New to Southwest

[buzzgirls&dad]

Hi all, We have flown with airtran for years and have been very happy. With the Southwest take over I have noticed that the airfare for airtran has been going up and the airfare for Southwest is going down in our market. This morning there is a really great price on SW. I'm a little nervous to book our nonstops. I know we will get to take an second bag if we need it. Can you pick seating with SW, that is important to us and we are willing to pay for it? How does their check in work? Can you bring lunch on the plane. Any other Dis insite would be great. TIA

 

[rwdavis2]

Briefly, you do not get to pick seats in advance with SW. You can either check in at the 24 hour mark and get boarding passes or pay $10 per seat per flight and be automatically checked in at the 36 hour mark by SW. Then you print the boarding passes at the 24 hour or later point. You are allowed to take any food you want on the plane. I don't know of any airline that restricts it.

Start here:

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/airport-experience/boarding-school/

It's how SW boards.

 

[mom2brooke76]

I only fly Southwest and like them a lot. I've regularly flown them with my dd, 7, and have never had issues finding seats together. Given, I always check in at exactly the 24 hour mark. On my last flight a family was last to board and the flight attendants were great about making sure that the family sat near each other. Usually they'll at least try to make sure that one parent is sitting with a child. I think they're great!

 

[maciec]

I am a Airtran lover also. This is our first time flying with Southwest out of BWI. I am really nervous flying SW because we don't have guaranteed seats. It will be myself, dh, ds8, dd10, and my lap baby 7m. When I bought our tickets, the baby wasn't born yet so I couldn't buy him a ticket. I am really hoping that prices for our flight come down so that I can buy him a seat.

Anyway, it's going to cost us $80 more for EBCI If I get the baby a seat does that get at least 1 parent and the baby on before everyone else? Would that alleviate the need for buying EBCI? I don't know what to expect. HELP!

To the OP - sorry to jump on your thread, but I thought my situation would be kind of related.

 

[MindyMouse76]

SW is great!! We flew SW from PHL to MCO for Disney! Make sure you checkin online 24 hours before your flight. Now 23 hours and 50 minutes...but 24 hours. However, if you have a child - they must guarantee you seats together. They gave my DD4 a coloring book and was just great! Also with the 2 free checked bags per person plus a carry on - you make out great!

Have fun!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

SW is great!! We flew SW from PHL to MCO for Disney! Make sure you checkin online 24 hours before your flight. Now 23 hours and 50 minutes...but 24 hours. However, if you have a child - they must guarantee you seats together. They gave my DD4 a coloring book and was just great! Also with the 2 free checked bags per person plus a carry on - you make out great!

Have fun!

Uhm? I dont' think so. They will try to get your seats together, but they don't have to.

OP - don't worry! SWA is great! Check in at exactly 24 hours or purchase Early Bird Check In and you won't have any problems finding seats together. However, if you do get a "B" boarding pass, with a child so young, you will be able to board between the "A" and "B" with family boarding.

 

[ToddyLu]

Many people get the EBCI with SW only on the trip back. That way you do not have to worry about checking in at the exact 24 mark while you are at WDW. DH and I get EBCI for our flight going and coming for the convienence.

THey will allow all passengers with a "A" boarding pass get on the plane first then they pick any seat they want. Next is B, with families with young children in between those groups.

On our last non stop flight the SW plane was packed out of MCO--we were glad we had boarded first.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

Hi all, OP here, thank you for the help and encouragement. I pulled the trigger last night and bought our tickets. The price difference was astounding. As I stated AT has done nothing but go up so the price last night was $1847 plus $120 for baggage for the three of us. SW was $953 including EBCI both ways. A difference of $1014. My DH couldn't believe the difference. Now I just need to cross my fingers that flight times don't change and that all goes smoothly. One "to Do" off my list.

 

[pooch]

SWA is a great airline to fly & you'll be fine!!!

 

[MHSweb79]

We fly SW out of Providence all the time and I don't believe they have ever changed our flight time or even cancelled a flight. Really really a no-issues airline to deal with.

As others have said, you can't choose your seat ahead of time. This is generally not a problem, especially if you make it a point to check in at exactly 24 hours ahead of your flight to get your boarding pass number. I have been on flights where flight attendants have asked if someone could switch seats to accommodate a family trying to sit together, and there are always people willing to do so. But for the most part, boarding is problem free.

The other great thing about Southwest, apart from their generous luggage allowance, is that if you have to change your flight, or your price goes down, you can do so without any change fees and you can keep any difference in price as a credit that's good for 1 year from the time of your original purchase.