SW Boarding - Can Adult Boarding 1st save seats in row for kids?

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Maybe we misunderstood procedure, but flew SW for the first time 2 weeks ago R/T MCO. When they called B 1-30, we got in line. We were B7-8 but weren't the 7th and 8th in that particular line. I didn't notice anyone being concerned about being in numerical order. So to the OP, as long as you're in the right line, perhaps it doesn't matter that you have a lower boarding number. If my experience is the same as others, all B 1-30 (like you and sons) lined up when called.

BTW, loved SW! Would like the SW credit card, but not the $99 annual fee.

Don't fly out of Atlanta. They will basically force you into the right order LOL! The former AirTran agent even fussed at the guy behind me who had let me in front of him (I was 29 he was 28 LOL!)

 

[n2mm]

Wow that is more strict then I generally hear. Most of the time they announce the two items but they generally don't do anything with the smaller ones Only with the person with a huge purse, a backpack and a roller bag. Most of the time the small paper bags are food that they just bought which would obviously fit in their other bags.

I know. I think he asked several flyers to stow their extras prior and they blew it off, so he made it a point to stop them. I hadn't flown SW in years, so was surprised at the enforcement. Of course we both only had 1 personal item.

 

[hsmamato2]

wow...all the times I've flown SWA, we passengers arranged ourselves by strict number order.... it's always kind of an amusing, non verbal agreement, if you're going to step in the line, you had better flash us your your boarding pass number...and arrange accordingly I've never seen it happen any other way!(btw,OP, once I mentioned that my 13 yo was about 10-15 #'s behind me, but I wasn't concerned.... the gate agent told me to bring him up next to me.... (my ds was fine, he rather enjoyed the independent boarding)

 

[DebbieB]

I flew SW last month and they used a gate that is normally not SW at PIT (it was unassigned). So we didn't have the posts. They instructed us to line up in order and it went pretty well as far as I saw. I had around B17 so I knew I was about in the middle of B1 to B30.

 

[LisaS]

Maybe we misunderstood procedure, but flew SW for the first time 2 weeks ago R/T MCO. When they called B 1-30, we got in line. We were B7-8 but weren't the 7th and 8th in that particular line. I didn't notice anyone being concerned about being in numerical order.

You were entitled to step into line at position B7-8 if you had wanted to do so.

Some of the people who say "it doesn't matter" about lining up in order are those who are trying to get into line further ahead than their boarding position and hoping no one calls them on it. On one flight, we had the first two positions in our group of five but when we got into line there was someone standing in our spot. The usual protocol is to compare boarding passes so I showed him mine. He simply responded "It doesn't really matter" and I said "It does to me." So he finally let me look at his pass and he was supposed to be much further back in the line! I got into line in front of him. As other passengers got into the line, they did the same.

 

[robndani]

I really wouldn't speak for other people like that. That may not be the case.

I agree. I once had a woman refuse to switch seats even though my 2 year daughter somehow had her seat moved away from ours AND she had been throwing up the two days prior! Of course another wonderful person switched around with us. Don't assume anything!

 

[gwynne]

You were entitled to step into line at position B7-8 if you had wanted to do so.

Some of the people who say "it doesn't matter" about lining up in order are those who are trying to get into line further ahead than their boarding position and hoping no one calls them on it. On one flight, we had the first two positions in our group of five but when we got into line there was someone standing in our spot. The usual protocol is to compare boarding passes so I showed him mine. He simply responded "It doesn't really matter" and I said "It does to me." So he finally let me look at his pass and he was supposed to be much further back in the line! I got into line in front of him. As other passengers got into the line, they did the same.

Yep, we have our boarding passes in hand, and don't mind showing them. It's pretty much routine on SW. We've done the walk around in front of the "mathematically challenged" passenger, too. And other passengers followed suit, much like you mentioned.

 

[Gracie09]

I agree. I once had a woman refuse to switch seats even though my 2 year daughter somehow had her seat moved away from ours AND she had been throwing up the two days prior! Of course another wonderful person switched around with us. Don't assume anything!

You got on the plane with a sick vomiting child and the person who refused to move was wrong? You don't know why they refused to move. You made an assumption.

 

[betterbutter]

I know. I think he asked several flyers to stow their extras prior and they blew it off, so he made it a point to stop them. I hadn't flown SW in years, so was surprised at the enforcement. Of course we both only had 1 personal item.

If those paper bags included food for consumption on board, they shouldn't be counted as carry on's. I often make my husband a breakfast bag to take along and eat on the plane, and he's never been told it's a third carry on.

