Flying Southwest with 2 kids

[TheMick424]

Curious about your experiences with family boarding with Southwest. My understanding is that families with children ages 4 and under are eligible to board in between the A and B groups. The SWA website says something like one adult with one child though. What if one adult is travelling alone with two kids under the age of 4? Are they still eligible to board then, or do they need to wait until their assigned spot? I would think a single person travelling with two young children would need it more than others. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Jestocost]

Yes, the restriction is that in some cases they will only allow one adult with each child, not one child with each adult. This is to prevent a family of 15 all boarding with one three year old; not to prevent a single parent from boarding with more than one child under five.

Realistically, however, if you use EBCI or check in at the 24-hour mark you usually will get a boarding number in the A group, which means you will board before family boarding.

 

[TheMick424]

Great, thanks!

 

[disneyag]

Check in at the 24 hour mark and try to get an A boarding pass and you will be fine. Also, know that sometimes flights to MCO are filled with kids and SWA doesn't even offer family boarding. Finally, you can pay the extra $10 per ticket that allows you early bird check-in. It doesn't guarantee an A boarding pass, but you should still get a decent seat with your kiddos together. We've been flying SWA for years and have never had trouble!

 

[Tara]

Check in at the 24 hour mark and try to get an A boarding pass and you will be fine. Also, know that sometimes flights to MCO are filled with kids and SWA doesn't even offer family boarding. Finally, you can pay the extra $10 per ticket that allows you early bird check-in. It doesn't guarantee an A boarding pass, but you should still get a decent seat with your kiddos together. We've been flying SWA for years and have never had trouble!

This seems a bit contradictory to me. (no offense) No, EBCI does not guarantee you an A pass...but if that doesn't guarantee you an A pass, then what luck will you have at T24?

A friend of mine recently flew with EBCI and got B1 on a direct flight from BDL to Vegas, so I can say for sure there's no guarantee you'll get an A. However, your chances with it are much greater. I think it's worth it to get EBCI but that's a personal choice - it's 3 of us flying, too, so $60 RT. Some people just get it for the flight home so they don't have to fool with being at a computer or at guest services at T24 on a park day. To me, ECBI is like an investment in not having to worry about the whole online check-in deal.

 

[disneyagain]

This June/July will be our first time flying SW since they instituted the EBCI. I think I'm going to take the chance with 24hr prior. There are 3 of us going DH, DD (15) and myself. Although we don't want to be split up, we could be. Our flight leaves Philly on a Sunday at 7:15pm and returns on Friday at 8:20am. I'm guessing that these are not the most popular flights for most families. We have to drop our son off at a youth leadership convention before we can fly out and then be back to pick him up and attend the final dinner, so we had no choice but these flights.

I'll just program everything into my phone for the return flight and check in at the 24 hr mark from where ever I am at 8:20am on Thursday morning.

Can't wait to get to Disney!

 

[DonnaL]

I just flew on SWA from PHL to RDU last week..did not use EBCI and got A37 and 38 at the 24 hr mark. The flight originated in Manchester, then PHL, RDU and on to MCO. It was a Thursday morning flight and didn't appear to be too many children. That said, I think if I were flying with young children I would try to determine whether the flight I was on was a continuation or originating flight from my airport and plan to use either EBCI or make sure I could check-in at 24 hours accordingly. We did have two people board the flight almost last and request that the flight attendant ask for someone to give up their seat so they could sit together. These were two adults.....not someone with a child. They had the same opportunity as everyone else to use either EBCI or check-in at the 24 hr mark and I just didn't think it was right they ask someone who did check-in to give up their seat. When my grandson was younger and we traveled with him frequently I always made sure I checked in at the 24 hr mark (this was before EBCI) to pretty much guarantee A boarding passes.

 

[TiaMaria]

I just flew on SWA from PHL to RDU last week..did not use EBCI and got A37 and 38 at the 24 hr mark. The flight originated in Manchester, then PHL, RDU and on to MCO. It was a Thursday morning flight and didn't appear to be too many children. That said, I think if I were flying with young children I would try to determine whether the flight I was on was a continuation or originating flight from my airport and plan to use either EBCI or make sure I could check-in at 24 hours accordingly. We did have two people board the flight almost last and request that the flight attendant ask for someone to give up their seat so they could sit together. These were two adults.....not someone with a child. They had the same opportunity as everyone else to use either EBCI or check-in at the 24 hr mark and I just didn't think it was right they ask someone who did check-in to give up their seat. When my grandson was younger and we traveled with him frequently I always made sure I checked in at the 24 hr mark (this was before EBCI) to pretty much guarantee A boarding passes.

I guess some people just think that they're special...