Southwest & Infant on Lap-HELP!

[celticmama6]

Just want to start off by saying that this is the FIRST trip to WDW for my 6 kids (ages 1 to 15)! Dh & I haven't been since we were kids, so the entire family is BEYOND hyped up!! We leave in 15 days!

OK, glad I got that out of my system.

This is our first time flying on Southwest (aggravated with American and United lately) and have heard some great things, but there are still 1 or 2 things that are really bugging my Type-A personality...

1) Our 16 month old will be flying as a "lap infant", as paying for an 8th seat that she will not occupy seemed silly and exorbitant (yes, we've done this before. yes, we understand about safety. Let's all move on.) Because of this, Southwest will not allow us to check-in online; we are REQUIRED to go to the ticket counter and get a Boarding Verification Document (BVD) for her. While I understand that because we have 2 kids under 4, that we will be seated after group A but before group B, I'm still concerned about having all of us sitting even near each other. I have no problem with my 15 and 13 yo sons sitting together but away from us (heck, if their 10 yo sis could sit with them, that would be OK, too), I am worried that DH and I will still have issues getting even 2 sets of 2 seats for the rest of us (1 adult, 1 younger child in each set). Southwest CS's answer is to pay the "deeply discounted infant fare" (btw, it's 4x what we paid for 1 of our tix!), so we can do online check-in. Any thoughts? Are my fears just crazy?? Will we be able to get ANY seats together if we have to board btw A and B??

2) I have had 2 different relatives tell me that, based on their observations during other SW flights, that our family will not be allowed to board together because there are 8 of us. I am told that they will make our 4 older kids (15, 13, 10, 8) wait at the gate until their group (B or C) is boarded, while dh and I will be allowed to take on only the baby and the 3yo. To me, this is insanity. We bought the tix together as a family. All kids are under 16, and we DID NOT register them as unaccompanied minors... for a reason. I am not OK with leaving them at the gate, NOR being forced to wait until the end to board. SW's policy does not define a "family" by size, so I feel this would be discriminatory on their part. Again, any thoughts?

3) Yes, I stayed up too late last night reading internet reviews, so forgive me, but some of the reviews I read re: SW and minors sitting by themselves (unaccompanied and accompanied, but separated) made me sick. 2 stories of pedophiles, and countless others of children being subjected to adults verbally abusing them, not allowing them to go to the bathroom or eat or go speak with their parents. And, SW flight attendants ignoring the kids' pleas entirely. Please, PLEASE tell me this is just internet fodder!!!!

Other than that, we are over-the-moon excited to see The Mouse! And, dh has promised me the monogrammed ears I always wanted!

Thanks so much, all you awesome experts out there!!!

 

[DopeyDame]

I'm far from a southwest expert, so hopefully some others will chime in, but you can get the "early bird checkin" for $10 per ticket, right? Even just doing that for 4 of you should aleviate your issues. Send the 4 big kids on first to ensure 4 seats together (if they're lucky, they can sit aisle-window, aisle-window, assuring 6 seats together as it's unlikely someone will take the middle seats before you board) Then you and DH board with the families between A and B with the two little ones.

 

[MHSweb79]

I think your fears are completely ungrounded (pun intended!) Take a deep breath and stop reading those internet stories!

Boarding between A and B groups will give you PLENTY of empty rows to claim for your family. If you're worried about your children not being able to board with you, then send one adult and one older kid with the two younger kids for early boarding, and leave one adult behind with the other 3 older kids. (Do I have the kid count right?) This solves your issue with leaving your 4 older kids alone in line while you and DH board.

I fly SW all the time and like it or not, people save seats for family or friends with later boarding passes. Also, people are pretty good about moving so you don't have to abandon your child to sit next to someone you're not comfortable with. I wouldn't go in expecting them to do it, though. But in general folks are pretty understanding.

And, finally, if this issue is really keeping you awake at night, perhaps you should rethink flying Southwest at all and go with an airline that assigns seats. It may give you peace of mind. Or just pay for the infant's ticket- that's what's really holding you up (in not being able to check in 24 hours ahead) so really it's your choices that are causing the issue, not Southwest's policies. (Not a flame - don't read it that way. I'm just saying by choosing SW and choosing not to pay for the infant seat, you've opened yourself up for these issues.)

