Flying with small children

[pleakley]

Our first trip to WDW in June will also be the first time flying with our kids, ds age 6 and dd age 4. We have a SWA nonstop flight to Orlando (4 hours). My question is will all four of us (me, dh, ds, dd) be allowed to preboard, even though we obviously won't be able to sit together or will we even qualify?
Thanks for your help!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by pleakley
Our first trip to WDW in June will also be the first time flying with our kids, ds age 6 and dd age 4. We have a SWA nonstop flight to Orlando (4 hours). My question is will all four of us (me, dh, ds, dd) be allowed to preboard, even though we obviously won't be able to sit together or will we even qualify?
Thanks for your help!

Yes, you will preboard. Immediate family (mother, father, sibs) all get that preboard, and since it is a preboard, I am sure you will all find seats together.

 

[jel0511]

To be honest, you might not get to preboard. On all of my recent flights, they've only allowed people traveling with infants to preboard. If the flight isn't full, or there isn't a lot of children sometimes they'll allow people with small children to board first, which you'd qualify for. I've also been in a situation flying to Orlando, in which they didn't allow anyone to preboard, since they said everyone was traveling with children and everyone would be able to preboard. It's not a guarantee, so I'd get to the airport as early as possible so you can get the first boarding number.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Lori,
Were you flying SWA?

I copied the boarding procedure from SWA's web site.


Southwest Airlines Checkin and Boarding Procedure
Southwest Airlines' Customers will need valid state or federal government-issued picture identification to travel (passport, driver's license, state-issued identification card, or military identification are acceptable).


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Checkin Procedure
Customers may check in for their flight and receive their boarding pass and Rapid Rewards credit at the Skycap Podium (in select locations), Ticket Counter, Departure Gate, or RAPID CHECK-IN Kiosk (where available).

Customers may check luggage and receive boarding passes at the Skycap Counter (in select locations) or Ticket Counter up to four hours prior to scheduled departure.


To determine the best time to check in for your flight, please refer to the Airport Arrival chart. The Departure Gate opens for checkin and boading pass distribution one hour prior to departure.


At 20 minutes prior to scheduled departure you can get a boarding pass only at the Departure Gate.


Customers checking in less than 10 minutes before scheduled departure may lose their confirmed reservation and will not be eligible for denied boarding compensation.

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Boarding Procedure
Each Customer will be issued a boarding pass grouped by A, B, or C (in that order) based on when the Customer checked in at the Skycap Counter, Ticket Counter, Departure Gate, or RAPID CHECK-IN Kiosk (where available).


Prior to general boarding, Customers with disabilities, unaccompanied children, and families with small children will preboard. Customers holding boarding pass "A" will begin general boarding, followed by Customers with boarding pass "B," and then "C."


Because Southwest Airlines maintains an open-seating policy, Customers may sit in any open or unclaimed seat. Customers who choose a seat in an emergency exit row must meet all requirements set forth by the Federal Aviation Administration and Southwest Airlines.

Perhaps they change the policy depending on the flight, but, I have yet to be on a flight with SWA that does not preboard kids 4 and under.

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Thanks for clearing that up. We'll be traveling with my DS 4, and DD 5. I thought I would only be allowed to preboard with my DS and my husband would have to stay behind with my DD. Whew!

 

[jel0511]

ACtually yes, I did fly SWA on the occassion where they didn't allow anyone to pre-board. The flight was FULL of little children and if they did pre-board, it would have been a mad house!!!

 

[E&B's Mom]

My recommendation is not to pre-board. If it's a 4 hour trip, they will spend that much extra time confiend to their seats. If you don't all sit together It should still be OK as long as each parent sits next to one child.