 

[n2mm]

If those paper bags included food for consumption on board, they shouldn't be counted as carry on's. I often make my husband a breakfast bag to take along and eat on the plane, and he's never been told it's a third carry on.

The bags look like store purchases. Even if it was food, they weren't going to stop anyone from taking them out after getting onboard. We, like most, pick up food for the flight. I'm just posting what I saw many times while standing in line. We were B 37-38, so was near the front of the second side. SW is not my regular airline, so was curious to all the rules and enforcements going on at our gate and nearby gates.

 

[robndani]

You got on the plane with a sick vomiting child and the person who refused to move was wrong? You don't know why they refused to move. You made an assumption.

I said she had been vomiting... not that she was. Of course I wouldn't put a puking kid on a plane. I should have stated my point better, she was weak and tired and TWO! (Even if she was perfectly fine, I still thought sitting NEXT to my child was better than having a stranger between us!)

I guess I also should have said that the woman said she didn't want to move all of her stuff, which was one small purse! She had the middle seat and I even offered her my husband's middle seat... right in front of her.

I was simply saying don't expect someone to move for your child because it's the "right thing to do." I have switched seats on a plane so that a parent and child could sit together and think many, many people would. My point is don't assume everyone will.

I also think that the flight attendants would probably help you out. The ones on Jet Blue are awesome about things like that!

 

[Gracie09]

I said she had been vomiting... not that she was. Of course I wouldn't put a puking kid on a plane. I should have stated my point better, she was weak and tired and TWO! (Even if she was perfectly fine, I still thought sitting NEXT to my child was better than having a stranger between us!)

I guess I also should have said that the woman said she didn't want to move all of her stuff, which was one small purse! She had the middle seat and I even offered her my husband's middle seat... right in front of her.

I was simply saying don't expect someone to move for your child because it's the "right thing to do." I have switched seats on a plane so that a parent and child could sit together and think many, many people would. My point is don't assume everyone will.

I also think that the flight attendants would probably help you out. The ones on Jet Blue are awesome about things like that!

They didn't do much when dh went to sit in his seat and a woman was sitting in hers and half of his. Their solution was to put him on the next plane which got in several hours later leaving me and our dds at Newark airport in the middle of the night with no way home. They also wouldn't pay for transportation from the airport to home. So they weren't so great!
You didn't say if you were on sw or another airline. If another airline why on earth would you take two seats not next to each other of you needed to be next to your child.

 

[DebbieB]

They didn't do much when dh went to sit in his seat and a woman was sitting in hers and half of his. Their solution was to put him on the next plane which got in several hours later leaving me and our dds at Newark airport in the middle of the night with no way home. They also wouldn't pay for transportation from the airport to home. So they weren't so great!
You didn't say if you were on sw or another airline. If another airline why on earth would you take two seats not next to each other of you needed to be next to your child.

She said her daughter's seat was moved away. Reserved seat assignments on other airlines are not guaranteed.

 

[robndani]

She said her daughter's seat was moved away. Reserved seat assignments on other airlines are not guaranteed.

Thanks Debbie! Not sure where all of this negativity is coming from, I was just trying to help OP by sharing an experience I had.

 

[Gracie09]

Thanks Debbie! Not sure where all of this negativity is coming from, I was just trying to help OP by sharing an experience I had.

You made an assumption about the woman (and still are). Maybe she had and bad hip or back and it's painful to get up and down. So once she was down that was it. Maybe she had been move around the plane prior to you coming on. You were one seat away from you daughter not ten rows. It's not negativity but making assumptions about why seine doesn't want to move out of their seat is wrong.
Also you didn't say if you offered her the aisle or window seat you or your dd was assigned to. Maybe she would have taken that. It's on courtesy to offer someone a better position if they will be doing you a favor.

 

[bumbershoot]

You didn't say if you were on sw or another airline. If another airline why on earth would you take two seats not next to each other of you needed to be next to your child.

my 2 year daughter somehow had her seat moved away from ours

Also, legacy airlines change things around often. Or you might not even GET a seating assignment until you're at the airport. Happened to me and DS when using miles; 3 flights to get from Seattle to Anaheim (Santa Ana), and we had no assigned seats until we got there. And then the seats on one weren't anywhere near each other. He was 7 or 8 but he had never sat apart from us, and he had awful ear issues on landing AND had a hard time putting in his Earplanes on his own. But...we talked about it the whole time, after i booked and found that we had no seat assignments, that he might be alone, and what to do, and just everything we could think to talk about.

