Infant without a seat

[mombg20062009]

I am traveling on Southwest with an infant that will be sitting in my lap. I bought the tickets online and there was nothing there for me to fill out about the infant. I do know that I will need a birth certificate to prove her age, but is there anything I have to do before I get to the airport? Thanks.

 

[Taja]

Somewhere on the Southwest website (vague, I know!) you will find information about flying with a lap baby (infant without a seat). It provides all of the information you will need. The rules probably have changed since our last experience (December, 2007).

I believe it used to under "Travel Tools"--not sure where you'll find it now!

 

[minniesmama]

I haven't flown Southwest, but on all other airlines I've flown I've had to call and give my DD's information to the representative in advance of the flight. She always has a ticket, even thought she doesn't have a seat.

 

[msjprincess]

Every time I've flown SWA with a lap baby I just told them at check-in. Ninety percent of the time I've lucked out and there was an empty seat on the plane so the assigned us a seat and gave me a boarding pass.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Note that Southwest has been reported to be cracking down on ticketless seated infants. There've been several reports over the last year or so of Flight Attendants refusing to allow any infants to use empty seats if there aren't enough for all lap children.

 

[jsilvers]

Somewhere on the Southwest website (vague, I know!) you will find information about flying with a lap baby (infant without a seat). It provides all of the information you will need. The rules probably have changed since our last experience (December, 2007).

I believe it used to under "Travel Tools"--not sure where you'll find it now!

http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/infants.html

 

[n2mm]

My daughters have flown over the past few years with lap babies on (SW, Airtran, Jetblue) and while all have different rules, the main rule is that you have to have something to show security. Some will have it noted on YOUR boarding pass and some will actually give you a lap baby boarding pass. Keep in mind when you return home and if you use RAC you most likely will not get anything for a lap baby and will have to stop at the counter at the airport to get a verification. So allow extra time for this as the lines get really long on some airlines.

 

[mombg20062009]

Thank you for the info. I didn't even consider RAC!

 

[princessmorgan]

All the times I have flown SW, I have called ahead of time to add my infant to my reservation. They will just get the baby's name and DOB. I'm sure you could do it at the airport, too, but the agents might appreciate one less thing they need to do when it gets crazy sometimes. Regardless you'll still have to check in at the desk at the airport so they can mark your boarding pass with an infant or security won't let you through.

 

[malibuconlee]

I am traveling on Southwest with an infant that will be sitting in my lap. I bought the tickets online and there was nothing there for me to fill out about the infant. I do know that I will need a birth certificate to prove her age, but is there anything I have to do before I get to the airport? Thanks.

At check-in when you hand over your DL just give them the birth certificate as well. If you checked in online and printed your boarding passes they will re-print with a boarding document that links the baby to one of you.

On SW you don't need to call ahead, we never have. The only time we flew another airline my daughter had her own seat.

We flew recently and the flight was full, but we had actually bought DD a seat because fares were so cheap. They did hand us back her boarding pass on one leg, I assume to show she was ticketed and had her own seat.