 

[megnsamsgrace]

We were on SWA last June with a 13m old, a 3 1/2 y/o and a 5 y/o. Needless to say, we were able to preboard no trouble (second in line behind 2 senior couples). If we go through SWA again for our October trip (waiting to see if their buy one get one free will be out again) then we will get to preboard again as our youngest will be 2 1/2 months. I did see others preboarding witha child around 3-4 years old coming home, but not too Orlando, there were only a couple families on the flight. Good luck! STephanie due with baby #4

 

[NotUrsula]

... the flight has a lot of children booked on it. At a lot of SWA locations, it has to do with the way that the gate area is set up. It happens a lot @ Midway in Chicago, where the preboard areas are in stairwells. There isn't room for more than about 5 people to wait in the preboard area, as it blocks the de-planing passengers' egress from the jetway. IME, at Midway they will only let you preboard if you are disabled, or if you are securing a carseat. Usually that is regardless of destination.

When they do restrict, most commonly, they will restrict to one adult boarding with one <5 child. However, since most adults travelling without children do not wish to sit next to an unsupervised child, most people turn a blind eye to judicious seat-saving. If you and your younger child are the only ones allowed to preboard, sit on the 2-side, and put yourself and your child in aisle seats, one behind the other, then sort of hover in front of your seat (but clear of the aisle.) When someone asks if the seat is taken, smile and say that that you are waiting for the rest of the children; very few people will argue. When your DH boards with your other child, put one child in each row. If it is a crowded flight, try to take the center of two rows on the 3-across side; individuals will take the aisle seats, leaving the window seats open for your DH and your other child.

Remember that to most adults, and especially business travelers, the aisle seats are the most valuable. They generally do not like the rear-facing seats (no recline), but those are actually good for family parties, so if you take the rear-facing seats with children, you will usually scare other adults away from the front-facing seats that face into them. (Those front-facing seats have really good legroom *if* the rear-facing seats stay empty; if the rear-facing seats are occupied, the legroom is nasty.) One caveat to those rear-facing seats; there are no tray tables.

 

[pleakley]

Thanks for all the great info! We are flying from a smaller airport, compared to most of the others I've seen mentioned (we're a city of around 500,000), so hopefully we'll be able to preboard without any trouble but just in case we'll get there early enough to hopefully get an "A" boarding pass - will they issue one regardless of preboarding?
I'm really not too worried about the 4 hour flight, we have always taken long car trips since the kids were very little and although we stop often, it's usually around the 4 hour mark anyway or else we'd never get to where we were going They are very good travelers and I have gotten to be incredibly good at packing "goodie" bags.
I'm not at all worried about all 4 of us sitting together, although for their first flight it would be an added bonus - as long as each child gets a parent next to them, we'll be good to go.
What does happen if they don't allow preboarding and we can't find two seats together for each group, I've read in previous posts that they'll ask for volunteers to switch, but what if no one will? I am a huge overthinker, but I'll definately worry less once I've asked the question (and am on the plane).
I really appreciate all your tips. I think now I'll be ready for all scenarios!

 

[megnsamsgrace]

first... see if your dd is young enough to preboard. If she can, then you all can. At least thats the way they had it when we flew both times. But it could have been we had 2 under 4 thats why? This way you will know ahead of time if you can preboard or not. Also, if you are able to preboard you can wait in that line (we did because we wanted the 5 seats that face together) or just sit in the waiting area and you will know when its time to preboard. If not, you should get there early to get one of the A tickets.. I would not want to be in the back of the plane. When we went they did #s 1-30 were an A, #31-60 was B, #61-90 was C. But we were there early enough to get an A ticket because we thought we had to be there 2 hours early to go through security When in fact the security check in took less than 15 minutes! And thats going through with a stroller and checking all our bags! Good luck, I hope I (we) all helped some... as noted, all airports are different! Steph

 

[NotUrsula]

... unsupervised 6 yo on the child's first flight. If there are no pairs left, ask politely and I'm sure an FA will talk someone into switching seats with you. They will sometimes sweeten the pot with free drink coupons if you're not sure how the child's stomach is likely to hold up. (I'm not suggesting that you lie, but on a first flight, that's an open question.)

Again, if it looks like you are going to have to trade, try to grab an aisle seat; preferably as far forward as possible, people will usually trade to get one. You would have a very hard time getting someone to trade with you if it meant that the tradee was getting a middle seat when he had an aisle or window before.