Southwest Boarding Passes And Preboarding

[kimatigger]

We will be travling with our 2 sons ages 2 and 3. My question is that my parents are traveling down with us. I know the rule is that they must go in a seperate line. The issue is that the seats are 3 and 3. So we would have to split up anyway to sit with our children. Do I just board with DH and the boys or can my parents preboard with one of the boys. Oh and are they still letting you preboard with kids under 5? Thanks!

 

[kmjmom]

We flew Southwest this week and they allowed the families with children 4 and under to preboard. A set of Grandparents was in line behind us and said their children were going to save seats for them.

 

[kimatigger]

That was my thought since we need to sit 2 and 2. We would have an extra seat on each side anyway.

 

[TinkNH]

It says families with children under 5 are permitted to board first..aren't the grandparents part of the family? I would get all in the same line...I mean you are travelling together..you should be able to sit together.

 

[Pinnie]

It says families with children under 5 are permitted to board first..aren't the grandparents part of the family? I would get all in the same line...I mean you are travelling together..you should be able to sit together.

Sorry, but on most of my SWA flights this summer (almost every weekend) only the PARENTS and sibs of the child under the age of 5 were allowed to board. At MDW on Sunday, the GAs were very adament about it.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. were told to board with their boarding group.

pinnie

 

[DebbieB]

Sorry, but on most of my SWA flights this summer (almost every weekend) only the PARENTS and sibs of the child under the age of 5 were allowed to board. At MDW on Sunday, the GAs were very adament about it.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. were told to board with their boarding group.

pinnie

That's what they announced when I flew with them in June. However, when my niece and I got on from the A line, most seats in the front half of the plane were either occupied or had packages on them "saving" them for others. So what is the point of only parents & sibs when they are allowed to save seats for the rest of the family?

 

[NotUrsula]

Because they are not *really* allowed to save seats. If you want the seat you can take it, and the FA will take your side. Anyone trying to save a prime seat in the first 5 rows is doomed to lose it.

 

[TinkNH]

Sorry, but on most of my SWA flights this summer (almost every weekend) only the PARENTS and sibs of the child under the age of 5 were allowed to board. At MDW on Sunday, the GAs were very adament about it.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. were told to board with their boarding group.

pinnie

good to know for future flights It does seem silly to me tho...I mean everyone is going to get on the plane so why seperate a family I am also spoiled rotten cause we always fly out of a small airport here in NH (longest security wait i have had was about 30 seconds lol) And when we flew last Oct to disney it seemed there were a lot of LARGE families in that 1st line. We were in the last c line..and got on the plane too..so like i said seems silly but then logic does not always prevail

 

[paults]

That's what they announced when I flew with them in June. However, when my niece and I got on from the A line, most seats in the front half of the plane were either occupied or had packages on them "saving" them for others. So what is the point of only parents & sibs when they are allowed to save seats for the rest of the family?

they are not allow to save seats but the FA will not say anything unless they have too.

What some people do is sit aisle and window and try to save the middle seat .But soon as someone wants that middle seat they move to be near each other.

If you want one of these seats just ask them to move the packages or have a FA do it. they will.

 

[keishashadow]

For the 1st time, we're trying SW for return flight home in Oct.

For the cheap fare & convenient flight time, I decided to deal with the infamous a,b & c line (hope I've got it right - need to checkin online 24 hours prior for line determination)

Now, I'm getting nervous about preboarding passengers (who take precedence over the line designations a,b,c) SAVING seats. Guess if you've got a small child you don't have to bother with the whole line issue?

I do hope this is a joke! Can't imagine parents being so rude as to think they can cordon off a section of seats? If they want to sit w/a large group, why not head for the back of the plane...usually last to fill up???

BTW, when I check in for line designation, do I need to print a confirmation?

 

[Lilacq]

How strict are they about that whole age thing? DS is 5 (well, he WILL be next week) and he looks three. Do they check?

 

[DebbieB]

How strict are they about that whole age thing? DS is 5 (well, he WILL be next week) and he looks three. Do they check?

No, it's based on honesty........

