Southwest boarding number question

[czmom]

First time to not use family boarding

I just checked in me and DD6. I have A29 and she got A60. Does she get to stand with me?

 

[sayheyrenee]

No, she will have to stand in her spot. You can try and block a seat....sneakily. Pretend you are putting something overhead and block your aisle. If someone is insistent of siting there, there is plenty of time to get to another open row.

 

[Thumper_Man]

First time to not use family boarding

I just checked in me and DD6. I have A29 and she got A60. Does she get to stand with me?

She could stand with you, but she may not be allowed to board with you. It would probably be best if you stood with her and let the passengers that have A30-A59 board first. Then you can board with her at A60. You will still get 2 seats together.

 

[anonymousegirl]

I suggest you switch your A29 with the person holding A59 so you can board together since your daughter is only 6.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I suggest you switch your A29 with the person holding A59 so you can board together since your daughter is only 6.

She wouldn't need to trade with 59. She can just let 59 go ahead of her and board with her DD at 60. Although they won't check ID's anymore, the boarding passes are still name specific and this is how they can tell which passengers (that checked-in) still need to board.

 

[czmom]

Okay, thanks! I am not comfortable leaving my 6 year old out in line while I have already boarded. I will just stand and board with her at 60.

I had 2 browser windows open and literally hit check-in with a second or two. Couldn't believe the large difference!

 

[disneynut11]

What???????????? I am travelling on Southwest in August and am now annoyed!
Wouldn't they allow a family member to check in their entire family?

If My DD8 gets a number at the end of the line, she has to stand alone?

They really don't reconsider this policy?

Obviously, I wont allow her to, but they cant find a solution?

 

[taylor3297]

Ask the gate agent. This happened to us one time. Dh and I got A16 and A17, dd and ds got B1 and B2. We even had paid for the early bird check in for all 4 of us. The Gate agent told us to have our kids to stand with us at A16 and A17.

 

[msjprincess]

What???????????? I am travelling on Southwest in August and am now annoyed!
Wouldn't they allow a family member to check in their entire family?

If My DD8 gets a number at the end of the line, she has to stand alone?

They really don't reconsider this policy?

Obviously, I wont allow her to, but they cant find a solution?

If you have one confirmation number everyone is checked in together.

No, you can both stand at the higher number.

 

[tjmw2727]

What???????????? I am travelling on Southwest in August and am now annoyed!
Wouldn't they allow a family member to check in their entire family?

If My DD8 gets a number at the end of the line, she has to stand alone?

They really don't reconsider this policy?

Obviously, I wont allow her to, but they cant find a solution?

It depends on how you book - if you booked all your tickets on one confirmation number then you can check everyone in at once using that number.

If you booked the tickets separately and each ticket has a different confirmation number you need to check in one at a time.

Either way the family can board together at the highest boarding spot and nobody has to stand alone.

 

[crashbb]

What???????????? I am travelling on Southwest in August and am now annoyed!
Wouldn't they allow a family member to check in their entire family?

If My DD8 gets a number at the end of the line, she has to stand alone?

They really don't reconsider this policy?

Obviously, I wont allow her to, but they cant find a solution?

You've been given a solution - you join her at her number. Or, if there are more than the two of you, you have her and an adult swap numbers. No need for her to stand alone.

If you booked under one booking number, you'll all be checked in together. If (as the OP) you've booked as separate bookings, SW doesn't even know you are family members.

 

[suemom2kay]

Remind me never to fly Southwest. Why do they torture their customers with such a ridiculous way to board a plane? It is not like it costs anything to assign seating. Preposterous!

 

[goofy4tink]

Remind me never to fly Southwest. Why do they torture their customers with such a ridiculous way to board a plane? It is not like it costs anything to assign seating. Preposterous!

SW's boarding and subsequent seating proceedure actually works very well. Most people have no issues at all. Obviously the OP had to book their flights on different confirmation numbers otherwise the boarding spots would have been a lot closer to each other! Not sure why she did it that way, but not my concern.
I have always checked my entire group in together. We may have had a person or two inbetween us, but nothing major.
You can also purchase EBCI...that does away with that same thing. Not sure it would have helped much in this case since they had two different reservations.

But, I love flying SW. I 'get' how it works and understand what needs to be done. Not having assigned seating really does allow for quicker boarding and faster departures. It works.

 

[dthogue]

Remind me never to fly Southwest. Why do they torture their customers with such a ridiculous way to board a plane? It is not like it costs anything to assign seating. Preposterous!

We fly Southwest all the time, nothing torturous or ridiculous about the boarding policy - it works well and boarding is very quick.

 

[katie111]

I believe if you book with points then everyone in your group is assigned a different confirmation number.

 

[jayhawk74]

Remind me never to fly Southwest. Why do they torture their customers with such a ridiculous way to board a plane? It is not like it costs anything to assign seating. Preposterous!

Southwest tested assigned seating in SAN a few years ago. They found out that it did slow down boarding (which to SWA is a cost). Also most of the passengers didn't like having assigned seats (which if the started flying other airlines would also be a cost).

 

[suemom2kay]

SW's boarding and subsequent seating proceedure actually works very well. Most people have no issues at all. Obviously the OP had to book their flights on different confirmation numbers otherwise the boarding spots would have been a lot closer to each other! Not sure why she did it that way, but not my concern.
I have always checked my entire group in together. We may have had a person or two inbetween us, but nothing major.
You can also purchase EBCI...that does away with that same thing. Not sure it would have helped much in this case since they had two different reservations.

But, I love flying SW. I 'get' how it works and understand what needs to be done. Not having assigned seating really does allow for quicker boarding and faster departures. It works.

I suppose it would take some getting used to and I suppose I would have to see it to believe it.

 

[tjmw2727]

Remind me never to fly Southwest. Why do they torture their customers with such a ridiculous way to board a plane? It is not like it costs anything to assign seating. Preposterous!

It is my airline of choice - 2 free checked bags per person, no change fees, rarely do they change the schedule, top rated in customer service, credit for future travel if your fare drops etc.

I actually like to choose my seat after boarding ! and after flying US Air this weekend i can say that SWA definitely boards quicker. I was in group 1 to board and could not get through the people in groups 2 and 3 literally blocking the gate to board !! Then we had folks sitting in 6 abc that belonged in cde etc. Even with "assigned" seats you are never guaranteed those seats and often when equipment or times change your seats can change (with some paid exceptions!).

Once you understand the boarding process it is simple and believe me SWA does not want to separate kids from parents - they also offer family boarding for families with children 4 and under.

 

[czmom]

SW's boarding and subsequent seating proceedure actually works very well. Most people have no issues at all. Obviously the OP had to book their flights on different confirmation numbers otherwise the boarding spots would have been a lot closer to each other! Not sure why she did it that way, but not my concern.
I have always checked my entire group in together. We may have had a person or two inbetween us, but nothing major.
You can also purchase EBCI...that does away with that same thing. Not sure it would have helped much in this case since they had two different reservations.

But, I love flying SW. I 'get' how it works and understand what needs to be done. Not having assigned seating really does allow for quicker boarding and faster departures. It works.

OP here. I love flying SWA as well!

The reason I have 2 separate confirmation numbers is that DD had a credit to use and I used rapid reward points. Gotta love free trips!

 

[kgsmith]

One confirmation number and EBCI don't guarantee consecutive boarding numbers, either. My DH, DS, and I had boarding numbers all over the place! I had the lowest number, so I boarded. DH waited with DS (who had the highest number), and they boarded together.