SW boarding position - panicking!

[biochemgirl]

Talk me down! I checked in to the minute at the 24 hour mark for a Wednesday morning flight out of Portland Oregon. There are only two of us flying and we are B-29 and B-33. I'm feeling completely panicked that I won't be able to sit with DS. I've never flown Southwest before and am hoping that I am wrong. Are people pretty friendly and accommodating to allow people traveling together to sit together?

 

[Minnesota!]

You should be fine, honestly. But, it looks by your avatar he is a little older? Even if you can't find seats right next to each other, you should be close. Just head straight to the back and grab whatever is open. There are still 90 or so people behind you, I believe, so, chances are good you will find seats together.

 

[biochemgirl]

You should be fine, honestly. But, it looks by your avatar he is a little older? Even if you can't find seats right next to each other, you should be close. Just head straight to the back and grab whatever is open. There are still 90 or so people behind you, I believe, so, chances are good you will find seats together.

Thank you for the encouragement. It is a four hour flight and we share food and all kinds of activities – electronics, games, etc. We even have a headphone splitter and watch movies together on our tablet. Not only is it a special kind of bonding to sit with our heads together watching a favorite movie on one tiny screen, but it’s practical

 

[Minnesota!]

Thank you for the encouragement. It is a four hour flight and we share food and all kinds of activities – electronics, games, etc. We even have a headphone splitter and watch movies together on our tablet. Not only is it a special kind of bonding to sit with our heads together watching a favorite movie on one tiny screen, but it’s practical

Oh, I agree It's usually me, my 2 kids, and DH. Last summer, though, I flew with just my youngest son (9 at the time), and it was SO nice just having that time together. Usually I am torn between the two, talking to DH, etc. But, it was just us, and it was pretty cool!

 

[Chip_Dale]

Traveling solo with a B29. When to the rear of the plane and there were empty rows to pick from.

 

[VillainFavs]

This happened to me last summer. Except we had B50-53!!! I totally panicked, but decided we'd just do the best we could. My kids are teenagers, but we still like sitting together! Usually it will be me and the two boys in one row and then my husband will either sit across the aisle or directly in front of or behind us.

As someone mentioned, we headed to the back of the plane and were able to get three seats together and another right in front of us! Granted there were only about 2-3 empty rows left behind us but that was okay. We don't really care where on the plane as long as we're together!

You'll be fine!

 

[tjmw2727]

You should be ok but honestly I would plan for the worst (and hope for the best!) as cliché as it sounds. I would seriously pack two separate backpacks with each of your snacks and entertainment just in case and have a plan.

When boarding look for any two seats together and just keep walking until you find them. Have a few alternatives in mind just in case, look for across the aisle from each other or one in back of the other perhaps.

You can also pay to upgrade your boarding position at the gate if sitting together is enough of a priority to warrant the price!

Good Luck!

 

[DVC-Don]

We've boarded with B47 & B49 and sat with friends who had B52 & B53. No issues.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

Talk me down! I checked in to the minute at the 24 hour mark for a Wednesday morning flight out of Portland Oregon. There are only two of us flying and we are B-29 and B-33. I'm feeling completely panicked that I won't be able to sit with DS. I've never flown Southwest before and am hoping that I am wrong. Are people pretty friendly and accommodating to allow people traveling together to sit together?

only problem I see would be if your plane is not overnighting at your airport. had one flight that was around 10 in the morning. had late A boarding and the plane was over half full when it arrived. everyone on pane when arrived where allowed to change seats before we started boarding. we did find seats together but we were in then back of plane. there were a lot of people complaining while we were in line that there must be a full plane as there were only A boarding group

 

[mousestruck]

You'll be absolutely fine! However, you'll probably need to proceed to the back of the plane to sit together.

 

[scrapquitler]

Talk me down! I checked in to the minute at the 24 hour mark for a Wednesday morning flight out of Portland Oregon. There are only two of us flying and we are B-29 and B-33. I'm feeling completely panicked that I won't be able to sit with DS. I've never flown Southwest before and am hoping that I am wrong. Are people pretty friendly and accommodating to allow people traveling together to sit together?

