Help! i booked my 3yo with points

[mommyof3princess27]

OMG! I accidently booked 2 of my 3 kids with points (8 and 4) and my 13yo seperate with me(I paid for 2 tickets) I am worried now because my 3yo has a different confirmation number(my husband and 2 of the 3 kids have diff numbers.)! Will they make her sit by herself????

 

[kamik86]

What airline? I'm going to assume SW...

In that case I would just check in the 3 year old first then do everyone else. The 3 year old would just board late and board with you and the 13 year old. Worst you can get with a 3 year old is between A and B groups so shouldn't be an issue.

If this isn't SW then I have no clue what will happen and you need someone else to answer.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

What airline? I'm going to assume SW...

In that case I would just check in the 3 year old first then do everyone else. The 3 year old would just board late and board with you and the 13 year old. Worst you can get with a 3 year old is between A and B groups so shouldn't be an issue.

If this isn't SW then I have no clue what will happen and you need someone else to answer.

We have Southwest AND I paid for early bird check in

 

[hsmamato2]

my advice- get to the gate early,make them aware that your 3 yr old has her own #,and no gate agent who is sane would make a child that age sit alone......I'm sure they will help you get seats together

 

[ccgirl]

We have Southwest AND I paid for early bird check in

Then they will check you all in 36 hours in advance. You will be fine.

 

[tjmw2727]

No worries, on SWA you choose where you sit and they won't allow a 3yo to board alone.

At T36 EBCI will check you all in and assign you boarding pass Numbers and Letters. At T24 you can go online and see what you got. If you all got A then just have the 3yo board with the lowest numbered parent regardless of his/her boarding pass number. If you got B you can use family boarding in between A and B boarding.

Whoever boards first can save a few seats for those boarding later - the further back in the plane you head the easier this will be. SWA seats 3 and 3 so have a plan as to who sits where and then have a backup in case you are a row or apart etc.

OMG! I accidently booked 2 of my 3 kids with points (8 and 4) and my 13yo seperate with me(I paid for 2 tickets) I am worried now because my 3yo has a different confirmation number(my husband and 2 of the 3 kids have diff numbers.)! Will they make her sit by herself????

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I paid for my DD8's flight with my SWRR points and purchased the EBCI. When I purchased my DD's flight, I had to link my confirmation number to her reservation since she is a minor. I don't know if that affected anything or not, but our boarding positions on both flights (coming and going) were together. We got A50 and A51 going to MCO, and A53 and A54 returning.

Other times when I haven't purchased the ECBI and just checked us in at the 24 hour mark, our boarding positions have been separated by a few numbers, but not much. I'd just have us both board with the later number.

 

[MissManda]

You should be fine. This Saturday will be my first trip flying with Southwest, but I've done a lot of research on their boarding process. We are flying with 5 people (2 adults and 3 kids). I bought our tickets using cash for some and points for others. I have multiple confirmation numbers. Due to this, I have done a lot of research to make sure I understand the process.

If you did EBCI then you will all be checked in 36 hours before your flight. This guarentees you an early boarding group. You get to pick your own seats. Its my understanding if you are in the earlier boarding group then you shouldn't have problems finding seats together. If your 3yo's boarding number is earlier than yours (for example hers is A50 and yours is A60), then just have her stay with you and board with you. You don't have to put her on the plane by herself. I'm sure with EBCI that you will be just fine.


***For what its worth though, SW will allow young children to sit by themselves. Several years ago my brother and law flew with his three kids from Raleigh to Tampa. He waited until he got to the aiport and checked in, meaning he had a later boarding number (it was his first time flying and he really didn't know any better). He and the three kids all sat in different areas of the plane. The kids ages ranged from 4 to 9. He sat on an aisle seat, the 4yo sat two rows ahead of him on the opposite aisle so he could at least see her. The two older boys sat a couple of more rows up. Apparently people would not give up seats for him to at least sit with the 4yo and the flight attendents didn't do anything about it. Thankfully all the kids did well for their first time flying (I think they handled it better than their Dad) and they didn't have any problems. Needless to say on the return trip, he checked in earlier and was able to get seats together.

