Southwest early check in worth it?

[fofinia]

Hi. So I'll be traveling with my 3 kids alone. I'm wondering if I should get the early bird check in on Southwest? I'm nervous about not getting to sit together. I haven't flown on Southwest in prob 10+ years. And haven't even flown at all in the last few years. So I'm nervous all around.

But if I check in at 24 hours and we all get B boarding group will we likely be able to get 4 seats together? We are thinking to sit 3 in one row. And then my oldest Dd across the aisle from us on the aisle. I don't mind sitting in the back of the plane. I'll probably head there. But I don't want to get on and it's all middle seats. My two older kids could probably handle it. But I don't think I could! LOL

So would you pay the extra for early bird? We will be flying over Veteran's Day weekend. So it may be more busy. Out Weds am and back Mon middle of the day.
Thanks!

 

[sam_gordon]

Hi. So I'll be traveling with my 3 kids alone. I'm wondering if I should get the early bird check in on Southwest? I'm nervous about not getting to sit together. I haven't flown on Southwest in prob 10+ years. And haven't even flown at all in the last few years. So I'm nervous all around.

But if I check in at 24 hours and we all get B boarding group will we likely be able to get 4 seats together? We are thinking to sit 3 in one row. And then my oldest Dd across the aisle from us on the aisle. I don't mind sitting in the back of the plane. I'll probably head there. But I don't want to get on and it's all middle seats. My two older kids could probably handle it. But I don't think I could! LOL

So would you pay the extra for early bird? We will be flying over Veteran's Day weekend. So it may be more busy. Out Weds am and back Mon middle of the day.
Thanks!

If it's that important for you to sit together, then yes, purchase it. Yes, if you get "high B" boarding assignments and head to the back, you'll probably be fine. BUT...

1) What if you're joining a connecting flight with passengers who are staying on?
2) What if there are a lot of family boarding?
3) What if more people purchase EBCI (which seems to be happening based on reports here)?
4) Can you easily get to a computer at T-24 to check in as soon as you're allowed?

You also don't say what the ages of the kids are.

 

[fofinia]

thanks! Kids are 12, 9, 4. My older ones would be fine separated. But I won't be. I think I can check in right at 24 hours with no issues. I just haven't flown since they've added early bird. I've never seen it in action. And with so many unknowns i'm nervous.

 

[WDWFan06]

If you want to almost guarantee seats together then yes purchase it. With that being said I never do and almost always have an A boarding pass. Better safe than sorry though is what I would say with little ones.

 

[Allison]

thanks! Kids are 12, 9, 4. My older ones would be fine separated. But I won't be. I think I can check in right at 24 hours with no issues. I just haven't flown since they've added early bird. I've never seen it in action. And with so many unknowns i'm nervous.

If you won't be, then purchase it, otherwise if you end up not getting seats together you won't have a choice but to be fine with it.

 

[Heidi K]

We did not purchase it for our August trip. Kids are 8, 5, and 2. We checked in at 24 hours for both travel dates, and both times, ended up with the very end of A group, so we didn't even use family boarding. It seemed like everyone in B group was finding seats together, as well, as long as they went to the back of the plane. We were on flights that were 100% sold out.

We did prepare our kids in advance just in case we couldn't get seats together, but it all worked out.

 

[fofinia]

Thanks!

heidi- Your experience is what is keeping me questioning. Maybe it would work fine without it. And it would be a waste of money. I wonder if I don't add it for the flight down and then have a bad experience could I add it mid trip for the return flight? Then I wouldn't have to worry about checking in exactly 24 hrs prior while in Disney.

 

[minnierocks]

For me...totally worth it. I do not want to worry about it...I want to sit with my family. We purchased it for our recent September trip and we were the first passengers on after the business class. Remember that family boarding is between A and B, so if you happen to get B then you may be boarding after quite a few people. Our flight home from Orlando was full with a large amount of families traveling with small children.
Luggage is free so why not purchase it and put it to rest? You can add it on for your flight home later but you will get checked in behind everyone who purchased it before you. And if you do have a horrible experience on the way to Orlando, you will start your vacation frustrated. That is not a fun way to start your trip. I think it is worth it.

 

[DebbieB]

thanks! Kids are 12, 9, 4. My older ones would be fine separated. But I won't be. I think I can check in right at 24 hours with no issues. I just haven't flown since they've added early bird. I've never seen it in action. And with so many unknowns i'm nervous.

With the 4 year old, you would be eligible for family boarding between A and B. Every time I have flown them they allowed parents & siblings. But not grandparents, aunts, etc.

I flew them last week by myself, I got B18 on the way down and B5 on the way back at exactly 24 hours.

 

[Heidi K]

Thanks!
I wonder if I don't add it for the flight down and then have a bad experience could I add it mid trip for the return flight? Then I wouldn't have to worry about checking in exactly 24 hrs prior while in Disney.

I think a lot of people do that so they don't have the hassling of checking in on vacation. Seems like a good compromise!

 

[maxiesmom]

Would you rather spend the money maybe wasting it, or be standing there wishing you had spent it, stressing out?

 

[fofinia]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to go ahead and just pay the money for Early Bird. I'd rather waste the money than sit there regretting it. - Maxiesmom!

Thanks again for the push!

 

[katallo]

It really depends on a connecting flight. There was one stop ahead of us and with encircled we got B47. We probably won't do it again.

 

[missmun52]

For the flight there we were fine we checked in 24 hours before and sat together. For the flight home we had to go with family boarding and the plane was ALL families coming from disney. My son at the time just turned 7 years old and had to sit alone, it was horrible. I could not even see him on the plane, thankfully they were able to seat him next to a family with a little boy around his age. I will fly with jet blue now as I like assigned seats because south west prices are generally only comparable or a better deal without paying extra for early check in. I would never go without it again on southwest because sitting with my kids super important.

 

[kamik86]

If you were going anywhere other then Orlando I would say you would be fine. Most of my flights other places they will ask and have someone volunteer for kids up to 11 or 12.

However to Orlando there are generally ALOT of kids. Much more then I have seen on any of my other flights. When its cold out there are also many times alot of elderly (trips in November and early december as the snow birds are leaving home for example) This means many pre-boarders with wheel chairs and walkers.

That means that either family boarding is made lower in age (so instead of 4 and under they make it 2 and under) or that those with low B numbers are scrambling. (and sometimes EBCI only gets you low B if many others also bought EBCI)

So here are my recommendations:
1) Buy EBCI
2) Make sure each child has their own stuff to do on the plane. Especially the two older ones.
3) When you board head straight to the back.
4) Be a bit flexible. I know you want 3 and 1 but if you say find a spot where you can get two seats and the two in the row behind that for example, take it. I have seen cases where someone was so adamant on getting what they wanted that they didn't take anything and instead talked to the flight attendant. Meanwhile people kept boarding. So they got something much different then what they REALLY wanted instead of having just taken something that was just ok.

4 is why its important for everyone to have their own things. If you end up with the 4 year old in the middle and window and the other two are kitty corner across the aisle and up a row it would be difficult to pass things back and forth. However in the ways that really matter (if something was really wrong) they are still close enough where you can hear them and know what is going on.