Southwest Boarding Policy

[Dismagic1]

is it true that families with small children no longer get to pre-board a Southwest flight?

 

[Ohiodislover]

I believe they board between the A and B groups

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

If you have a child 4 and under, you board between A&B group--and that is PLENTY of seat options left--though towards the mid to rear sections of the plane. So not quite pre-boarding, but you do get to board ahead of most passengers.

 

[design_mom]

Previous posters are correct. Families with children 4 and under can board between A and B groups (or with A group if they hold A-group boarding passes) on *most* flights. I have been on a flight where there were lots of children where they did *not* allow pre-boarding because most of the plane would have been eligible!

 

[NEM]

You can always check in 24 hours before and get an A pass which will get you on sooner or you can pay $10 each way for Early Bird Checkin and you will definitely be one of the front of the A group. That is what I do with 2 under 2 and travelling alone. It is worth the extra $20...

But otherwise you board between A & B with kids 4 and under.

 

[momrek06]

OP, if you ask this on the TRANSPORATION FORUM you will get your answer. Those Transportation DISer's all have fab info!!

 

[Dismagic1]

OP, if you ask this on the TRANSPORATION FORUM you will get your answer. Those Transportation DISer's all have fab info!!

Thanks momrek. Looks like I've gotten plenty of info here already. Thanks all!

 

[Dismom+two]

Just flew to Florida on Southwest and they boarded between A and B.
Someone mentioned checking in 24 hours ahead and getting A....I checked in that early and got B 18 and Bs 31 and 32 so dont rely on that!!
By the time I got on...I got one of the last rows with 3 seats together.

Good Luck OP.

 

[taximomfor4]

on 2 of my flights to Orlando, though, almost everyone had a little child, lol. So they announced over and over, "Preboarding for children UNDER 4 years old, meaning 0,1,2, or 3 years old, WITH a carseat that needs installed." I thought that made really good sense, since it takes extra time to install a carseat. It was after the medical pre-boards and A boarding group. Nobody had problems getting seats with their children.

Anyway, I know that isn't the general rule but it was adjusted for the situation. Oh, and extended family wasn't allowed to board early too.

 

[rgf207]

Another thing to note is that they changed the policy so that only the children and parents can board during preboard. They no longer allow grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, roomates and neighbors to board with the child

 

[cepmom]

Another thing to note is that they changed the policy so that only the children and parents can board during preboard. They no longer allow grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, roomates and neighbors to board with the child

thank God! I hated when we would be flying home from MCO and saw entire families boarding with the one child under age 4...so annoying! (This was before they changed the child preboards to between A and B so you could have an A pass and still have half the flight board before you)

 

[Christine]

thank God! I hated when we would be flying home from MCO and saw entire families boarding with the one child under age 4...so annoying! (This was before they changed the child preboards to between A and B so you could have an A pass and still have half the flight board before you)

Yeah, me too.

You really only noticed that on the flights to and from Orlando. SO many families preboarding it was crazy.

 

[clgwli]

You can always check in 24 hours before and get an A pass which will get you on sooner or you can pay $10 each way for Early Bird Checkin and you will definitely be one of the front of the A group. That is what I do with 2 under 2 and travelling alone. It is worth the extra $20...

But otherwise you board between A & B with kids 4 and under.

Southwest is very quick to tell you that the Early Bird Check in does NOT guarantee A group. Fortunately I have always been lucky without it to get A group. In fact the one time I got Early Bird check in, I was lower on the list than I was when I didn't have it.

Just an FYI in case you think you will alway get A.

 

[wdwfan16]

thank God! I hated when we would be flying home from MCO and saw entire families boarding with the one child under age 4...so annoying! (This was before they changed the child preboards to between A and B so you could have an A pass and still have half the flight board before you)

Yeah, me too.

You really only noticed that on the flights to and from Orlando. SO many families preboarding it was crazy.

Me three!

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Me three!

Me four.

Now Southwest has to grow some and stop the saving of seats.

I hate it when a couple of people in a large party spends the $10.00 for the Early Bird pass and then you walk on the plane and find coats, carry on, and all sorts of crap sprawled all over the front of the plane saving seats for the rest of their party too cheap to buy the Early Bird.

I can see allowing each person to save maybe one seat each in case a child or spouse was on a different reservation and got stuck behind them, but it is ludicrous to see two people saving numerous rows. (It happened on my last flight and Southwest wouldn't do anything about it.

What is the use of purchasing Early Bird when they allow one person from each party to just buy one and then save seats for the rest of their party?

 

[rgf207]

Me four.

Now Southwest has to grow some and stop the saving of seats.

I hate it when a couple of people in a large party spends the $10.00 for the Early Bird pass and then you walk on the plane and find coats, carry on, and all sorts of crap sprawled all over the front of the plane saving seats for the rest of their party too cheap to buy the Early Bird.

I can see allowing each person to save maybe one seat each in case a child or spouse was on a different reservation and got stuck behind them, but it is ludicrous to see two people saving numerous rows. (It happened on my last flight and Southwest wouldn't do anything about it.

What is the use of purchasing Early Bird when they allow one person from each party to just buy one and then save seats for the rest of their party?

Technically there is no such thing as a "saved" seat. You can sit there even if they are "saving" the seat for someone.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Technically there is no such thing as a "saved" seat. You can sit there even if they are "saving" the seat for someone.

Key word - technically. Although Southwest does officially allow saving of seats. Somebody dug that little policy up on the transportation board not too long ago.

In this case, the owners of the crap would not move it, they were guarding the front of the rows, jumping up and blocking people from trying to get into their saved rows and the flight attendants would not ask them to stop it. Yes, you could technically try to move it yourself, but then you might be asked to deplane after the cat fight starts.

I love Southwest and it is the carrier of choice for my family. We really don't care where I sit on a plane - the back is going to get there at almost the same time as the front, so who really cares? But it really makes them look bad when they offer paid Early Bird and then the people who paid for Early Bird have to move to the back because somebody has numerous rows blocked off.

 

[rgf207]

Key word - technically. Although Southwest does officially allow saving of seats. Somebody dug that little policy up on the transportation board not too long ago.

In this case, the owners of the crap would not move it, they were guarding the front of the rows, jumping up and blocking people from trying to get into their saved rows and the flight attendants would not ask them to stop it. Yes, you could technically try to move it yourself, but then you might be asked to deplane after the cat fight starts.

I love Southwest and it is the carrier of choice for my family. We really don't care where I sit on a plane - the back is going to get there at almost the same time as the front, so who really cares? But it really makes them look bad when they offer paid Early Bird and then the people who paid for Early Bird have to move to the back because somebody has numerous rows blocked off.

this is true

 

[DisneyMim]

My family just went SouthWest last week. We paid $10 a person to get an early boarding ticket. We got A. Yes everyone is correct, families with young kids board between A and B now. I was happy to see this and the families were very upset about it. I always hated watching a huge group of people with one child, in my opinion not so young, board ahead of everyone. In fact I HATE the whole policy of SouthWest, can't understand why on earth they can't be like everyone else and let us pick our seats when we book. We came back on JetBlue and could really notice the difference. We only use SouthWest when the price if a major difference.

 

[Christine]

I don't know why they can't change their "family pre-board" policy to one adult per young child.

My son gets to preboard because of his peanut allergy. They let us on to pick our seats and wipe everything down. We had a party of six but they only let one adult accompany my son for the preboard.

I think that this type of policy would ensure that a child was not alone and could sit next to one adult. I guess it doesn't solve splitting up the whole family but that's the risk you take with Southwest.