 

[jiminy14]

I noticed on my last couple of flights out of Philly and MCO that SWA was limiting pre-boards to children four (4) and under and their immediate families. They were only allowing parents and siblings to pre-board. Any other relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) had to wait in the line on their boarding pass.
As for saving seats, it's supposed to be a no-no, but I see it done on every flight. On one flight a pre-boarded family saved all the exit rows seats for the other members of their family in the "C" line. When I questioned the FA about it, he just shrugged his shoulders and turned away from me. SWA has a policy that pre-boards can not sit in the exit rows. I guess the FA on this flight did not want to deal with the situation since the family was adament about not removing their bags from the saved seats.
Most of the preboards take seats in the front of the plane. Once you get past the first 6 or 7 rows you should have no problems getting 6 seats together provided you have "A" boarding passes.

 

[disneyldwjr]

How strict are they about that whole age thing? DS is 5 (well, he WILL be next week) and he looks three. Do they check?

No, they don't check, but, hey, let's be honest and not push an already tired system.

 

[disneyldwjr]

It says families with children under 5 are permitted to board first..aren't the grandparents part of the family? I would get all in the same line...I mean you are travelling together..you should be able to sit together.

No, actually, it says this: Prior to general boarding, Customers with disabilities, unaccompanied children between the ages of five and 11, and adults traveling with a child under five years of age will preboard. Customers who choose to preboard cannot sit in an emergency exit seat.

IMHO, if the child can walk and does not use a car seat, then they really don't need to preboard. Exception is a child flying alone.

 

[goofy4tink]

It should be that one parent per child..unless you have 3 under the age of 4, and I don't think that's going to happen too often. I wish they would have the preboarders head to the back of the plane. It would cut down on the numbers of preboarders. But, from what I understand, they tried that and for whatever reason, it didn't work.
Anyway....the funny thing is, I was watching 'Airline' yesterday, and I noticed just how many people do board and take the aisle and the window seats in hopes that no one will take the middle seat. It was incredible to see how many couples did that. I would never have noticed if I didn't hang out here.

 

[gottaluvdis]

I've seen one case in MCO when SW didn't allow families with children to pre-board at all because the entire plane was families with children. They only allowed disabled/elderly and unaccompanied minors to pre-board. They made everyone else wait with their letter groups. There are times when I wish they would do this all the time. Sometimes the pre-board line is just ridiculous, especially on flights to/from MCO.

We're leaving Saturday from MHT and plan to be at the airport 2 1/2 hours before the flight. There's too much security uncertainty at the moment to take MHT's short lines for granted. If we have to wait at the gate, so be it.

 

[TinkNH]

I think I am totally missing something...because I am wondering what the big deal is I don't fly often, but all of the flights I have taken in the past few years or so were on SW..and I have been in every line..A B ad C..this time I will have DD4 with me,(and DH) and we will get in the preboard line. I thought it was so they could deal with strollers that are gate checked, instaling child saftey seats, and not hold up ppl who will be quicker to board, and so all the little kids..who may be prone to fussing or whatever were near each other and not disturbing other passengers who were sans kids To those of you who fly often are there really better seats? Are the snack boxes better if you sit up front???? I mean I know sitting over the wing near the engine is perhaps the least desireable spot..as seats don't recline and it is noisy..but all I care about is getting to where I want to go safely. Honestly..am I missing something?

 

[TinkNH]

It should be that one parent per child...

But is it fair then that DH and I cant both sit with our DD on her flight? Why would you want to seperate a family just cause they only had one child?
I dont care where I sit..I just want to get to WDW...and I want to have both me and DH sitting with our DD...It is her very first flight. Besides...I think her screaming for whichever parent was seated elsewhere for the whole 3 hr flight would annoy more ppl

 

[TinkNH]

We're leaving Saturday from MHT and plan to be at the airport 2 1/2 hours before the flight. There's too much security uncertainty at the moment to take MHT's short lines for granted. If we have to wait at the gate, so be it.

If you go to their site there is a statement about how much time you need and the aproximate wait times based on the day and time of your flight. It is updated all the time, so should be pretty accurate. I love our not-so-little-anymore local airport