Southwest Seat Question??

[Sherrkel]

And if the plane is full they may enforce the no seat saving policy.

SW claims not to have a formal policy when it comes to saving seats; I was disappointed on our last flight (to LV) and the amount of people saving seats; we purchased EBCI, got high A's, and ended up in the back half of the plane just to find 2 seats together. The flight attendent was right in front of us as people where refusing to give up empty seats they were saving, and she didn't say anything.
Here's part of their email response to my inquiry about this policy:
"We regret learning of your disappointment with our seating policy. In all honesty, we've never outlined a policy for or against the saving of seats."

I just wouldn't worry about it.

Yes, this!
Despite my disappointment above, I still think you'll be able to find at least seating close together even if you have to head toward the back of the plane. I don't personally like sitting back near the back, takes a longer time to deplane, but chances are better for sitting together. Good luck!

 

[NotUrsula]

Again, this has not exactly been my experience. In my example, the first person I checked in did have EBCI but their itinerary was purchased after mine and their EBCI was added well after mine. Nevertheless, their boarding number was better than mine. (And no, they weren't A list, both tickets were WGA fares.)

SWA claims to have fixed this. When EBCI was first started, if someone who had purchased an early EBCI subsequently canceled their ticket, the number would go back into the "purchase pool." Naturally, some passengers complained about it, and the company now says that it no longer happens.

Some people on Flyertalk claim that they have still seen it happen since the fix was done, so who knows?

 

[JamieAndMackenzie]

We are flying from Milwaukee to Orlando this fri on Southwest. Having never flown Southwest I have no idea how many seats are in a row.. Are they 6 across so 3 and 3 or 3 and 2? Or like a cattle car as many as you can fit.

Thanks for the help!

Hi. I also fly out of Milwaukee and in Oct I will be with a group of 14 with 4 kids eligible for family boarding. I've heard sometimes Southwest suspends family boarding to Orlando and was wondering did this happen on your trip to/from Milwaukee? If not, did it still look like most of the passengers were families with kids? Thanks for your help!

 

[goofy4tink]

Hi. I also fly out of Milwaukee and in Oct I will be with a group of 14 with 4 kids eligible for family boarding. I've heard sometimes Southwest suspends family boarding to Orlando and was wondering did this happen on your trip to/from Milwaukee? If not, did it still look like most of the passengers were families with kids? Thanks for your help!

I would doubt that they are going to allow a group of 14 to board together in 'family boarding'...at least that would be my hope. I would, prior to airport arrival, decide who is going to board with the kids 4 and under. The 'rule' is one adult per child.
SW ran into huge issues when mom, dad, the 4 siblings, grannie, grandpa, uncle joe, aunt sally and the nanny all boarded together with that one child under 4!! Other passengers were not happy!! So, now, these kids, with one parent, get to board between the A and B groups. If the family group is small, most will be allowed to board together.

If there were to be 5 other family groups, trying to preboard, then it's really not so fair to those that have paid for EBCI and are now behind a total of maybe 40 passesngers who board inbetween A and B (that's your 14, plus 5 in each of the family groups).

 

[HHSTigerFan]

After reading this thread and having two children, 9 and 6, I decided to buy the EBCI... So now, I don't need to do anything prior to getting to the airport? Do I even need to print anything out or just show them my confirmation number on my iphone?

 

[JamieAndMackenzie]

I would doubt that they are going to allow a group of 14 to board together in 'family boarding'...at least that would be my hope. I would, prior to airport arrival, decide who is going to board with the kids 4 and under. The 'rule' is one adult per child.
SW ran into huge issues when mom, dad, the 4 siblings, grannie, grandpa, uncle joe, aunt sally and the nanny all boarded together with that one child under 4!! Other passengers were not happy!! So, now, these kids, with one parent, get to board between the A and B groups. If the family group is small, most will be allowed to board together.

If there were to be 5 other family groups, trying to preboard, then it's really not so fair to those that have paid for EBCI and are now behind a total of maybe 40 passesngers who board inbetween A and B (that's your 14, plus 5 in each of the family groups).

Hi. Thanks for your reply. I wasn't expecting to have all 14 of us board during that time, just those of us with small kids (with 1 parent) so they won't get trampled over. I will have a 12 month old so I will need to leave my stroller at the door and carry her plus the carry on and diaper bag onto the plane then stand in the aisle waiting as I'm holding all this stuff because people can be so slow finding seats and getting out the way. If there was family boarding at least it won't be so chaotic when I board.

I really wouldn't care if we all sat together or not. I just wanted to know if SW allowed family boarding for the OP's flight from MKE to MCO and back since it's summer and many families would be going. Since the Milwaukee area schools will be out for the week we go in Oct, I'm guessing it's going to be a full flight.

 

[wgeo]

Hi. Thanks for your reply. I wasn't expecting to have all 14 of us board during that time, just those of us with small kids (with 1 parent) so they won't get trampled over. I will have a 12 month old so I will need to leave my stroller at the door and carry her plus the carry on and diaper bag onto the plane then stand in the aisle waiting as I'm holding all this stuff because people can be so slow finding seats and getting out the way. If there was family boarding at least it won't be so chaotic when I board.

I really wouldn't care if we all sat together or not. I just wanted to know if SW allowed family boarding for the OP's flight from MKE to MCO and back since it's summer and many families would be going. Since the Milwaukee area schools will be out for the week we go in Oct, I'm guessing it's going to be a full flight.

For what its worth, we flew out of MKE on a Sat morning last Oct. Flight was pretty full, if not completely full yes there were lots of families, but they did do family boarding, or at least they announced they would. We didn't do EBCI but still got A boarding passes. On our flight home from MCO, we were in the B group and they did do family boarding on that flight (also a full flight) but they did stop someone who was trying to board their whole group during family boarding.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Sugardimples]

After reading this thread and having two children, 9 and 6, I decided to buy the EBCI... So now, I don't need to do anything prior to getting to the airport? Do I even need to print anything out or just show them my confirmation number on my iphone?

You will still need to have a printed out boarding pass. You can either print it from home or at a kiosk at the airport. You will need your confirmation number to print it out.

 

[JamieAndMackenzie]

For what its worth, we flew out of MKE on a Sat morning last Oct. Flight was pretty full, if not completely full yes there were lots of families, but they did do family boarding, or at least they announced they would. We didn't do EBCI but still got A boarding passes. On our flight home from MCO, we were in the B group and they did do family boarding on that flight (also a full flight) but they did stop someone who was trying to board their whole group during family boarding.

Enjoy your trip!

That's what I wanted to know. Thanks!