Please Help! Pros/Cons flying Southwest

[britt54311]

I am really thinking of flying Southwest Airlines out of Milwaukee, Oct. 26 to MCO. They have cheap airfare and no baggage fee.

I have heard/read you can not getassigned seating, that you get a letter A, B or C when you check in and then A boards first then B and then C and you pick your seat as you board. Correct me if I am wrong, please. There is 7 of us ranging 17 yrs old to adults. We don't necessarily need to all sit together, but I don't want someone sitting alone either.

Please tell me your experiences good or bad.

Thanks for any info.

 

[shopn24seven]

That is true. I have never received anything lower than a B and if you go online when you are told to (24 hrs, I think) you should be able to get A Seats, or you can pay 10.00 extra and get A seats.

TBH, My B seats were just fine.

 

[Paticake]

We LUV SW!

 

[Jestocost]

That is true. I have never received anything lower than a B and if you go online when you are told to (24 hrs, I think) you should be able to get A Seats, or you can pay 10.00 extra and get A seats.

TBH, My B seats were just fine.

To clarify, for $10 per person each way you get SWA's Early Bird Check-in service, which automatically assigns your boarding number 36 hours in advance of your flight. While in most cases that will result in getting 'A' boarding passes, it does not guarantee that and there have been scattered reports of EBCI passengers getting 'B' boarding numbers.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I love SWA. We fly it whenever we can. Besides the free luggage (up to 2 per person under 50 lbs), SWA almost never changes the schedule unless it is for mechanical or weather related issues. We find check in and boarding to be extremely easy.

If you go to the SWA site, there is a Boarding School that you can watch showing how the boarding works. If you check in at exactly 24 hours before your flight, you should have no problem getting low numbered boarding passes. However, with the advent of Early Bird Check In, those checking in at T-24 aren't going to get low A's. But it doesn't matter, even "B" boarding passes can find seats together, most likely towards the back of the plane.

I highly recommend flying SWA!

 

[brenda1966]

the only con to SW is needing to be at your computer (or cell phone, if you can get that to work) 24 hours before your flight so you can get decent boarding passes. If money is no object, then you can spend the $10 per person to get those advanced boarding passses, but I choose not to.

SW is always my first choice when booking airfare.

 

[a1tinkfans]

We fly SW exclusively for several years and have not had issues. YES, you should check in 24 hours before(which any concierge at any hotel can do for you, or at guest services at parks when staying on property) bring your confirmation number and license) OR pay the 10. to hopefully get you an A.
Many people just do the 24 hours....the order in fact is something like...

Those Continuing from earlier flight
unaccompanied children
WHeelchairs
BlueSLeeves (handicapped or disability)
then those with Little ones (only one adult with the child)
Then A's,
Bs etc....
even with all that, never a seating issue for us. WHile you are not allowed or supposed to "save" a seat.. if one of you gets on first and then just kinda stands in the row and throws a hat on the next seat...and acts polite, kinda waiting for the rest of your family they really do not say anything...then again, I did see ONE crazy person Once
I personally think you'll be fine A or B and even sometimes C, but if you are worried, I'd pay the Extra 10, though that does NOT guarantee an A. And SW is wonderful to fly..........
SAFE flying to ALL!

 

[Poohlovr]

We fly SW exclusively for several years and have not had issues. YES, you should check in 24 hours before(which any concierge at any hotel can do for you, or at guest services at parks when staying on property) bring your confirmation number and license) OR pay the 10. to hopefully get you an A.
Many people just do the 24 hours....the order in fact is something like...

Those Continuing from earlier flight
unaccompanied children
WHeelchairs
BlueSLeeves (handicapped or disability)
then those with Little ones (only one adult with the child)
Then A's,
Bs etc....
even with all that, never a seating issue for us. WHile you are not allowed or supposed to "save" a seat.. if one of you gets on first and then just kinda stands in the row and throws a hat on the next seat...and acts polite, kinda waiting for the rest of your family they really do not say anything...then again, I did see ONE crazy person Once
I personally think you'll be fine A or B and even sometimes C, but if you are worried, I'd pay the Extra 10, though that does NOT guarantee an A. And SW is wonderful to fly..........
SAFE flying to ALL!

