Frequent SW flyers....

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

Hi! I get so stressed about booking a flight with SW because of their ticket/seating system. I much prefer a guarrantee. I understand you can print out your own boarding pass 24 hours in advance (?). If you do that, does everyone in your party get the same letter to board with?

My dh will be flying to Disney with our two older children. I am already so worried about them having to board seperately. Could they do that...separate kids from their parent? My kids will be 9 and 6, so they won't qualify for preboarding. My oldest has Asperger's Syndrome, so the thought of him sitting far away from his sister or father is terrifying to me.

Anyone with experience with this? I believe SW is the only airline that flies nonstop Baltimore to Orlando.

TIA

 

[iluvflorida8]

Relax........if you print your boarding passes at the 24 hour mark or even the 23 hour mark, you will all get "A" boarding passes. Even with pre-boarders of elderly and children under age 4, as long as you have an "A" boarding pass there will be no chance of your family being split up.

I ONLY fly Southwest and have never even gotten a "B" boarding pass when I get on-line at the 23-24 hour mark.

 

[Michael623]

I hate to be the downer here but that isn't exactly true. SW uses BWI (I assume that's where you're flying out of) as sort of a mini-hub for northeast cities. Some of the planes arriving into BWI may have come from Hartford, Providence, Manchester, Albany and probably some more I'm forgetting. The planes could be quite packed and have very few open seats. When flying SW there is no sure thing. You may have "A" boarding passes that allows you to get on first but it in no way assures you'll be seated together.

 

[tmt martins]

Book the first flights of the day and they don't come from other cities.Also if it does get filled just ask the flight att. to help relocate some people they can offer drinks to motivate people to help.

I have used SWA for the past 5 years and have never been split from my family and we have even had the B passes flying out of BWI.

 

[debaudrn]

Pre boarding is also for those with special needs or who may need assistance in boarding. They may allow you to pre-board as well because of your child with Asperger's. Give them a call before and ask. Have a great trip and good luck.
Debbie

 

[dsneygirl]

They would not seperate you for the actual boarding process, ie stick one child in the B line but like others have mentioned sometimes the BWI flights have people from other cities so the seats may be scattered but you can always ask people if they would move.

 

[DonnaL]

I agree with all posts above about your flight possibly originating in another city. If you're really that worried about it, call SW and ask them if the flight does originate somewhere else. If you don't mind taking some time, you can also do it yourself by a little searching on the SW website and comparing arriving flight times from different cities. I frequently do this when I'm planning our trips to avoid getting on a flight that is already pretty much filled. However, I also agree if you print your boarding passes close to the 24 hour mark you will get A's. On our last trip we were not at SSR at the 24 hr mark and it was probably 4 or 5 hours past by the time I went to the front desk to check in and we still got A's. At worst, if the flight does originate somewhere else you may end up sitting 2 and 2.

 

[salmoneous]

Everyone on the same reservation gets the same boarding pass group.

Following the tips you've seen here, you should have no problems getting seats near each other. But if for some strange reason you end up with only middle seats, the flight attendents will do everything they can to move people around to make sure each kid sits with a parent.