Head to the back of the plane, you should be fine. There are still a lot of people behind you.

 

[Momto2minniemice]

This is my biggest fear when I travel alone with my girls! Even though my oldest is a teenager (which is so sad) I do not like her sitting with strangers. If I ever travel alone I would move so a family can be together!

 

[Fangorn]

As others have said, you will be fine. Another Portlander here. SW Flights from Portland ,particularly morning flights, almost always originate in Portland, meaning there will not be any through passengers on the plane when boarding begins. Math is your friend here. With B29 and B33, you have, at most, 90 people in front of you. Most likely, there will only be 80 or so, since the full 15 slots allocated to Business Select are rarely all taken on flights out of Portland. SW planes are configured with 175 seats - typically 58 groups of 3 seats (there are some exceptions to this, but I haven't seen the older configurations out of Portland for quite awhile). So, worst case - and highly unlikely - every person before you is traveling alone and they all take only aisle or window seats. 80 people would fill 40 of the 58 groups of 3 seats, leaving you with at least 18 groups (or about 9 rows) available for you and your son. For every two people traveling together, and taking a middle seat, another row becomes available for you. It is virtually impossible for you to NOT to be able to get 2 seats together. Should there be some very unusual circumstance where there are not 2 seats together, let the Flight Attendant know. SW is typically very good about asking people to shift their seats to accommodate families.

Steve

 

[zoo2tycoon]

If it is important to sit with your family purchase EBCI! Expecting someone to be nice and move for you is selfish, especially if they purchased EBCI. I'm saying this in general to all who think of I don't need to buy someone will move for me. Nobody has to move for anyone, they can't force someone to move for you. If you want to sit by someone better chances by buying EBCI or fly airline and purchase seats. Everyone is on vacation and wants to sit by family.

 

[FCDub]

they can't force someone to move for you.

They absolutely can hold the flight until people switch if they feel the situation warrants that.

 

[bumbershoot]

They absolutely can hold the flight until people switch if they feel the situation warrants that.

Southwest has NO policy on saving seats. That means they won't cause it to happen and they won't stop it to happen.

 

[FCDub]

Southwest has NO policy on saving seats. That means they won't cause it to happen and they won't stop it to happen.

I never said anything to the contrary about a seat saving policy? I have definitely been on flights where the flight attendant has said they're not moving the plane until people move so a family can sit together.

This conversation isn't even about seat saving.

 

[FCDub]

OP, you guys will be just fine. You might have to head to the back of the plane, but you should have no problem finding seats together. Don't stress – this is vacation. Have a great trip!

 

[tjmw2727]

I never said anything to the contrary about a seat saving policy? I have definitely been on flights where the flight attendant has said they're not moving the plane until people move so a family can sit together.

This conversation isn't even about seat saving.

I fly SWA dozens of times a year and IME this is only in the case of a young child! They will do their best to place one parent next to a young child and will occasionally offer drink vouchers etc. to make it happen. If the OP's child is of school age I would not suggest relying on the FA to make someone move.

 

[n2mm]

If it is important to sit with your family purchase EBCI! Expecting someone to be nice and move for you is selfish, especially if they purchased EBCI. I'm saying this in general to all who think of I don't need to buy someone will move for me. Nobody has to move for anyone, they can't force someone to move for you. If you want to sit by someone better chances by buying EBCI or fly airline and purchase seats. Everyone is on vacation and wants to sit by family.

I absolutely agree. When I do fly SW I always buy ebci because I want my grandkids to sit with us. And if I pay the extra, I won't be moving for someone who didn't want to pay the extra. I know that sounds bad, but we all are given the same option. I fly out of bwi which is a big hub for SW, but I generally choose JetBlue. Op good luck, I hope it works out. Buying the ebci does help with the stress of boarding position.