SW boarding position - panicking!

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.

Well, yes. They're more likely to do it for young children than older ones. But the previous poster said no one can make you move, which isn't true.
 
You will be fine.

2 other considerations. Does the plane seat 143 or 176? The SW flights across the country I've been on lately have been the larger planes. Half of the folks will go on after you. Also, some of the flights have nobody in the A1-15 slots, meaning you may be 15 closer than thought.

I've also found that for family destinations like Orlando, folks tend to sit together. On flights to more business cities like DC or Chicago, folks like to sit apart.
 
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

Your calculations fail to account for the family boarding that takes place after the A boarding group. SW has raised the age for family boarding to include any families with a child 6 or younger. Especiallly traveling to Orlando, there will be several families in this group. So that could be quite a few more people boarding before the OP. That could add another 20 - 30 people boarding before her. And she won't know til those people line up. The OP's son does look to be a tween at least. The flight attendants will not likely ask anyone to move to accomodate a mom & tween. Their priority will be making sure younger kids are with a parent.

The previous poster's suggestion that the OP be prepared to not sit with her son is spot on. It will be great if they find seats together, but I would not count on other traverers to accomodate them. Also, the OP will probably have the option to purchase a business select slot prior to boarding for $45 each. If sitting together is really that important, she may have to pay up.
 
You ll likely b just fine OP!
For future, do the auto ck in and take the worry away!
Safe travels n enjoy!!
 


Your calculations fail to account for the family boarding that takes place after the A boarding group. SW has raised the age for family boarding to include any families with a child 6 or younger. Especiallly traveling to Orlando, there will be several families in this group. So that could be quite a few more people boarding before the OP. That could add another 20 - 30 people boarding before her... .

I fully understand the family boarding part of the equation. And I get where you're coming from. It is just not a significant factor in the PDX-MCO market, though. There are no direct SW flights from PDX to MCO, and frankly, there just aren't that many families traveling to Orlando from here (Disneyland is a bit more than a 2 hour flight, Orlando is closer to 8 hours with a change of planes). A few times, I've been on PDX-MCO flights with 1 stop but no change of plans (not common). Total number of through passengers less than 10 every time. I've never been on a flight out of PDX to MCO with more than 6 people in the family boarding line. But even if there were an additional 20 people in family boarding, that doesn't change the outcome for the OP - instead of there being a minimum of 9 empty rows, there would still be 5 or 6 empty rows at the time the OP boards. And that's worst case.

I recognize that in other markets there may be (probably are) other factors involved and that family boarding can be one of those, but from PDX, it's just really not significant.

Steve
 
There are direct flights now from PDX to MCO. Maybe they are new???? When I click on the direct filter (No plane change, with stops) there are flights that come up.


Hey, you're right. Alaska is flying that route. Could have sworn they weren't last year. Seems pretty expensive though...
 


Hey, you're right. Alaska is flying that route. Could have sworn they weren't last year. Seems pretty expensive though...

Alaska is flying the route non-stop, but other airlines like Southwest are flying it direct. Always worth more to fly non-stop. Even with direct you can be delayed if there is a problem at the city you stop at along the way to your final destination.
 
Alaska is flying the route non-stop, but other airlines like Southwest are flying it direct. Always worth more to fly non-stop. Even with direct you can be delayed if there is a problem at the city you stop at along the way to your final destination.

It's worth more in that sense, but I meant I found the price expensive in that I've found much lower nonstop tickets out of SEA. I'm always trying to fly nonstop out of PDX (traffic is less awful) but either the price difference is signicant or the flight lengths are cruel and unusual.:rotfl:
 
If you are thinking of seeing if someone will move to accommodate you, keep in mind that you don't always know why a person is in a particular seat. I will pay extra if necessary in order to get an aisle seat. I'm claustrophobic and get motion sick. If I'm on your flight, you do not want me in a middle or window seat! Just because I'm by myself doesn't mean that I should give up my seat for someone else. Same thing could happen with two adults, or an adult and a teen - one might need extra help from the other, and you wouldn't be aware of it. (Not that anyone here said people should give up their seat, or be asked to give up their seat. I'm just adding a different perspective.)
 
Another, not so popular, viewpoint. I too will not give up my seat.
We all have the option to pay for ECBI. If you choose not to do that, then want me to move for you, I do not feel that is right.
Sorry, but if I pay for ECBI to be able to sit where I need to, I am not moving.
 
Southwest has NO policy on saving seats. That means they won't cause it to happen and they won't stop it to happen.

They can still hold the flight until people move. They will offer free drinks and stuff.

I have only seen it happen once, when someone with a child in an infant seat had a delayed connection. They were last to board and infant seats MUST by law be at the window with a guardian in the middle.

However I have also seen them refuse to do that for a 7 year old to sit with her mom even with mom complaining. So if its not a legal requirement for them to get someonen to accomodate no guarentee that they will.
 
We flew SW last year with a group of 12. Most of our party was in the C boarding and we were still able to sit together. We just went to the back few rows and there were plenty of seats. It was my first time flying SW and I wasn't sure of the system, but I really liked it. Some of the best flight attendants we have ever had, they were funny!!
 
