Southwest Boarding with Kids

[McNs]

i need to book a couple of flights (LAX to MSY then to MCO a few days later). Was all set to book the first leg on Delta then prices nearly doubled overnight. The other airline I am considering is Southwest, but am a bit concerned over the boarding process and the risk that the four of us won't get to sit together or even worse, not next to a kid each.

I am aware of the early boarding upgrade, and the flight isn't until 9/30. Is it a risk booking even this far out that we might have trouble sitting together? Don't mind where in the plane just so long as the kids aren't split. They are 8 & 11 so too old for family boarding, but too young to be sitting alone.

Alternative is United via IAH, but wanted to avoid a stopover if possible..

Any help from SW flyers is appreciated

 

[sam_gordon]

i need to book a couple of flights (LAX to MSY then to MCO a few days later). Was all set to book the first leg on Delta then prices nearly doubled overnight. The other airline I am considering is Southwest, but am a bit concerned over the boarding process and the risk that the four of us won't get to sit together or even worse, not next to a kid each.

I am aware of the early boarding upgrade, and the flight isn't until 9/30. Is it a risk booking even this far out that we might have trouble sitting together? Don't mind where in the plane just so long as the kids aren't split. They are 8 & 11 so too old for family boarding, but too young to be sitting alone.

Alternative is United via IAH, but wanted to avoid a stopover if possible..

Any help from SW flyers is appreciated

First, barring any special circumstances, I don't feel 8 & 11 is too young to sit alone. To increase your chances of sitting together, you can purchase EBCI, which will check you in 36 hours before your first flight. However, as more people purchase EBCI, that affects your boarding assignment.

If you do choose SW, I would purchase EBCI, but talk to the kids about how to handle themselves if they're not sitting next to you (a good idea even for airlines w/assigned seating as you don't know when there will be an equipment change or something else affecting seats).

 

[chiisai]

I would not have a problem with the 11 yo sitting alone. For long trips, I'd not want to sit more than one person away from the 8 year old.

Based on my recent SW flight, yes, without EBCI, there is this risk. There was no one with EBCI that wasn't sitting together on our flight. There were definitely split up families who were after EBCI. I don't know how many were able to sit together vs not. However, in several cases it seemed like they were a seat or two ahead or behind, so not far. I don't have much experience.

Also agree that you'll need to choose more expensive seats on delta, etc., to sit together. Delta especially watch, I don't fly them anymore due to the chaos of getting on board with several irate passengers (and frustrated flight attendants) who had their seats changed between checking in and getting on the plane. Pay close attention to the type of seat you are buying on any airline.

Even with EBCI, SW may be cheaper than paying to keep the seats you select on others.

If you do have EBCI and many many others do, too, I read on other posts that it is possible to still be apart.

 

[Vijoge]

Even without EBCI as long as you check in at exactly 24 hours prior to your flight I think the chances are slim that you won't find two seats together.

 

[supersnoop]

Families with children six and under board between the A and B groups. Without EBCI, you're likely to Ben in the B's even if you check in right at 24 hours. In a flight to MCO, there's will be lots of families. I'd buy EBCI if you want to be certain.

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

We always fly Southwest and the only time we didn't get seats together was when we were in boarding group C. Our own fault for not checking in earlier. After that incident I started paying to upgrade our boarding. I'd say we had over 10 flights before I started upgrading.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Families with children six and under board between the A and B groups. Without EBCI, you're likely to Ben in the B's even if you check in right at 24 hours. In a flight to MCO, there's will be lots of families. I'd buy EBCI if you want to be certain.

We love flying SW because of their bag policies and we generally find them great to fly with kids except for the boarding issue. That's the one thing I'd change. With regard to EBCI, you are not guaranteed to be in A so if you go that route purchase early. We have twice gotten high Bs which does very little for you on flight to and from Orlando since it's after family boarding. We have a family of 5 so we need 3 and 2 seats together to keep from having to have a kid by themselves. We have twice now gotten the 2nd to last open row during family boarding so they do fill up. That said, on our last flight we had several people having one in their party get EBCI and saving seats. The flight attendants didn't directly address it (they made an announcement that people should just sit there because there is no seat saving which is a great way to start a brawl if you ask me - putting it on the other passengers to enforce SW rules is not ok IMO). There was a dad with a young boy (6,7,8 I don't remember how old he looked) who were going to have to split up and they did say we were going to sit there all day until someone gave up their seat so the boy didn't have to sit alone. One woman had been zealously guarding a seat for her husband which was next to the boys seat. The minute said husband got on board he immediately gave up the seat for the dad and rolled his eyes at his wife. People are crazy.

 

[McNs]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I wound up booking Delta. My 11yo wouldn't be OK sitting alone, neither would Mrs McN be OK with it. While it's more likely we would at least get two sets of two together, it would be something I would worry about right up until we were on the plane.

 

[bumbershoot]

Since this is a concern of yours, especially booking so early, you need to keep a strict eye on your flights. Times change and equipment changes, and when that happens seat assignments go out the window. You have to get it changed each time it happens, if it happens. So check in the flights regularly. Do NOT expect that they'll inform you.


