Seating On A 1 Stop Flight

[BLLB]

We have Southwest tickets for Spring Break. We booked a 1 stop return flight (Nashville). The return flight requires a change of planes.

How does that work for Southwest seating? I haven't flown anything but non-stop the last several years.

How will doing early-bird check-in effect the return flight?

Thanks for any help/guidance.

 

[Tara]

We have Southwest tickets for Spring Break. We booked a 1 stop return flight (Nashville). The return flight requires a change of planes.

How does that work for Southwest seating? I haven't flown anything but non-stop the last several years.

How will doing early-bird check-in effect the return flight?

Thanks for any help/guidance.

Southwest does not assign seats, only boarding order. And even that isn't assigned per se, it's first come, first served*. Boarding happens in three groups - A, B, and C. There are 60 positions in A and B and the rest are Cs. People who need additional time/help boarding (medical/physical) are allowed to board first. Then As board. A1-A15 are reserved for "Business Select" customers - they pay higher fares and are guaranteed boarding priority. After the A group, children age 4 or younger are allowed to board with their immediate family (mom and dad - yes; grandma and uncle Bob - no). Then Bs board, followed by Cs.

You are able to check in online 24 hours prior to your departure and the order in which you check in determines what boarding number you get.

With the introduction of Early Bird Check-In, you can now pay $10 per person per flight and Southwest will automatically check you in 36 hours prior to your flight. It does not guarantee you an A boarding pass - just that you will be checked in and have a better boarding position than people who check in at 24 hours. (in theory)

If you are making a connection, you are able to get your boarding number for both your initial flight and your connection at 24 hours prior to the initial flight. This gives you a little bit of a jump on anyone who is getting on that connecting flight as their first flight.

If you are flying through a city on a direct flight but taking that same plane to another city, you get one boarding pass. When the plane lands in the connecting city, the flight attendants will ask through passengers to remain seated while others deplane and while they get a headcount. Once they're done with the headcount, they'll let you get up and change seats.

This is just the basics - there's a lot more info about EBCI in a thread on this board and there's also a short "Boarding School" video on the Southwest site. Hope this helps.

 

[BLLB]

Tara, thank you for responding. I was not very clear in my original post.

I usually fly SW and am familiar with the A,B, C boarding and somewhat familiar with EBCI. What I should have asked was this:

Let's say I purchase EBCI for the first leg of the flight to Nashville. When we land in Nashville and go to the gate for the next flight to Ohio, do I still have EBCI or do I purchase it separately for the second leg of the flight.

Looking at the schedule, it is pretty tight in terms of the time between the arrival of the first leg and the departure of the second leg. We are a family of 4 and I think we will likely be separated on the second leg of the flight.

I hope my question is little more clear.

Thank you again for taking the time to help.

 

[mareed]

Tara, thank you for responding. I was not very clear in my original post.

I usually fly SW and am familiar with the A,B, C boarding and somewhat familiar with EBCI. What I should have asked was this:

Let's say I purchase EBCI for the first leg of the flight to Nashville. When we land in Nashville and go to the gate for the next flight to Ohio, do I still have EBCI or do I purchase it separately for the second leg of the flight.

Looking at the schedule, it is pretty tight in terms of the time between the arrival of the first leg and the departure of the second leg. We are a family of 4 and I think we will likely be separated on the second leg of the flight.

I hope my question is little more clear.

Thank you again for taking the time to help.

If you purchase EBCI for the flight with a change of planes, you'll have it for both of the flights. But as you pointed out, with a short connection time, you're likely to not be there when they start boarding to be able to use your early boarding pass. For that reason, I'm not going to be purchasing EBCI for a connecting flight for us with a short connection.

 

[BLLB]

Thanks for the reply. I called SW and they confirmed that whatever type of seating you have for the first leg of the flight, you would have the same type for the second leg of the flight.

I agree with your suggestion, I will likely just check-in at the 24 window for the return flight.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.