Southwest Questions

[vossjemi]

I haven't booked with Southwest before but am thinking of doing so for our sept 05 disney cruise and wdw vacation. It'll be myself, DH, DD5, DS3, and gma/gpa. So, 6 people all together. We are centrally located in Mo, so it'll either be out of KC or STL or even Tulsa. I did a sample booking for May to see if I could book 6 people all at the same time, and I did see something about a child's fare, but you have to call for that? Is that true? I cannot book kids online? How does this work exactly? And, would we all be able to pre-board? If not, who could? I'm not so sure we'll be able to print off passes as we'll have to be in a park and fly hotel the night before. Also, when do you think bookings will become available for sept? Thanks.

 

[NotUrsula]

I can help with some of this, but only the powers that be at SWA know when they will open booking for Sept. I fly out of STL, so I can give you info from that perspective.

1. Unless you plan to purchase your tickets at the last moment and pay the highest refundable fare, you needn't worry about accessing the child fare online. It is almost certainly going to be more expensive than booking an adult fare for the children at the Internet Special/Fun Fare/Advance Purchase rate. The child fare is usually a 10% discount off the most expensive fare for the flight.

2. You, your DH and your two children can normally preboard b/c your youngest is under age 5, and will absolutely be able to preboard if your youngest will be sitting in a carseat on the plane. The grandparents should not expect to preboard unless they are disabled.

3. You should be able to print your boarding passes at your hotel. The concierge or the front desk should be able to print them for you if you show them the confirmation printout and your ID. (It is a nice gesture to tip for this service. For 6 bp's, I think I would give the clerk at least $10.)

This link has a list of the Park-N-Fly pkgs. for Lambert: http://www.parksleepfly.com/airport_hotels/hotel_display.php?airportID=47&hotel_type=airport

 

[vossjemi]

Thank you very much. I also posted this question on another board, and someone told me about the flights from BLV to orlando-sanford through Transmeridian airlines for $79pp one way. Would you recommend this?

http://www.transmeridian-airlines.com/

 

[NotUrsula]

Well, Mid-America's track record isn't so good, b/c the first two airlines that flew from there have pretty much gone under, but everyone I know who has flown TMA has been satisfied enough with it. The parking at Mid-America is free, so if you are staying a long time, that's worth something, too. We've never flown them b/c there is only one flight each way, and the times are usually not the best for us. There are no hotels right on top of that airport, your closest ones are going to be in Fairview Heights. (The airport is actually located in Mascoutah; it's about 15 miles WNW of Belleville.)

Sanford is a nice enough airport, I have family overseas who have flown in there on charters. It's small, but that's OK, IMO. It will put you a little bit out of your way for the port, and for WDW, but if you save a serious amount of money, it's not that far out afield.

We normally stick with SWA, partly because their flight times suit us better, and partly because we fly them often enough that we get a fair number of free tickets.