For that flight, the kindness of strangers got us one row apart from each other; would have been closer but the people I was seated with were dealing with a crippling fear of flying and the scared spouse simply could not move. All I had to offer to the ladies seated with DS was a window seat, which I figured they didn't care for or they would have offered to switch with me. No biggie, they were sweethearts to DS.

Thanks Debbie! Not sure where all of this negativity is coming from, I was just trying to help OP by sharing an experience I had.

Because you took a child who was 2 days out from having some sort of belly sickness onto a plane. My son got some awful stomach thing, and we waited a week to go home. I had NO interest in causing that illness in others, so we got another hotel night and we were lucky enough to be a few hours from my brother, and we called and begged for his help. If we hadn't been close enough to him we would have moved to a cheap motel and let him heal up. That's why people are negative, because you took a kid who was likely still shedding stomach virus onto a plane.

You made an assumption about the woman (and still are). Maybe she had and bad hip or back and it's painful to get up and down. So once she was down that was it. Maybe she had been move around the plane prior to you coming on.

Yep. And she's under no obligation to share her reasons, either. The couple dealing with fear mentioned above...they didn't have to tell me why they didn't want to move. The ladies who sat with DS didn't explain, and I didn't need them to.

My brother and his wife travel for work and love SW. They travel with noise cancelling headphones and put them on the SECOND they sit down on the plane. They only turn them on once it's allowed, but they put them on immediately. If someone kindly and sweetly with NO expectations and ONLY questions asked one of them (ASKED) if they might change seats, with lots of pleases and thank yous, they would, absolutely. Probably even if they were traveling for pleasure and together, they would likely move. (buying a mixed drink might be extra-nice for my brother, if it was an afternoon flight)

But if you approach them with entitlement and expectations and NO thank yous or pleases...if you came close to demanding it, especially because of children that you chose to have and keep? There is absolutely no way they would move. Not even an inch.

And IMO they are absolutely in the right.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have given up a seat, or at least offered to, on several occasions. The one time I refused was when a woman boarded just before the door closed...they kept it open for her! We were late in departing too boot. She had a young boy with her, her son I imagine. I saw them in the gate area 90 mins prior to departure...they were just up and down, walking around. We all boarded, they didn't. So, we are all seated, figuring the plane will pull away. Nope, this woman comes running up the jetway, child in tow. She wanted to sit up front, with her son. No one moved. The FA finally announced that the plane was not moving from the gate until someone moved in order to seat the woman with her son...anywhere on the plane. Finally someone did. Was that right? Nope. I'm sure that woman may have had her reasons but she inconvenienced an entire plane of people. I will not move in that situation.

I have flown with a child who had had a tummy upset several days prior to travel. I know my child. I know when to keep her off a plane.

Here's the thing.....checkin on time, get in your proper slot for boarding. Sit down. Don't expect anyone else to make your seating more to your liking!

 

[robndani]

You made an assumption about the woman (and still are). Maybe she had and bad hip or back and it's painful to get up and down. So once she was down that was it. Maybe she had been move around the plane prior to you coming on. You were one seat away from you daughter not ten rows. It's not negativity but making assumptions about why seine doesn't want to move out of their seat is wrong.
Also you didn't say if you offered her the aisle or window seat you or your dd was assigned to. Maybe she would have taken that. It's on courtesy to offer someone a better position if they will be doing you a favor.

But if you approach them with entitlement and expectations and NO thank yous or pleases...if you came close to demanding it, especially because of children that you chose to have and keep? There is absolutely no way they would move. Not even an inch.

And IMO they are absolutely in the right.

Now YOU are making assumptions about ME. It wasn't a stomach flu (it was due to an allergy). Of COURSE I offered to give her the aisle seat I had or the window seat my daughter had. That was my first solution. The second was offering her my husband's seat directly in front of where she was sitting.

You have NO idea how I asked or what type of person I am. Why would you assume I demanded it. Why would anyone DEMAND such a thing? You are also making assumptions that the woman might have had a medical problem. Maybe she did, but maybe she didn't.

I have never had to deal with something like this on these boards. I didn't realize I had to write an essay containing every single detail of the event. Next time I'll start with "It was a breezy day, much like today. My two year old was recovering from throwing up 3 times do to a citrus allergy..."

OP... I'm very sorry that your thread regarding sitting with your children on a plane has turned into something different. I hope everything works out for you and that you get to sit by your children!

Have a great trip!

 

[Donna M]

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