 

[DopeyDame]

Duh! Totally forgot about the "not being able to check in 24 hours" part. Sorry! I suspect PP is right and you'll be fine, but I did find this on their FAQ of the website:

"An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs between the "A" and "B" boarding groups. However, those Customers holding an "A" boarding pass should still board with the "A" boarding group. With an all-jet fleet outfitted with comfortable, leather seats, our families traveling with small children are easily accommodated together."

To me, this says your relatives are correct and all 8 of you probably wouldn't be able to board. I wonder if you call southwest if there's a way to split up your reservations 1 adult and 5 of the kids on one reservation that CAN check in early, and 1 adult and the lapbaby on the other.

 

[TDC Nala]

You will be fine if you board between A and B. They MAY allow the entire family to board. They may allow only one adult per child to board with whatever children are eligible. At any rate I do not think you will have any problems at least getting an adult with small kids unless you are insistent on sitting in the front of the plane. SWA doesn't leave minor children to board by themselves. If you have 2 parents and more than 1 kid under 5 you can probably all board with family boarding.

Airlines that assign seats do not always keep those seat assignments. Sometimes all it takes is an equipment change and resulting seat reassignments to scatter a family all over a plane.

 

[crashbb]

2) I have had 2 different relatives tell me that, based on their observations during other SW flights, that our family will not be allowed to board together because there are 8 of us. I am told that they will make our 4 older kids (15, 13, 10, 8) wait at the gate until their group (B or C) is boarded, while dh and I will be allowed to take on only the baby and the 3yo. To me, this is insanity. We bought the tix together as a family. All kids are under 16, and we DID NOT register them as unaccompanied minors... for a reason. I am not OK with leaving them at the gate, NOR being forced to wait until the end to board. SW's policy does not define a "family" by size, so I feel this would be discriminatory on their part. Again, any thoughts?

It is not discrimation at all. The policy is in place so that no child (4 years or younger) is at risk of not sitting beside an adult guardian. Limiting it to one adult does not, in any way, increase the risk unduly in larger families.

As people have suggested - use ECBI, try to split up the reservations, and/or send one adult in with the eligible children and leave the other adult to wait with the rest of the kids.

 

[NotUrsula]

Take a deep breath. Unless you are leaving within the next 2 weeks, you CAN check in online -- you just need to verify your child's age in advance to be able to do so. (Since you are leaving in 15 days you may want to take a quick advance trip to an airport and do the verification in person with a ticket agent ahead of time.) This is the process:

How does the age verification process work?

• If you are traveling on an Infant, Child, or Senior Fare, you must present the traveler's proof of age (i.e., birth certificate, driver's license, or another government-issued photo ID that indicates the traveler's date of birth) to a Customer Service Agent at the airport in order to check in for your flight.
• At that time, the date of birth in your Rapid Rewards® or MySouthwest® account will be updated to indicate that age has been verified. If you do not have a Rapid Rewards or MySouthwest account, you must create one and provide proof of age to a Customer Service Agent in order to check in online or at a self-service kiosk in the future. The next time the age verified Customer Travels you will be able to request the boarding pass on southwest.com.
• If you prefer, you may mail a copy of a valid picture I.D. or birth certificate proving age to: Southwest Airlines Customer Relations; P.O. Box 36662; Dallas, TX 75235. Please be sure to indicate the traveler's Rapid Rewards account number with your request, and submit your request at least two weeks prior to your flight.
• The date of birth field in the account will be updated to reflect that age has been verified. Please allow two weeks for processing.
• If you submit your request in writing, you will receive a confirmation letter in the mail once the date of birth has been verified.
• Once the date of birth has been verified, you may check in online and request a boarding pass as long as the traveler's account number is present in the reservation for which you are checking in.

Please remember to provide the Traveler's account number when you make future reservations on southwest.com or through our toll-free Reservations number 1-800-I-FLY-SWA so that you can check in online.

If you don't have RR accounts now, go ahead and create them and then call SWA Customer Service to get the RR number linked to the reservations.

As for sitting together, realize that only one lap child is allowed in a row; it isn't clear to me if you have one or two, so I thought I'd mention that.
Unless you are flying out of Chicago, Las Vegas, or Baltimore, the odds of your not being able to find whole rows in the rear of the aircraft are very low, and if you only have two adults and that many littles, boarding all together should not be a problem.