 

[tjmw2727]

A few slight corrections -
EBCI does not guarantee an early boarding group - it simply means you will be checked in 12 hours prior to those who check themselves in at T24. There will also be A listers and Business select passengers that get priority over EBCI as well as possibly connecting passengers and continuing passengers. It is possible to get a B boarding pass with EBCI.

You can do some research to see of your flight is a connection or continuation of other flights vs an origination flight.

As far as the 4yo sitting alone- even with waiting to check in at the airport SWA has always offered family boarding. They do not want children 4 and under sitting alone!

That family could have boarded with family boarding which is now between the A and B group or if it was several years ago families boarded before the A group. My guess is that they were late to the gate resulting in a delay boarding and IME this is one of the few times where the FA's will be less likely to ask passengers to move around as they need to get the flight in the iar.

The OP is also eligible for family boarding so there is little to no chance that her 3yo will be sitting alone.

You should be fine. This Saturday will be my first trip flying with Southwest, but I've done a lot of research on their boarding process. We are flying with 5 people (2 adults and 3 kids). I bought our tickets using cash for some and points for others. I have multiple confirmation numbers. Due to this, I have done a lot of research to make sure I understand the process.

If you did EBCI then you will all be checked in 36 hours before your flight. This guarentees you an early boarding group. You get to pick your own seats. Its my understanding if you are in the earlier boarding group then you shouldn't have problems finding seats together. If your 3yo's boarding number is earlier than yours (for example hers is A50 and yours is A60), then just have her stay with you and board with you. You don't have to put her on the plane by herself. I'm sure with EBCI that you will be just fine.


***For what its worth though, SW will allow young children to sit by themselves. Several years ago my brother and law flew with his three kids from Raleigh to Tampa. He waited until he got to the aiport and checked in, meaning he had a later boarding number (it was his first time flying and he really didn't know any better). He and the three kids all sat in different areas of the plane. The kids ages ranged from 4 to 9. He sat on an aisle seat, the 4yo sat two rows ahead of him on the opposite aisle so he could at least see her. The two older boys sat a couple of more rows up. Apparently people would not give up seats for him to at least sit with the 4yo and the flight attendents didn't do anything about it. Thankfully all the kids did well for their first time flying (I think they handled it better than their Dad) and they didn't have any problems. Needless to say on the return trip, he checked in earlier and was able to get seats together.

 

[MissManda]

A few slight corrections -
EBCI does not guarantee an early boarding group - it simply means you will be checked in 12 hours prior to those who check themselves in at T24. There will also be A listers and Business select passengers that get priority over EBCI as well as possibly connecting passengers and continuing passengers. It is possible to get a B boarding pass with EBCI.

You can do some research to see of your flight is a connection or continuation of other flights vs an origination flight.

As far as the 4yo sitting alone- even with waiting to check in at the airport SWA has always offered family boarding. They do not want children 4 and under sitting alone!

That family could have boarded with family boarding which is now between the A and B group or if it was several years ago families boarded before the A group. My guess is that they were late to the gate resulting in a delay boarding and IME this is one of the few times where the FA's will be less likely to ask passengers to move around as they need to get the flight in the iar.

The OP is also eligible for family boarding so there is little to no chance that her 3yo will be sitting alone.

I realize it is possible to get into the B group with EBCI depending on how many others did EBCI and the conditions you wrote about above. I guess I meant "earlier" boarding than for people that checked in at the 24 hour mark or later. But as you pointed out, she would be eligible for family boarding. So if she didn't get into A group she would still get on before the B group. So she shouldn't have any problems anyway you look at it having a seat beside her 3yo.

You know, I never considered people coming in on a connecting or continuing flight. How can you tell that? In our case, I was just assuming we would be boarding an empty plane. That might not be the case at all.

