SW Air, has anyone been broken up

[Patpat15]

Has anyone whose gone on SW Air been forced to sit separately?

 

[CarolA]

It happens. Generally you can sit with a child, but most folks won't move for adults.

 

[Pinnie]

It happens. Generally you can sit with a child, but most folks won't move for adults.

I agree. I will move for a parent with a child, but do NOT ask me to move for a couple who couldn't get to the airport early enough.

pinnie

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

In my experience with Southwest, as long as you're on the ball, and not dilly-dallying, you should be fine. Print out your boarding pass online, just after midnight to get an A boarding pass. Whenever I've boarded, I've noticed that the B boarding groups still have plenty of empty rows, although they are towards the rear of the plane. (This is of course, assuming that your flight did not have a prior segment)

Usually the ones that get split up, are the last minute folks in the C boarding group.

 

[CarolA]

I printed a boarding pass half an hour ago for an 8 PM flight and got a n A. (I refuse to wait up all night for the boarding pass LOL!)

 

[WeLoveThePoly]

This is copied from the SWA website:

Check In and Print Boarding Pass
Exciting new changes to Online Checkin @ southwest.com! Now multiple Customers who are traveling on the same reservation can check in online and request their boarding passes.


To proceed through Security Checkpoint, you will need your government-issued photo ID1 and either a Boarding Pass or Security Document.

To use Online Checkin @ southwest.com and print your Boarding Pass, you must:
Check in beginning at 12:01 AM local time day of departure, up to one hour prior to departure
Have a Ticketless reservation
Be checking in for flights that have not already departed
Have purchased an Adult fare type (Customers holding reservations for group, senior, infant, youth, or military fares, and those requiring an additional seat must proceed to the airport for checkin)
See Additional information regarding Online Checkin @ southwest.com
Please note: The requirements above, fare rules, heightened security, and other issues may prevent some reservations from qualifying for Online Checkin. If your reservation does not qualify for Online Checkin, you may still be able to print a Security Document.

1Customers under 18 years of age are not required to show government-issued photo ID.

I don't fly very often so I have some questions - -

1) What is a "ticketless" reservation? Does that simply mean you purchased airfare online?

2) It states "to use online check-in and print your boarding pass you must .....Have purchased an Adult fare type (Customers holding reservations for group, senior, infant, youth, or military fares, and those requiring an additional seat must proceed to the airport for checkin)".

So, I'm assuming since we are traveling with our 8 yo DD this option is not available to us. Is that correct?

Thanks,
Debbie

 

[dznymom1]

If you purchased your tickets online and paid the regular fare for your DD you should be eligible for Online Check In. I fly Southwest regularly and have never found a youth fare for my kids, so I would be surprised if you did.

If for some reason you can't do online check in, it is definitely worth it to get to the airport early. You will probably get a B if you do that, but being towards the front of the B group should keep your family together with no problem. Keep an eye on things at the gate and hustle to get in line when people start making their moves

That said, people that fly SWA seem to be pretty accomodating to others. I have seen many folks (including my DH) change seats so that kids wouldn't be separated from their parents. LOL, I have also seen parents do their best to STAY separated from their kids

 

[Twende]

I will admit I am nervous about this too! DH and I have never flown SW before and I am uncomfortable not knowing where I will be sitting.

I do get air/car sick but as long as I have a window, I have never actually lost my cookies. It is going to be interesting! DH and I do not get to travel together very often and we are looking forward to the time together so we are hoping to sit together. But as long as I can get an window I will be okay!

We plan on staying up until after midnight so we can get an A boarding pass and then we plan on being at the airport really early but with all the early boarders, or what ever they call it, we could end up split up and in an isle!

Wish up luck!

 

[jkfreeman33]

I started a thread on this already about SWA and the "pre-boaraders" to and from Orlando. We flew SW on 2/16 from Chicago Midway to Orlando and there were maybe 50 pre-boarders in Chicago.
On 2/23 when we flew back home, more than half the plane was pre-boarded with "children". The pre-board line was longer than A,B or C lines. SW rule is one parent with child 4 years old and under may pre-board. Lot and lots of large 4 year olds were pre-boarding. The plane was completely full and we were the 5 & 6 person to board in "A" and sat in row 27!! Those were the first 2 seats together we could find and it was a window and middle. How a parent with a 4 year old or younger was already sitting in the aisle seat, I have no idea.
We are going on a Carnival cruise in June out of Port Canaveral and American had airfare at $239 and SW had it for $205. I booked the AA so I could have an assigned seat.
If you are not traveling with children, SW is great for any other city except Orlando. It seems like anyone with children can pre-board and just about everyone has children traveling to Orlando. I like SW, just not to Orlando.
On the way home, an Asian couple that didn't speak english to each other came on as they were closing the doors, with 3 small kids and lots of Disney bags, etc. They were looking for 5 seats together on a plane that only had 5 seats left. The FA begged people to move so parents could sit with their kids, no one moved in our area. People were yelling, "then they should have come early like the rest of us". I have no idea what happened, but the man was sitting in the row in front of us by himself (in the middle). My guess is there were only 5 seats left and all 5 were middles.
After all this, we get to Midway and my husbands suitcase wasn't on the flight. It was on a later one. They did deliver it to our home the next day.
It just seemed like a lot of hassel to get to and from Orlando on this past trip.
We have always taken ATA in the past and were lucky enough to never have
had any problems. Say good-bye to ATA and hello to AA.

 

[Tinkim]

When I used SW last year they weren't printing the boarding passes on-line as far as I know. We always get to the airport at least 1-1/2 to 2 hours early. My DH is funny that way. We travel from NH and had no problem getting seats together on the way there as they gave us A boarding passes but Orlando was crazy busy and all 11 of us were scattered all over the plane. Not one person offered to move so we could sit with our kids. My DH sat alone and my two boys sat alone in the back of the plane. I did manage to find two seats for my DD6 and me. My mom sat alone and my friend sat with one DD and her other two DDs sat together. They gave us C boarding passes even though we got there way early. I think it depends on how nice people are that day because not one person offered to move. Last week we used US Air and had assigned seats so we didn't have this problem but I even offered to move on that flight because one family was scattered all about. You can get separated on SW especially if you have a large party but maybe with being able to print your boarding passes now this has lessened the problems. Good luck.

 

[OKW Lover]

If its important for you to sit together, either get to the airport early or book on an airline that provides reserved seats, like Song.