The usual restrictions on family boarding bar more than 2 adults from boarding in the party; your extra people are all minor children, though the two oldest are old enough to fly unaccompanied on SWA. A polite conversation with the GA may make things easier for you, just so that you don't start getting stressed at the gate. However, DO NOT start making demands based on some personal definition of "family" -- SWA only provides unaccompanied minor escort service for kids who are 12 and younger; your older 2 would not qualify. A better strategy would be to tell the GA that you have never flown before and that you would really appreciate having your older kids' help in getting the littles quickly on board the aircraft. If for whatever reason the two oldest cannot take advantage oif family boarding (assuming that you don't get A's when you check in online), then you can save middle seats for them IF you sit in the rear of the plane.

If you really feel that you MUST ALL be seated contiguously, you should spring for EBCI to be sure to get it. Remember that no matter what you do, someone in your family will be sitting with a stranger, because you are needing seven seats.

 

[celticmama6]

Thanks everyone!

Actually, after a 2nd conversation with SW (this time the 1st person I spoke with couldn't answer some of the questions, so she just fwd'd my call to a supervisor; probably a good idea!), they looked more closely and said it's not just the lap infant issue that would eliminate the online check-in, but also our 3yo, as he needs to be "age verified". Both times that he has flown, he was under 2 and was also a lap infant, so his age needs to be verified.

The idea about splitting up adults and kids (if they won't board us all together) is really a good one! It's good to hear from people who've flown SW and had some good experiences!

And, it's not that I have issues with SW, it's just that (you have to admit!) they do things a bit differently and I have no idea what to expect. That scenario works when you have 2 or 3 ppl flying, but with 8 ppl, it becomes a whole different ballgame. Being the mother of 6 has taught me that a little bit of planning (sometimes a LOT!) goes a very long way. In order to make sure my kids are well-behaved and pleasant means that I have to try to plan for as many scenarios as possible (you can NEVER plan for everything!) and eliminate as much "thinking on your feet" as possible. One way I do this is by asking a lot of questions and, OK, obsessing a bit. I'm working on it! By the time we're seated and taking off, I'm ready for FUN! I guess I should have made it more clear that the insomnia was due to my need to plan, plan, plan, not my distress over SW. I apologize.

Also, "discriminatory" was probably a poor choice of words, but not exactly inaccurate. By their own lack of definition of the word "family", SW is leaving themselves a bit open there. Not an airtight, slamdunk case against them, but it's a pretty vague reference. (Type-A people *do* joke around sometimes!)

Anyway, I promised dh that I would relax as soon as I could get a bit more info and formulate a loose plan in my head. Can you see why The Ultimate Unofficial Guide appealed to me???

Thanks for all the great ideas and thoughts! Very helpful!

 

[goofy4tink]

You've gotten some terrific info here. You need to realize that when SW allows family boarding, many families have taken advantage of this policy. They would arrive at the gate...mom, dad, little susie (age 3) and the four other kids...ages 6, 8, 10 and 12. With them would be grandma, grandpa, uncle joe, auntie sue, brother lou and his wife and three kids. And they all wanted to board together...I mean, they are a 'family' with a youngster under 4!!! And it was allowed for a long time. But passengers really got peeved, so now SW limits it to immediate family only..mom, dad and the kids. You will most likely be able to board together. But, even if you aren't, it shouldn't be an issue.
If you can get your youngster precertified as a true 'lap baby' you're good to go. Then you can all check in at the 24 hr window. Also, realize that there are only 60 slots in the A group, and the first 15 of those go to business travelers who have paid full price for their fares...fully, refundable fares that are about double what most of us pay. So, there will be only about 45 people boarding in that group. Not going to be a problem finding seats together.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm a little confused: SWA would not normally need to age-verify a 3 yo that they have never seen before, assuming that he is travelling on an adult fare. (If you have him on a "child fare" then it make sense, but so few people buy those fares that it would be an unusual scenario.)

Anyway, if pre-planning is your forte, and you don't live really far from a SWA airport, you might want to grab your two youngest children's birth certificates and go take a field trip to show them to a ticket agent sometime in the next week or so (after first opening RR accounts for them). That will make things MUCH easier for you, and besides, you'll get to see their bag-check facilities ahead of time, which will also be educational.

 

[tjmw2727]

Honestly - especially for a planner like you (and I) IMHO southwest works great because you aren't depending on the mercy of the airline to seat you together. No airline guarantees seats -even those that let you pre-select just do a quick search here on the transportation boards to verify ! I personally have been separated from my kids on the legacy airlines - afte selecting seats but never on SWA.