And fwiw it was on a non-southwest flight with rotten weather issues on the other coast (keeping planes from getting to Seattle) and flying on miles that DS first experienced being separated from me on a plane. He was nervous but we talked it through bunches. We got within two full rows of each other and he proceeded to ignore me the whole flight. He LOVED it. And he was 8.


Years ago I switched to SW because I was so tired of having my pre-chosen changed on me. I later switched back but it taught me early on that just because you chose a seat ahead of time anything might happen.

 

[tjmw2727]

Agree with this 10% - the only time(s) I have been separated from my kids or almost separated were on airlines that assigned seats - 2x on American and once on Jet Blue. All three times my kids were prepared but we got to the airport early and asked for help when checking in. Jet Blue was really great at working to try and reassign us seats together (one adult a 5 and 7 year old). American was able to reassign us once and the other time a kind passenger helped us out - and moved up a few rows to a like seat.

I don't mind SWA and just include EBCI as cost of the flights to increase my changes of earlier boarding.

In short to the OP, I echo the pp - keep a close eye on your flights, the earlier you book the more likely there is to be an equipment change. We booked our most recent trip 10 months in advance, extra leg room assigned seats in a row of 3. The aircraft changed to rows of 2 / 4 / 2 and we lost our row. We still had extra legroom seats but only two were together and since we still had what we technically paid for and the flight was sold out wouldn't re seat us. It wasn't an issue as I just sat alone but it doesn't always turn out the way you think it will.

Since this is a concern of yours, especially booking so early, you need to keep a strict eye on your flights. Times change and equipment changes, and when that happens seat assignments go out the window. You have to get it changed each time it happens, if it happens. So check in the flights regularly. Do NOT expect that they'll inform you.


And fwiw it was on a non-southwest flight with rotten weather issues on the other coast (keeping planes from getting to Seattle) and flying on miles that DS first experienced being separated from me on a plane. He was nervous but we talked it through bunches. We got within two full rows of each other and he proceeded to ignore me the whole flight. He LOVED it. And he was 8.


Years ago I switched to SW because I was so tired of having my pre-chosen changed on me. I later switched back but it taught me early on that just because you chose a seat ahead of time anything might happen.

 

[McNs]

Thanks for the heads up in potential changes, I'll be sure to keep an eye on the booking over the next few months.

Aaah the joys of domestic US travel.

 

[stitchlovestink]

We love flying SW because of their bag policies and we generally find them great to fly with kids except for the boarding issue. That's the one thing I'd change. With regard to EBCI, you are not guaranteed to be in A so if you go that route purchase early. We have twice gotten high Bs which does very little for you on flight to and from Orlando since it's after family boarding. We have a family of 5 so we need 3 and 2 seats together to keep from having to have a kid by themselves. We have twice now gotten the 2nd to last open row during family boarding so they do fill up. That said, on our last flight we had several people having one in their party get EBCI and saving seats. The flight attendants didn't directly address it (they made an announcement that people should just sit there because there is no seat saving which is a great way to start a brawl if you ask me - putting it on the other passengers to enforce SW rules is not ok IMO). There was a dad with a young boy (6,7,8 I don't remember how old he looked) who were going to have to split up and they did say we were going to sit there all day until someone gave up their seat so the boy didn't have to sit alone. One woman had been zealously guarding a seat for her husband which was next to the boys seat. The minute said husband got on board he immediately gave up the seat for the dad and rolled his eyes at his wife. People are crazy.

SW doesn't have a written policy saying you can or cannot save seats. So the person saving the seat was not violating any SW policy because their isn't one regarding this issue. It is first come first serve but it boils down to whether someone wants to be bold enough to try and occupy a seat someone else is saving.

 

[yeahdisney]

For Southwest. In March DH had A 57, we had B6, B7 and B9 there were so may families boarders we got the last row of the plane 3 across and then an isle for the fourth seat. Everyone sat 2 to a row or three. The families behind us were split up. DH wanted to get on and save 3 seats, I told him nope. It mades peeps mad.

On the way back we were b56 and beyond, we sat in the back 2 and 2.

 

[barbliny]

I really, really, really miss the old no-assigned-seats practices of Southwest from years ago. First come, first serve - no added revenue stream for a sometimes marginally advantageous charge to pay for early-bird-checkin, no up-ending your day to check in at exactly 24-hours prior if you weren't willing to pay for the automated check-in, no loosely written rules for saving seats and a 'hands-off' policy for flight attendants until the situation becomes unavoidable. No gate keepers who will not enforce family boarding rules as they are written and agreed to at ticket booking - rules are clearly laid out - I'm tired of watching 3 generation families traipse leisurely into the boarding area and line up 10 deep because there is one 2-year old in the group and the gate attendants welcome them without a challenge when the rules are definitively outlined at the time they buy a ticket and they are blatantly ignoring them.

