Southwest air check in??

[Mickey'sMainMami]

My husband and I are going to Disney September 13th-18th. We are flying with Southwest for the first time. We bought our tickets online, and I have a couple of questions. I have the confirmation email printed our from them. I have heard about people checking in online. I will check in online 24 hours before on the 12th. I keep hearing people talk about groups, and how SW doesn't do assigned seating. When do they assign you the groups, when you get to the airport and check in and check your bags, or upstairs at the gate, or when I go online the day before? What group is the best, and how do you make sure you get it? We really want to be able to sit together if at all possible. thanks for any and all help!

 

[Terk-1]

We fly Southwest all the time. You can print your boarding passes 24 hours prior to your departure time. You can also print the return boarding passes, again 24 hours prior to departure time, at a Disney resort or at City Hall in the Magic Kingdom.

Southwest does not assign seats. When you print your boarding pass, it will assign you a group letter, A, B or C. Handicap and those with little kids board first, then they board everyone with A passes, then B, then C. All of their planes are 3 seats on each side. If you print your pass right at the 24 hour mark, you should get A passes with no problem.

I'm the type of traveler that likes to be at the gate with plenty of time to spare, so we will go right to my letter (always has been A), drop my stuff and wait. Doing this, we've always sat at the front of the plane. When I go with family, they can walk around, shop, etc, while I hold their places in line to board.

 

[travelin' tigger]

My husband and I are going to Disney September 13th-18th. We are flying with Southwest for the first time. We bought our tickets online, and I have a couple of questions. I have the confirmation email printed our from them. I have heard about people checking in online. I will check in online 24 hours before on the 12th. I keep hearing people talk about groups, and how SW doesn't do assigned seating. When do they assign you the groups, when you get to the airport and check in and check your bags, or upstairs at the gate, or when I go online the day before? What group is the best, and how do you make sure you get it? We really want to be able to sit together if at all possible. thanks for any and all help!

I'll do my best to help you out...
If you check-in online EXACTLY at the 24 hr. mark, you should't have a problem getting an A boarding pass. SWA assigns boarding groups as A, B and C with A boarding first (well, after pre-boarders). Some times I've been 10 minutes late checking in online and gotten a B which also isn't too bad. C gets whatever is left, and if your party is more than 2 people (and depending on how full the flight is), you might have trouble finding seats together.

I'm going to be in WDW the same dates you are. My flight down is out of PVD at 6:35p on the 13th. So on the 12th at 6:30p I'll go to SW's site and click on online checkin and have the window all set up so at 6:35p I'll hit the checkin button and VOILA, hopefully an A pass will show.

For my return flight I'll take my confirmation to BWV concierge desk just before the 24-hr. mark and they'll take care of checking in online and printing my BP.

Hope this helps - feel free to ask any more questions!!! See ya in WDW!!!

 

[english rose 47]

Flew SW this April DD checked inonline 24hours before and we got A boarding passes. That means you board right after the preboarders and you select your seat. If you wait till you get to the airport you will probably get a C pass and be among the last to board. This means less choice os seats. For the return trip I went to " City Hall at MK and they did it for me!!Got A passes again!!

 

[jenelope]

From what I understand, Guest Services at Epcot can do that, too. I haven't heard anything about Studios or AK, but that may be true of them, as well. You can also check in with a web-enabled mobile device, like a phone or Blackberry or something. You don't have to print a boarding pass to check-in. You can print when you get to the airport. We had my aunt check us in from Michigan exactly 24 hours in advance and then we printed our passes when we got to the airport. It worked fine.

 

[DancinDaisyDuck]

I am flying SW too for the first time in October and plan to check in online the day before. My question, however, is how do I check my luggage if I'm not going to the desk when I get to the airport? I usually avoided the kiosks when I flew previously on other airlines and prefer to talk to the actual attendant who printed the tags for me (I usually mess up anything remotely electronic). Is there a separate line to check bags?

Also- If EPCOT guest services can check me in for my return, how late do they stay open? My return to Buffalo is at 7:40pm.

Thanks so much!

 

[jenelope]

I wait in the regular ticketing lines to check my bags and just tell them I've already checked in and only need to check bags. The last time I flew SWA, they printed me a new boarding pass, too. I guess they didn't like the look of my office-printer boarding pass. Personally, since I always check a bag, the benefit of checking in beforehand is all in what boarding group I get.

 

[travelin' tigger]

My question, however, is how do I check my luggage if I'm not going to the desk when I get to the airport?

I often use Skycaps when I check luggage - for a few bucks it beats standing in line at the SW counter.

Also- If EPCOT guest services can check me in for my return, how late do they stay open? My return to Buffalo is at 7:40pm.

Epcot is open until 9pm most nights so you shouldn't have any trouble with a 7:40pm checkin.

 

[english rose 47]

I am flying SW too for the first time in October and plan to check in online the day before. My question, however, is how do I check my luggage if I'm not going to the desk when I get to the airport? I usually avoided the kiosks when I flew previously on other airlines and prefer to talk to the actual attendant who printed the tags for me (I usually mess up anything remotely electronic). Is there a separate line to check bags?

Also- If EPCOT guest services can check me in for my return, how late do they stay open? My return to Buffalo is at 7:40pm.

Thanks so much!

Your hotel may be able to do it for youalso. I was just inthe Park at the 24 hour mark. I checked our luggage with a real person. I'm with you I don't trust checking my luggage electronically to easy for me to press the wrong button. Both ways we checked luggage with a person. It's when you get to the bording lounge that you don't need to see a person 'cos it's all taken care of . Just get in line in the "A" boarding section if you have an A pass and wait for the boarding announcement.