You have a couple options as far as age verification - as Not Ursula said you can go to the airport and age veryify your lap child in advance.

If the fares on your reservation haven't gone up you can also split your reservation so that you are the only one on one confirmation number with all the others on another. This way everyone else can check in at T 24.

I also agree with NotUrsula that the SWA agent was probably mistaken about the 3 year old or didn't understand what you were asking. If you booked him/her a regular web fare than there is no need to age verify. Read the section on age verification from SWA's own website for your own peace of mind. The only reason to verify age is to make sure a person qualifies for a special fare (senior citizen or youth) or to fly for free as a lap child. If you booked your 3yo's ticket with the rest of the family then there is no need for them to verify his/her age.

If all this fails and you end up boarding with the family group I have little doubt that the family will be able to board together. You are immediate family and the limits are to prevent abuse. I fly SWA about twice a month and have only seen them limit family baording a few times and even then immediate family boards just not grandparents, aunts etc.

There is also little doubt at that even with family boarding you will find seats that work for you esp if you head to the rear of the plane. There are only 60 spots in the A group plus a few pre boards and 137 seats on the plane, so that leaves plenty to choose from.

Finally = yes sounds like some of the stories you read are a little far fetched (IMHO). SWA has some "haters" but most haven't ever flown SWA and don't understand how the seating works.

Relax - plan but don't stress - and have a fabulous vacation.

 

[bumbershoot]

...but also our 3yo, as he needs to be "age verified". Both times that he has flown, he was under 2 and was also a lap infant, so his age needs to be verified.

I don't think that's true at all. Unless you booked him with a special age-based fare, which you probably wouldn't b/c you would have found that the special fare was likely more than the fare you got for the rest of the group.



Are we all certain that the entire group will be restricted from online checkin, just b/c of the one baby? Aren't their systems smarter than that?

 

[brymolmom]

OP - Keep in mind that the policy about not allowing 8 to family board together is to keep families like YOURS safe from your 3 year old not getting a seat near mom or dad. Think about if you were the 6th family in line and all 5 in front of you had 8 per family all boarding together...Chances of you sitting next to your 3 year old would be slim. So it truly is there to protect you and your family and other families with very little ones. So I wouldn't argue too much with that rule - or maybe they'll let all 5 families in front of you board with 8 or more family members and then you'd be likely stuck.

I would say you are VERY likely with family boarding to get 3 seats together or 2 and 2 seats together (thus likely also getting the 3rd by keeping the middle one unoccupied until the last minute so that the 8 and 10 year olds could grab those seats).

I would prepare all your older children that the possibility exists that they will have to sit by themselves. Have them prepared with their own bag with a snack, MP3 player and book, etc. I discussed in detail with dd6 when we used SW last year. It is just the chance you take when you fly SW so you have to be ready for the worst just in case. Luckily if you are able to get the two groups of 3 seats that would only leave 2 family members 'separate' and they very likely could get the middle seat right across the aisle from your groups of 3 seats, to at least be nearby.

IF they don't let you board with all 8 of you, plan out who will be boarding with you. If it was me - I likely would board with the two littlest ones along with the 15 or 8 year old. Then when you get on the plane, have the 8 and 3 year olds take one row and you and the toddler take the one in front of them. Then hope for the bes that the 10 and 13 year olds will be able to take those middle seats. Then, it would only end up dad and 15 year old who would have to sit across the aisle.

Above all, have a plan, but don't sweat it. The youngest will be able to be with adults (or older sis/bro) and the older ones LIKELY will be able to do so as well.

 

[Hannathy]

Wanted to tell you to breathe also. Everyone has given you a lot of help i want to touch on you being afraid of the kids being away from you.

First think about it if all the problems you are reading about were really taking place wouldn't it be on the news around the clock since they love sensationalism? Seriously they wouldn't stop talking about it.

Second your oldest are perfectly capable of handling themselves so relax Mom.

Third you are all on the same plane what could happen that they couldn't (any of them) yell loud enough you couldn't hear?

and finally my kids have flown tens of thousands of mile many, many times sitting apart from me. In act the pick to now so they can all have their own window. and nothing has ever happened! ever. They have also flown alone without me , my DD starting in first grade and again never a single problem.

So relax make sure everyone has their own back pack with their snacks and entertainment and then go with the flow and look at it as an adventure.
Take the 2 little ones on and let the 15 yr old wait with the others or let your DH there with them.

