southwest

[Cinderella1122]

I have a question about southwest. I've only flown on southwest 1 time. It was a roundtrip to orlando on a business trip. The way down was great, my 3 co-workers and myself had "A-passes" and had the whole plane to pick from. However on the way home, there were 71 pre-boards. By the time we got on, there was no room for us to sit near each other and we had "A-passes" again! Is this a common occurance? I would like to use southwest to fly with my family of 5, but not if were going to get split up, even though we have "A-passes."

 

[pamjb]

There are 150 seats on each Southwest plane. Even with 71 preboards, you can still conceivably get A passes. If you want to avoid preboards, you can try to avoid certain flight times. We flew to Orlando the beginning of March. Our flight left Philadelphia at 7 am. There were only about 20 preboards. OUr return flight from Orlando left at 8 pm. There were NO preboards, and the plance was only about half-full. This was my case and I can't say for certain a 7 am flight will have few preboards, but it improves your chances.
I have flown SW about 7 times in the past three years. While there have been many preboards (the most was 35) I have always been able to seat my party of 3 to 7 together. Your party of 5 would have to split anyway, since SW's seat configurations is 3 and 3.

 

[rayjess]

I would suggest if you do get "A" passes, just try to get to the airport early and get to your gate. If you see people getting in line for the "A" zone, then grab your stuff and get in line. I have seen people starting the line an hour before the flights.

 

[Cinderella1122]

Thank you Pamjb and Rayjess. This eases my nerves a little bit lol. I'm going to be taking my little brother with me and it will be his first flight, so I want to make sure that he is with me so that I can calm his fears.

 

[LovesHauntedMansion]

I had the same experience when I flew Southwest. When it was time to call for the pre-boards, over half of the people got up from their seats and got in line. I had an "A" ticket, but I still didn't want to take any chances of having to sit by myself. I grabbed my luggage and stood in line right behind the pre-boards. As the line went in, I stopped & told the guy that I was not a pre-board that I was standing in line for "A" boarding. After the pre-boards went in, the same guy came out and jokingly said "I'm sorry folks, but the plane is full." He says that this usually happens on flights to orlando because most people have young kids with them. When we got on the plane, we had a hard time finding 2 seats together. I guarantee that the "B" and "C" boarders couldn't sit together.

 

[WillCAD]

71 is pretty bad, even for MCO. I have been flying SWA for the last few years, and I have never seen that many, although I have seen as many as 40.

Seeing as how an SWA plane only has 150 seats, if I saw the preboard line get that big on a flight, I would speak to the gate attendants and ask them to see if they could whittle it down a bit. SWA personnel are usually very nice and understanding, and if you ask them calmly and politely, they might be able to take some action. After all, there are regulations about who qualifies to preboard, and with 71 passengers in the line, I'm sure that some of them were bending or even breaking the rules, and all that did was make things tougher on the rest of the passengers.

There are no absolute guarantees in life, especially where you sit on a SWA flight, but things at MCO are not usually that bad, so I wouldn't panic over the prospect of flying SWA again.

 

[Captjackson]

Another factor could be whether your flight is originating at your airport or not. Our return trip from Orlando to Portland (OR) earlier this month stopped in Kansas City. Only about 1/2 the passengers got off in KC. As soon as the flight attendents made their count everyone jumped to a better seat. DW and I were already in the 2nd row. We could see the expressionsconfused3 ) on the new passengers as they boarded the plane. Wouldn't surprise me if some groups in the A list might have been split.

I will say that other than the boarding procedure, flying SWA was one of the more pleasant flights I've been on. (This was my first SWA flight)

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

We flew down to Orlando during Easter break a couple of years ago, and they made an announcement that there would be no pre-boarding. Our children were just over the pre-board age, so we were thankful they did that -- easily 75% of the passengers could have qualified for pre-boarding and although we had A-passes, doubt we'd have been able to sit together otherwise.

 

[Pinnie]

Another factor could be whether your flight is originating at your airport or not. Our return trip from Orlando to Portland (OR) earlier this month stopped in Kansas City. Only about 1/2 the passengers got off in KC. As soon as the flight attendents made their count everyone jumped to a better seat. DW and I were already in the 2nd row. We could see the expressionsconfused3 ) on the new passengers as they boarded the plane. Wouldn't surprise me if some groups in the A list might have been split.

I will say that other than the boarding procedure, flying SWA was one of the more pleasant flights I've been on. (This was my first SWA flight)

Going to agree with you 100% Capt! There is a flight out of DTW to MCO that does what I call a "tuck n roll" at BNA. There have been many times that almost 60% of the plane has stayed onboard. Those pax boarding at BNA come on the plane shocked that there aren't very many 3 across seats in the front available. Lots of middle seats, though!

pinnie

 

[dohgusgus]

What airlines do preboarding? We went on delta last year and they didn't have it, which I am glad they didn't.

