap child and you will need to take them out of the sling during takeoff and landing. This might have change since that was 3 years ago with South West.

 

[tjmw2727]

First time flying with SWA and I am really nervous about not having assigned seats. I have a bunch of questions if anyone can answer to help calm my nerves.

24 hour check in ?'s
If I'm traveling at 6:30 pm on Wednesday then will my 24 hour mark be 6:30 pm on Tuesday?
I have a confirmation # with 5 people on the reservation, do I have to check each person in separately?
Is it better to call or do it online?

Traveling with a child on your lap ?'s
Will the passenger with a child get to board with family boarding & can other board with her?
Can the mother wear a sling on the plane?

THANKS!!

Yes: If you didn't purchase the Early Bird Check in option then check in at exactly T24 and have everything entered in and ready to go for the best boarding pass numbers. If you are all on one confirmation then you only have to do this once, and online is definitely best!

Honestly SWA has a great website will all the details on traveling with them including the boarding process and traveling with an infant, IMHO its always better to get the info right from the source!
Here is a link to the section on traveling with an infant to make things easy for you/her:
https://www.southwest.com/html/cust...on-board-pol.html?clk=GFOOTER-CUSTOMER-INFANT

The passenger with the child can board with her Boarding Pass or with Family boarding (Between A and B) whichever is sooner. Only immediate family can board with them. SWA Will ask for a birth certificate for the lap rider so be sure to bring that. You need to call and add the baby to your reservation and when you check in you will be issued a Boarding Verification Certificate that will act as the lap baby's boarding pass. If this is confusing its all spelled out (better than I can!) in the link above.

NO - No Sling! only FAA approved child restraints are allowed - again see above but here is the quote for convenience:

"The FAA prohibits the use of certain types of restraint devices, such as backless booster seats, safety belt extensions (commonly referred to as "belly belts"), and vests or harness devices that attach to an adult.."

 

[bksomody]

24 hour check in ?'s
If I'm traveling at 6:30 pm on Wednesday then will my 24 hour mark be 6:30 pm on Tuesday? Yes
I have a confirmation # with 5 people on the reservation, do I have to check each person in separately? You will be able to check everyone in at the same time if they are on the same reservation.
Is it better to call or do it online? Online. Not sure if calling even is an option.

Traveling with a child on your lap ?'s
Will the passenger with a child get to board with family boarding & can other board with her? Board in your numbered spot if you are in the A group, or in family boarding if you are in the B or C group.
Can the mother wear a sling on the plane? For boarding, yes. I'm not sure if the child can remain in a sling during takeoff or landing, however.

Thanks!

 

[bksomody]

The parent and child can board during family boarding (and if she has other small children, they can board then too) but no grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, etc.

Here is what is posted on Southwest's "Boarding the Plane" FAQs which can be found here: https://www.southwest.com/html/generated/help/faqs/boarding_the_plane_faq.html

Do families get to preboard?

An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. If the child and the adult are both holding an “A” boarding pass, they should both board with the “A” boarding group.

Thanks!

 

[bksomody]

Birth certificate for the child? It's probably obvious the baby is less than 2 but you may need it if you had not thought of it already. Does the baby need to be registered as a lap baby before hand?

Yes he's registered but he doesn't have his birth certificate yet so they told me anything with his birth date like his medical card. Thanks!

 

[bksomody]

Just got off the phone with Southwest regarding infant in lap. I was told to reserve the flight for the adults and then call Southwest to add the infant to the reservation. I was also told to bring the child's official birth certificate to the airport for age verification.

Thanks!

 

[HollyMD]

Do we HAVE to call the airline ahead of time about the lap infant or can we just bring birth certificate and pick up the boarding verification certificate then? If we add the infant ahead of time, can we still do the 24 hour check in?(Sorry to hijack your thread, but I had a couple of questions as well )

 

[maxiesmom]

Please be aware that there is a small chance that Southwest will not do family boarding. It is left up to the gate agents to decide, and sometimes if there are a lot of families flying, they will skip family boarding.

 

[Julylady]

The last time two times I flew SWA there was no family boarding. The gate agent announced that since the plane was flying to Orlando and was mostly families with young kids, everyone would be boarded according to their number.

 

[DebbieB]

The last time two times I flew SWA there was no family boarding. The gate agent announced that since the plane was flying to Orlando and was mostly families with young kids, everyone would be boarded according to their number.

How did that go over when it was announced? We're there a lot of people wanting to switch seats onboard?

 

[Disneycouple99]

Just an FYI about the 24hr check in. It is 24hrs based on the time zone where the airport is. We live about 2 miles from the Indiana/Illinois state line and fly out of Indy alot, so a 6:30 p.m. flight is a 5:30 p.m. check in where I live.

 

[BabiesDaddy]

I cannot stress this enough, if you have young children, do "early bird check-in". It saves you the trouble of checking in 24 hours before your flight, and almost guarantees you'll all sit together.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Do we HAVE to call the airline ahead of time

Yes, you HAVE to call the airline ahead of time to register any ticketed passenger. The Southwest website states this phone call must be made. Why would you question whether you have to call?

 

[HollyMD]

Yes, you HAVE to call the airline ahead of time to register any ticketed passenger. The Southwest website states this phone call must be made. Why would you question whether you have to call?

Only because I had no clue that we had to call, thought we could just show up with baby and birth certificate, since its not like they have to have a seat for him, as he will be a lap child. Was just an innocent question to make sure.