Southwest Question

[Our2Girls&Disney]

We will be flying Southwest for the first time (Manchester, NH to MCO) with our two children ages 8 and 4. I read several posts to preregister for the boarding pass 24 hours ahead of time in order to be able to get an A or B ticket so, that is not a problem. Does anyone know how much time we should give ourselves to arrive at the airport before departure if we have already preregistered? I don't want to cut our time too short, nor do I want to be there too early.

 

[Jeanne B]

We usually get to MHT an hour and a half before our flight. We always stop in the food court and eat a leisurely meal before sitting down in the terminal area to wait for boarding. It doesn't take long to get through security so you would probably be safe getting there an hour early if you already have A boarding passes, but to be safe I would recommend an hour and a half.

 

[safetymom]

I would allow at least 1 1/2 hours. The lines can get quite long at MCO to go through security. It is busy during the week as well as the weekends. If you have to check luggage allow a little extra time.

 

[lawgs]

if you can pre board it does not matter what letter you have on your boarding pass, and you would qualify with someone under 5


for pre boarding you do not have to pre register ONLINE since pre boarding is done at the gate by the gate agent

 

[salmoneous]

Note that there have been times when SW has suspeded preboarding, so it's always best to check in and get those A passes just in case.

Also, understand there is a *big* difference between MHT and MCO. Especially with kids, I'd be sure to be to MCO at least 90 minutes ahead of time. Not nearly as big a deal at MHT, where 60 minutes is probably plenty.

Personally, I've stated to get to airports earlier and earlier. Yeah, I end up waiting around. But I plan for it, bring a book etc. and it really cuts down on the stress levels. One thing that works well is to plan on having meals at the airport to give you something do to with the extra time.

 

[Michael623]

I usually leave my house in Stoughton, MA about 2 hours before my flight out of MHT and it takes 80-90 minutes to get there. I tend to hit DTD for some last minute pin trading on my last day and then leave there about 90-100 minutes before my flight time and I have to gas up and return the rental and I've never really cut it close.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

The week that we are leaving for FL is the week of school vacation for NH kids, so I pretty sure that the plane will be full of parents and kids going to Disney. Even though I have not flown SW before, I would be surprised if they did preboarding because a majority of the people will be rushing toward the gate.

Thank you everyone for all your advise!!!!!!

 

[Indea88]

Were leaving next week and we have a two year old, but I am still going to attempt to produce A passes on line in case preboarding is suspended, non existent etc.Never hurts to cover all bases I guess