Southwest Air - boarding

[goofy'smum]

Hi everyone,
On another board at the DIS, there is a thread on boarding a SW flight. Did I understand it correctly. You are not assigned a seat number, and therefore pick your seat as you enter the aircraft, like you would in a bus?
Any suggestions on how much in advance we should be at Buffalo Airport for a 7.50am flight? We are 2 adults and 2 teenagers, and will have luggage that needs to be checked. Alos what are the chances of sitting next to each other?
Thank you,
Goofy's mum

 

[maryann4086]

We flew southwest out of Buffalo in November and had no problem. The flight left at about 7:30 am. We arived at 5:30. but were really a little to early. Check in is very fast, took maybe 5 minutes, the walk to Southwest is the end of the airport maybe five minutes. The open up the boarding desk, one hour before departure, people start lining up about ten minutes before that. Since you have no children under five, you will be assigned a number, the first in line, get one to thirty, then 30 to 60 and so on. You line up in the section with those numbers. People with wheelchairs and young children are seated first, then the group with numbers 1-30 and so on. Unless your number is over 100, you should have no problem having at least two of you together in each row. Just get there early, sit near the boarding desk, and when they start asigning numbers, make sure you're in line. It sounds hectic, but truly it;s not. Southwest employees are very friendly, no food to speak of, peanuts, pretzels, cookies and beverages, but you're there quickly, so there should be no problem. Any other questions please let me know. Maryann

 

[goofy'smum]

Thanks Maryann!!!!
One more question. In another thread you mentioned parking your car at the airport in Buffalo. As we fly out at 7.50am, we plan to spend one night near the airport? I am concerned about the safety of the car, as all the hotels I have checked with, have us park the car in the general parking area. We will be in Orlando for 11 days
Based on your previous experiences, is there a hotel you would recommend?
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Goofy's Mom

 

[maryann4086]

We live near the border so we just took a shuttle bus over. My sister did park at one of the park n fly places and had no problem at all. Car was waiting with no problem. I;m sure your car will be fine, when we flew out of TO, we would spend the night at a hotel and the car was fine when we were gone. However, you never know. In a park n fly lot, somebody is there 24 hours a day, not always the case in the hotle parking lot. Have fun on your trip, when do you leave

 

[goofy'smum]

Thanks, Maryann.
We fly out on the 21st of August. Going to Disney is a dream come true for me. I'm the excited one in the family. The real 'kids' are not half as excited as I am. Thanks to the advice on the DIS, and the codes on Mousesavers, the trip is going to be a lot cheaper than I originally feared!!!! We will be staying at the All Star Sports/Court Yard Marriot/All Star Music/HRH at Universal.
I check these boards religiously. My family thinks I'm nuts...., or did till they saw the savings

 

[lawgs]

even if you get # 30 in the gate boarding passes....you can still be the first one on in the 1-30 grouping if you can get into that "chute" before anyone else....

with buf to mco if there is a lot of "kids" or "elderly" on the flight with special "boarding" passes...you may find that even being first in the 1-30 row will not get you a seat near the front of the plane...we have ended up in the 12 or 13th rows...but if you are within that first 30

if your flight leaves at 7:50......then getting to the airport by 6:00 am will give you time to check in your bags......get to the boarding gate.......and their play the "boarding pass" game......

as soon as someone lines up......others follow very closely.....but no one usually wants to be the first person to do it....

have fun....

we are in orlando aug 26 to sept 2....but are using us air this time since we had some vouchers that had to be used.....still great fares of 115$ r/t

the only thing you may not like is the weather.....plan on having at least one thundershower a day ......and HUMIDITY....

just try to pace yourselves since you have 11 days to enjoy everything...

make sure you make it to the "belz outlet" and the character warehouse for disney "merchandise" as well i think they have a universal outlet too.....prices are a "bit" cheaper than parks and you can usually find something for souvenirs at a cost "much" below the park prices.....unless the park has something YOU really must have....