If I know your 15 yr old they are probably hoping there isn't a seat near their little brothers or sisters or parents and as far away as they can be! they love independence.

 

[tjmw2727]

Ok - after stumbling across another thread here is what I would do:

Call SWA and have them split your reservation so you are on one confirmation number and the rest of the family is on another. This way everyone but you can do EBCI or online check in. You can then check yourself in at the airport and age verify the baby. Remember to bring the Birth Certificate! On the way home you won't have the issue because your baby will then be age verified.

 

[Danibelle]

I'm far from a southwest expert, so hopefully some others will chime in, but you can get the "early bird checkin" for $10 per ticket, right? Even just doing that for 4 of you should aleviate your issues. Send the 4 big kids on first to ensure 4 seats together (if they're lucky, they can sit aisle-window, aisle-window, assuring 6 seats together as it's unlikely someone will take the middle seats before you board) Then you and DH board with the families between A and B with the two little ones.

If you are going to be doing EBCI, you should purchase it for all who need to sit together. If the flight is full, seat saving probably won't work. I have heard that family boarding is frequently unavailable from MCO. I am a firm believer in EBCI but for ALL family members who want to be together, not just a few with seat saving. That defeats the SW policy.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

2) I have had 2 different relatives tell me that, based on their observations during other SW flights, that our family will not be allowed to board together because there are 8 of us. I am told that they will make our 4 older kids (15, 13, 10, 8) wait at the gate until their group (B or C) is boarded, while dh and I will be allowed to take on only the baby and the 3yo. To me, this is insanity. We bought the tix together as a family. All kids are under 16, and we DID NOT register them as unaccompanied minors... for a reason. I am not OK with leaving them at the gate, NOR being forced to wait until the end to board. SW's policy does not define a "family" by size, so I feel this would be discriminatory on their part. Again, any thoughts?


Thanks so much, all you awesome experts out there!!!

I just wanted to clarify what you wrote above - on Southwest an unaccompanied minor is ages 5-11. Outside of those ages, a child is able to fly alone. I really think a 16 year old would be able to wait at a gate for 10 minutes alone. What do you think could happen at the gate? Not trying to be catty - just trying to understand.

 

[malibuconlee]

I didn't read the whole thread.

On SW when I had a lap baby I still did online check-in at the 24 hour mark. Then when we got to the airport and checked our bags I was given a boarding verification document for the lap baby after showing her birth certificate. Was never told to do it any other way. Always had A boarding passes. I think the only time we have used family boarding was on an American Airlines flight when we had her car seat with us (only did that once when the company paid for the flight)

 

[malibuconlee]

OK I was thinking about it. If the family has boarding passes of "B" or "C" how about letting the 16 year old take the 3 year old on board during family boarding and one parent staying with the other kids? That way a parent is with the other kids, and the other parent has a set of hands to help with the other younger child? I think that would be my plan.

 

[NotUrsula]

Just FYI, *IF* the entire nuclear family is not allowed to take advantage of family boarding, only two of the children will be disqualified, the two eldest. SWA will not insist that the 10yo and 8yo wait to board later. As the OP has two children young enough to qualify for family boarding, each adult will allowed to accompany one of them. It is normal procedure to let all minor siblings in the party board together if both of their parents are boarding with tots. IF any children are disqualified at a time when their parents are still being allowed to use family boarding, they will be children who are over age 11.

Family boarding is almost always enforced at the nuclear family level only. (As PP have said, MCO sees the most exceptions because of the sheer number of children that are on flights going through that airport.) The restriction is really meant to weed out "extended family" -- additional adults traveling with a family that includes young children; most commonly able-bodied grandparents. (In the old days when young children could automatically preboard, I more than once had older strangers walk up to me in the preboard area and ask if I would let them be part of my "family" so that they could preboard with us -- once or twice I was even offered money.)

The only "gotcha" I could see could happen at MCO on the return flight if they restrict family boarding to carseats only. If that restriction is put in place for the flight, only children who will be flying in carseats will get family boarding privileges, and only one adult may accompany each qualifying child. As the OP's youngest is a lap-child, that would mean that only one adult and the 3yo would qualify (assuming that the 3 yo will be riding in a carseat), leaving the second adult to wait and board with the rest of the children, including the lap child.

Again, the simplest way to avoid all these questions is to get the littles age-verified in advance so that the family can check in online and get into the A group.