I'm the person who always plans for apocalyptic traffic, scarce parking, people on line through security who don't unload their bags according to preset rules, wear lace-up shoes with double knots, wear jackets with a million buttons all shut tight until the TSA agent starts throwing bins at them ....

I miss the days at Southwest that I was rewarded for my 'get there early' mentality and we would all sit there under the A banner in the order in which we arrived - Babies, toddlers and all - 6:30 am flight we were still in the first handful of passengers on that plane!!!

That being said - even with a mid-B boarding pass and the uncertain effect of family boarding (albeit generally disrupting in Orlando airport), you can generally get sets of 2 seats together - although a family of 4 will most certainly separate into 'groups' - a family of 5 with 3 young children becomes very dicey on Southwest

 

[McNs]

Appreciate the feedback. It is an interesting approach they have taken for boarding - one that didn't work for us as we have decided to spend a little more and travel a bit longer to (for now) be able to choose where we sit. They look to cater well for people who don't really mind who they sit next to, and for families with kids 5 & under. There must be a lot of other families like mine who don't want to risk not sitting together and fly elsewhere.

 

[goofy4tink]

I really, really, really miss the old no-assigned-seats practices of Southwest from years ago. First come, first serve - no added revenue stream for a sometimes marginally advantageous charge to pay for early-bird-checkin, no up-ending your day to check in at exactly 24-hours prior if you weren't willing to pay for the automated check-in, no loosely written rules for saving seats and a 'hands-off' policy for flight attendants until the situation becomes unavoidable. No gate keepers who will not enforce family boarding rules as they are written and agreed to at ticket booking - rules are clearly laid out - I'm tired of watching 3 generation families traipse leisurely into the boarding area and line up 10 deep because there is one 2-year old in the group and the gate attendants welcome them without a challenge when the rules are definitively outlined at the time they buy a ticket and they are blatantly ignoring them.

I'm the person who always plans for apocalyptic traffic, scarce parking, people on line through security who don't unload their bags according to preset rules, wear lace-up shoes with double knots, wear jackets with a million buttons all shut tight until the TSA agent starts throwing bins at them ....

I miss the days at Southwest that I was rewarded for my 'get there early' mentality and we would all sit there under the A banner in the order in which we arrived - Babies, toddlers and all - 6:30 am flight we were still in the first handful of passengers on that plane!!!

That being said - even with a mid-B boarding pass and the uncertain effect of family boarding (albeit generally disrupting in Orlando airport), you can generally get sets of 2 seats together - although a family of 4 will most certainly separate into 'groups' - a family of 5 with 3 young children becomes very dicey on Southwest

That system worked fine if.....1. you were traveling with another person, or 2. you were next to a nice person who would hold your space if you had to use the restroom!!! I remember getting to that cattle shute area 2 hrs prior to boarding, getting in the A group, about 4 people back. There was a wall I could lean up against. If you were more than 8 people back, nothing to lean against! If you had cranky people on either side of you it made it tough to use the restroom!!!
I have no issues with the current system. I figure that the charge for EBCI can be thought of as that first bag's cost! I just add that $15 into the cost of the fare...better than a checked bag fee! I like not having to worry about being at the computer exactly 24 hrs prior to flight departure. I usually get the A group, sometimes way back in it, but it's before family boarding. I have seen gate attendants enforcing the immediate family only for family boarding. Of course, some of them then boarded and saved seats. I have no issue with saving seats as long as they are in the same row...so no more than two seats. My issue? It's usually the people that head for the front of the plane, and save a boatload of seats that take the most time getting off the plane. They wait until the last minute to get their stuff together, and it seems to take forever to get their bags down from the overhead bins! Meanwhile, all those behind them are standing there, waiting to get off!

I used to fly with Delta, a lot. Not anymore. I got tired of the constant changes they made...both to the planes and to itineraries. I had at least three flights where they changed the equipment and split my party up. One time, because I booked my dd after I had already booked my flight, they changed the equipment and put us on two different flights!! Now, it looked like we were two different reservations, so I can understand, but why not try to keep those in the same row together, just in case? Especially when the last name is the same!! Nope, no more Delta for me...unless it's a terrific fare and I'm flying within a month of booking!

 

[yankebabie]

What age does a child have to be to family board & is there ever a time that they don't allow family boarding beteeen A & B. Taking my 5 yr old grandson & really don't want to pay for EBCI if I don't have to

 

[barbliny]

What age does a child have to be to family board & is there ever a time that they don't allow family boarding beteeen A & B. Taking my 5 yr old grandson & really don't want to pay for EBCI if I don't have to

There will always be family boarding between A and B. The written policy is one adult may board with a child six or younger during family boarding. You should be good. Enjoy taking your son to Disney!

 

[jo-jo]

I really think SW should ALWAYS have people who purchased the EBCI go before the family boarding. Doesn't make sense to pay an extra fee and stand there while 75 people with young kids go ahead of you.

 

[bumbershoot]

There will always be family boarding between A and B.

People have experienced family boarding being cancelled when there's a huge number of families with young children on the flight.