Family boarding is now after the A group boarding.

 

[Jestocost]

We fly SW exclusively for several years and have not had issues. YES, you should check in 24 hours before(which any concierge at any hotel can do for you, or at guest services at parks when staying on property) bring your confirmation number and license) OR pay the 10. to hopefully get you an A.
Many people just do the 24 hours....the order in fact is something like...

Those Continuing from earlier flight
unaccompanied children
WHeelchairs
BlueSLeeves (handicapped or disability)
then those with Little ones (only one adult with the child)
Then A's,
Bs etc....
even with all that, never a seating issue for us. WHile you are not allowed or supposed to "save" a seat.. if one of you gets on first and then just kinda stands in the row and throws a hat on the next seat...and acts polite, kinda waiting for the rest of your family they really do not say anything...then again, I did see ONE crazy person Once
I personally think you'll be fine A or B and even sometimes C, but if you are worried, I'd pay the Extra 10, though that does NOT guarantee an A. And SW is wonderful to fly..........
SAFE flying to ALL!

In addition to the clarification on family boarding being after the 'A' group that the PP correctly made, a few other things to be clear on.

Those continuing from earlier flight would be those that were on that exact plane and are simply staying on to the next stop. Frequently these folks don't even get off, so they don't board per se, but they are on the plane and occupying seats and will have had a chance to move up to the front of the plane or into exit rows, etc.

People connecting from other flights and transferring on to the plane don't technically get any kind of priority boarding and board in order of the number they received at check in. However, they do get to check in for their connecting flight when they check in for their first flight which means they do get a head start on those who are starting on their second flight. Connecting passengers will account for some of the low 'A' numbers, as a result.

In addition, the only people in spots A1-A15 are those who have purchased more expensive "Business Select" fares and SWA's most frequent flyers. Unless you fall into one of those categories you won't get A1-A15 no matter when you check in. Quite often, however, there are very few people in that group.

Finally, SWA officially has no policy for or against saving seats. FAs generally won't stop anyone from saving a seat or intervene to force them to give up an empty seat, but they also typically won't do anything to remove anyone who just plops themselves down in a "saved" seat. As a result, seat saving does happen and most FAs tend to stay out of any disputes unless things get escalated.

 

[PA Princess]

We love SW and we have flown them exclusively the last few years with our family of 7.

I know the non-assigned seats seems like a big deal the first time out, but it really all does work out usually just fine.

SW is really great, and now I get nervous flying any other airline!

 

[Lewisc]

OP asked for pros and cons. You can control your BP number for your first flight. EBCI. Passengers who check in at T-24 still generally get A's or mid B's. Good enough to get seats together.

The con can happen with connecting flights. Sometimes your first flight is delayed. Occasionally the flight will be held for connecting passengers. An A BP won't do you any good if the plane has already boarded. At times passengers will be told to take the first open seat. The plane is waiting to push back and the FA doesn't have time to ask passengers to change seats.

Passengers booking a connecting flight, with less then an hour layover, should be aware of this possibility.

 

[dis-happy]

Here's a con...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/business/28fine.html?hpw

 

[Lewisc]

Sometimes links expire faster then posts scroll off discussion boards. The PP linked an article regarding SWs being fined for not following requirements regarding involuntarily bumping passengers.

Even when SW follows the rules they are not generous in what they offer passengers who agree to accept a voluntary bump.

SW uses the sequence number on your BP when determining which passenger get bumped. Wait too long (after you get to the airport) and instead of a BP you may get a security document that tells you to get your BP at the gate. Those passengers will be the first to get bumped.

 

[Disneysun]

SW is the best. They are one of the most on time airlines and they are happy to be there (or so they seem to be). I fly a ton for work and because of locations can't always fly SW, but do try when I can. Not only that, the RR system accumulates free flights faster than other airlines IMO.

If you pay the additional $10 you should likely get an A, but even if you get a B there are still lost of seats left. Most flights have 139 or so seats and A boarding is 1-60, so a bunch of rows will be remaining if you get a b. C, might put you in the middle.

OK, the one con I can think of is the older population that doesn't have access to computers and checking in early are usually in the c group and I don't think that is right. Call me old fashioned!