I agree with PPs that you should be fine. But as an alternative option, you could check with the gate when you arrive to see if any Business Select boarding positions are open and for sale. Those are the A1-15 boarding positions. If not all of them are in use, you can upgrade your boarding position to one of these for a price. Last time I did it, I was in the high C's because I did not check in on time but I was able to upgrade to an A7 position at the gate for $30. Work was paying for it so the cost was fine by me, not sure if it'd be worth it to someone out of their own pocket though. Good luck!
 
Another, not so popular, viewpoint. I too will not give up my seat.
We all have the option to pay for ECBI. If you choose not to do that, then want me to move for you, I do not feel that is right.
Sorry, but if I pay for ECBI to be able to sit where I need to, I am not moving.

Except, EBCI does not guarantee you a seat. It just increases your chances of a good boarding position. SW doesn't stop selling EBCI, so everyone could have bought it on the flight. Will you give up your seat for a three year old whose parents did buy EBCI but just got a crappy boarding position? I mean, your argument is that you paid for it, they didn't, so you are entitled to not move. But if they paid, how do you feel then?

You know, sometimes, I get on the subway and I was there first, so therefore I totally deserve my seat. But then an old man gets on and I give up my seat so he can sit. Because, you know, we're all on this planet together. And what I feel I deserve isn't always the right thing to do. YMMV, of course.
 
Except, EBCI does not guarantee you a seat. It just increases your chances of a good boarding position. SW doesn't stop selling EBCI, so everyone could have bought it on the flight. Will you give up your seat for a three year old whose parents did buy EBCI but just got a crappy boarding position? I mean, your argument is that you paid for it, they didn't, so you are entitled to not move. But if they paid, how do you feel then?

True, you are not paying for a specific seat, but you ARE paying for the advantage of getting on early and being able to choose your seat. I've not heard of someone having EBCI and getting a crappy boarding position to the point where they need to separate from their traveling partner, so the scenario seems unlikely, but in the case you describe, mom can go sit with the 3 year old while dad sits alone. Or better yet, they can board with family boarding between the A and B groups. Problem solved.

A family's lack of planning (in your example) shouldn't affect fellow passengers. If they aren't comfortable with splitting up their party and want a guarantee, they can book another airline, book business select, or book an Anytime fare with EBCI which I believe puts them ahead of the Wanna Get Away fares with EBCI. They can also buy their plane tickets early with EBCI, because I believe the Wanna Get Away fares are checked in in the order by which they made their purchase.
 
If you are thinking of seeing if someone will move to accommodate you, keep in mind that you don't always know why a person is in a particular seat. I will pay extra if necessary in order to get an aisle seat. I'm claustrophobic and get motion sick. If I'm on your flight, you do not want me in a middle or window seat! Just because I'm by myself doesn't mean that I should give up my seat for someone else. Same thing could happen with two adults, or an adult and a teen - one might need extra help from the other, and you wouldn't be aware of it. (Not that anyone here said people should give up their seat, or be asked to give up their seat. I'm just adding a different perspective.)
This is my exact issue and I have bad enough anxiety that I use medication to be able to fly. I pay for my whole family to have EBCI so we can sit towards the front and be together. I also only fly Southwest when we get a good price on opening day or shortly after, so I know I've gotten EBCI before most .I'm not going to move, and I don't have to disclose a mental health issue to someone to get them to understand that. It's important to me, so I pay for it. And I suggest to anyone else.. if it's important, it's worth the extra cost.

Most of the time these days we just fly another carrier where we know we can select a seat. Saves so much worry over nothing.
 
Except, EBCI does not guarantee you a seat. It just increases your chances of a good boarding position. SW doesn't stop selling EBCI, so everyone could have bought it on the flight. Will you give up your seat for a three year old whose parents did buy EBCI but just got a crappy boarding position? I mean, your argument is that you paid for it, they didn't, so you are entitled to not move. But if they paid, how do you feel then.

This example doesn't make a ton of sense. The family with the 3 year old can use family boarding. I can't imagine that there would ever be a scenario that there aren't, at minimum, 2 seats together during family boarding.
 
Except, EBCI does not guarantee you a seat. It just increases your chances of a good boarding position. SW doesn't stop selling EBCI, so everyone could have bought it on the flight. Will you give up your seat for a three year old whose parents did buy EBCI but just got a crappy boarding position? I mean, your argument is that you paid for it, they didn't, so you are entitled to not move. But if they paid, how do you feel then?

You know, sometimes, I get on the subway and I was there first, so therefore I totally deserve my seat. But then an old man gets on and I give up my seat so he can sit. Because, you know, we're all on this planet together. And what I feel I deserve isn't always the right thing to do. YMMV, of course.

If you look at my post that you quoted, you will see that I stated I pay for EBCI so that I can have the seat that I NEED. And I have no intention of discussing my needs any more than to say I have a medical condition.
The fact that EBCI does not guarantee a seat is why I seldom fly SW. I usually fly Jet Blue.
But no, I am not giving up the seat I need for a mother and her 3 year old.
 

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