In regards to my brother in law and the 4yo sitting by herself, I wasn't at the airport with them so I have no idea how late he checked in, when he got to the gate, or why he didn't do family boarding. I do know for a fact that they got to the airport in plenty of time that they should not have been rushing to the gate (I know this b/c my DH took them to the airport). Now, what happened once they got inside is anyones guess. I don't really know. Honestly wouldn't surpise me a bit if they missed family boarding b/c of a potty break (which he should have made sure they went before boarding, but you know how it is sometimes). All I know is she sat by herself. I was surpised by this, but in the end it all worked out and she did just fine (although I think she chatted the ear off the person beside her).

 

[Jestocost]

You know, I never considered people coming in on a connecting or continuing flight. How can you tell that? In our case, I was just assuming we would be boarding an empty plane. That might not be the case at all.

You can search the flight number to determine if it originates somewhere else and continues to MCO through your airport. There's no way to tell if there will be connecting passengers, but if your airport has a fair number of SWA flights and you aren't going out on a very early morning flight, there's a decent chance there will be at least a few. If you are flying out of someplace like Chicago-Midway or BWI, you can bet there will be a LOT.

Just for fun, here's the order of who could be on the plane if there's something of everything going on:

1. Passengers continuing on the same flight who started from a different airport before stopping at your airport
2. Medical preboards
3. Business Select ticket holders
4. Passengers who used EBCI that are connecting to your flight from another flight into your airport
5. Passengers who used EBCI and are starting their travel at your airport
6. Passengers who checked in 24 hours before their original departer andare connecting to your flight from another flight into your airport
7. Passengers who checked in at 24 hours and are starting their travel at your airport
8. Everybody else

A-List frequent flyers get boarded somewhere in the mix of 3-5 above, but I'm never sure exactly where.

 

[MissManda]

You can search the flight number to determine if it originates somewhere else and continues to MCO through your airport. There's no way to tell if there will be connecting passengers, but if your airport has a fair number of SWA flights and you aren't going out on a very early morning flight, there's a decent chance there will be at least a few. If you are flying out of someplace like Chicago-Midway or BWI, you can bet there will be a LOT.

Just for fun, here's the order of who could be on the plane if there's something of everything going on:

1. Passengers continuing on the same flight who started from a different airport before stopping at your airport
2. Medical preboards
3. Business Select ticket holders
4. Passengers who used EBCI that are connecting to your flight from another flight into your airport
5. Passengers who used EBCI and are starting their travel at your airport
6. Passengers who checked in 24 hours before their original departer andare connecting to your flight from another flight into your airport
7. Passengers who checked in at 24 hours and are starting their travel at your airport
8. Everybody else

A-List frequent flyers get boarded somewhere in the mix of 3-5 above, but I'm never sure exactly where.

First...OP, I'm sorry for totally hijacking your thread! Second, after this post, I really need to get back to work

So, a quick search indicated that my flight actually starts in Philadephia, stops in Raleigh (where we will get on) and then continues to Orlando. I can't believe I didn't even consider that possibility Now I feel even better about the decision to do EBCI with our group of 5.

Ok..back to work for me. No more thread hijacking for a little while at least!

 

[mom2brooke76]

A-list frequent flyers get boarded somewhere in the mix of 3-5 above, but I'm never sure exactly where.

I'm an A-lister and fly monthly and from what I've seen, the A-listers start immediately after business select. I've spoken to people in line to come to this conclusion. As an aside, it seems that they check in A-listers alphabetically, which stinks for me since my last name begins with a "T", always putting me at the back of the group, particularly at places like MDW where there are lots of A-listers flying.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just FYI on SWA and RR on a subject other than seating, if you can only pay for some of your tickets with points, it pays to make sure that the people flying on points are adults. This is because adults can earn points in other ways, such as CC purchases and hotel stays, but kids cannot; they need butt-in-seat miles to earn points. If you buy young kids tickets and there is no adult on the same confirmation number, the system will ask you to link the reservations.

OTOH, if you are buying tickets for anyone who cannot be counted on to actually make the trip, or to reimburse you for a nonrufundable ticket purchase, buying that person's ticket with points is the way to go, even if you have to purchase the points. This is because flights purchased with points may be cancelled for a full refund, and the points go back into your account, unlike cash credit, which can only be used for tickets for the same person as the ticket was originally purchased for.