 

[rayjess]

Here is an example of something that happened on one of our flights on Southwest. We were leaving MCO for home and the flight was totally full. The flight attendant got on the speaker and said there was a mother and daughter that needed to sit together and asked if someone with switch seats with them. She also said they would get a free drink. Well, someone did and everyone was happy.

 

[FancyBrat]

I believe Southwest is the only Airline to do the Cattle Car loading process. Thats why they are cheap to fly, you get what you pay for. The other Airlines have assigned seating so families all sit together.

 

[TDC Nala]

Check in before you get there, get there early, and get in the A line first if you are worried about the preboarders. Sit on the floor if you have to, everybody does it. I have personally never seen any more than 50 preboarders, and that was at IAD. Even with that, there were plenty of seats for the A group in the rear of the plane. The back of the plane arrives at the same time as the front of the plane. If only we could get the preboarders to stop saving seats for people in the general boarding lines.

SWA in Orlando has been known to restrict preboarding to disabled passengers only if there are too many families with small children attempting to preboard.

And don't assume that families automatically get to sit together on other airlines. If you read the transportation board often, you will find numerous examples of airlines switching preselected seats so families end up separated and it all has to be done again, or taken care of during an early arrival at the airport. It's beginning to sound like your chances might actually be better with SWA, especially 1) if you can preboard, i.e. you have a child under 5 in your party or 2) if you do the early online checkin.

 

[Hannathy]

I believe Southwest is the only Airline to do the Cattle Car loading process. Thats why they are cheap to fly, you get what you pay for. The other Airlines have assigned seating so families all sit together.

if you truly believe this I have some oceanfront land in South Dakota I'd like to sell you!!!


For the life of me though I'll never understand the big deal in sitting together. Once a child is over 4 or 5 who cares where you sit. and when they are under 4 you only need one family member near them. Everyone gets there at the same time.

 

[Cinderella1122]

if you truly believe this I have some oceanfront land in South Dakota I'd like to sell you!!!


For the life of me though I'll never understand the big deal in sitting together. Once a child is over 4 or 5 who cares where you sit. and when they are under 4 you only need one family member near them. Everyone gets there at the same time.

My younger sister is deaf and my younger brother has never been on a plane before, so I find it pretty important to sit with them.

 

[TDC Nala]

if you truly believe this I have some oceanfront land in South Dakota I'd like to sell you!!!


For the life of me though I'll never understand the big deal in sitting together. Once a child is over 4 or 5 who cares where you sit. and when they are under 4 you only need one family member near them. Everyone gets there at the same time.

I have to say I understand the deal about having children sit with a parent, especially if either the parent or the kid is afraid of flying. But there are ways to get it done, it just takes a little effort.

I was on a plane once with a couple who were DEMANDING that people move to let them sit together because they were on their honeymoon. They didn't get far enough to ask me. But once you start demanding, forget it. Anyway, they're going to have a lifetime together, they could probably survive a two hour flight in a different row.

 

[Pinnie]

I believe Southwest is the only Airline to do the Cattle Car loading process. Thats why they are cheap to fly, you get what you pay for. The other Airlines have assigned seating so families all sit together.

Sure... Right!!!! Ever fly any of the legacy airlines like NWA and DELTA? They move seats around more often than people change their underwear! Equipment changes, flight times rearranged, etc. Give me the power to be in control of my seat on SWA anyday!

pinnie

 

[dohgusgus]

I believe Southwest is the only Airline to do the Cattle Car loading process. Thats why they are cheap to fly, you get what you pay for. The other Airlines have assigned seating so families all sit together.

it's not cheap, well not for me over here on the west coast.
delta is cheaper

 

[ZekeKelso]

The other Airlines have assigned seating so families all sit together.

There's no reason to think that families are less likely to sit together on SW than on a legacy airline.

 

[WillCAD]

For the life of me though I'll never understand the big deal in sitting together. Once a child is over 4 or 5 who cares where you sit. and when they are under 4 you only need one family member near them. Everyone gets there at the same time.

As someone who has spent my whole life taking care of kids, even though I don't have any of my own, I understand it perfectly.

I am of the opinion that a child under 12 on a plane should ALWAYS be required to sit with at least one parent.

However, I don't think it's such a big deal for families to be partially split up - mom and a kid in one row, dad and another kid in another row, etc. It is not so important for every member of a family to be together.