SW online check-in at WDW???

[hannahon]

We have never flown Southwest before, so I am new to not having assigned seats. Since we have young children, I want to make sure we check in 24 hours ahead to get a better group. That will be no problem on our way to WDW, but how do I do this at WDW??? Are there computers at the resorts or parks that you can use to do this????

 

[ILoveMyGirls]

do you have a laptop you can bring with you? we brought our laptop with us and checked in but could not print out our boarding passes so we had to get in line to get them.

how young are your kiddos? if they are not under a certain age (i think it is 3 or 4) you will have to get in your assigned section to board the plane, otherwise, they will let you board earlier.

 

[goofy4tink]

First of all, you check in at the 24 hr window, not 23..that will make a huge difference. You can go to Guest Services at a park and they should be able to check you in. Or you can just buy Early Bird Checkin and let SW check you in at the 36 hr window..then you have to do nothing.
The way SW boards is this...
medical preboards and minors flying alone board first. Then business select people board in the A1-15 slots...followed by the rest of the A group. Then, anyone flying with an under 3 y/o child is allowed to board, regardless of boarding pass grouping, in between the A and the B groups. But, they may allow only one parent to board with that child....if there are a lot of families boarding in this group, they tend to stick to the rule of one parent for each child under 4...so your group may very well be split up. Then, after those people board, those with the B grouping will board, followed by the C group.

I like to get the EBCI for my flight out of MCO...that way I don't have to worry about finding someplace to checkin for the flight...I can forget about it and have fun on my last day.

 

[marshwiggle]

You can stop by the concierge in any of the hotels and have them check-in for you. Guest Services in the parks might do this too, but I've never tried that.

 

[Harvestmooner]

We went to Epcot's guest services and they set us up in a room with a computer and were great about it!!

 

[tjmw2727]

Lots of options,

Guest services at the parks and resorts will check you in or let you check yourself in.

Web enabled cell phone - check in and re-print boarding passes later.

Trusted friend or family member at home - they can check you in and then you can re-print boarding passes later.

Purchase EBCI, $10 per person and SWA will automaticly check you in at T36 instead of T24.

Family boarding is available between the A and B groups for familes with children 4 and under. Most times it is the immediate family, no aunts uncles grannies and occasionally it is limited to one adult per eligible child.

 

[Donut23]

I vote for the Early Bird......at least for the return flight.

This way there is absolutely no worry. With the BIRD, Southwest will automatically check you in 36 hours ahead......before everyone else checks in at the 24 hour mark.

It absolutely eliminates stress for your return flight. You can play your last day without facing the reality of returning home or planning to be near a computer at the 24 hour mark.

You will not need to print your boarding pass.....you can do that at the airport when you arrive for your flight.


DH and I always do the BIRD for each flight. For us, it's more than worth the convenience.

$10 p/psn - each way (though you can purchase only for your return flight)

 

[hannahon]

Thanks everyone!!! I had a typo when I put 23, knew that it is 24 hours. Sounds like we do have some options, but I may look into the early bird thing. My youngest is 3, but don't know if I want to take the chance of only one of us being able to board with her. Now that I know my options, we can figure it out, thanks!!!

 

[ILoveMyGirls]

when our kiddos were 3 and under they would let all of us board together, that makes four of us. i think they just don't want 14 boarding just because of one kiddo.

 

[singitalto]

As far as printing the return home boarding passes,If you are staying at a Disney resort, We received the boarding passes in our RAC packet that was hanging on the door knob the morning of checkout.

 

[kaytieeldr]

when our kiddos were 3 and under they would let all of us board together, that makes four of us. i think they just don't want 14 boarding just because of one kiddo.

That's exactly the issue It doesn't take six or nine or fourteen adults spanning two, three, or four generations to get one child situated before the bulk of the passengers board Of course, delaying Family Boarding until after the A group alleviated some of this as well.

 

[goofy4tink]

when our kiddos were 3 and under they would let all of us board together, that makes four of us. i think they just don't want 14 boarding just because of one kiddo.

And that is what happens most of the time. BUT...if there are a lot of families that are boarding with young kids, in between the A and B group, then they will enforce the one parent/one child rule. It's always best to plan for the worst case scenario..then be happy when it doesn't happen that way.

It's very hard to tell a family of 8 that they can't all board together with just the one child under 4, while they just watched other families of more than 2 boarding together. It's kinda hard to say 'Well the rule is one parent/one child but they only had 2 addtl people, so we let them all go together. You just have way too many people over the allowable limit'.

 

[ILoveMyGirls]

as you must know this kind of stuff happens a lot in our world, life isn't always fair.

And that is what happens most of the time. BUT...if there are a lot of families that are boarding with young kids, in between the A and B group, then they will enforce the one parent/one child rule. It's always best to plan for the worst case scenario..then be happy when it doesn't happen that way.

It's very hard to tell a family of 8 that they can't all board together with just the one child under 4, while they just watched other families of more than 2 boarding together. It's kinda hard to say 'Well the rule is one parent/one child but they only had 2 addtl people, so we let them all go together. You just have way too many people over the allowable limit'.

 

[ILoveMyGirls]

that's a great feature. when we stayed on-site at Disney, don't rem. which hotel, they did not do that for us.

we stay off-site now due to being more comfortable in a 2-bedroom condo due to my disabilities so we have to get them at the airport unfortunately.

As far as printing the return home boarding passes,If you are staying at a Disney resort, We received the boarding passes in our RAC packet that was hanging on the door knob the morning of checkout.

 

[Jestocost]

As far as printing the return home boarding passes,If you are staying at a Disney resort, We received the boarding passes in our RAC packet that was hanging on the door knob the morning of checkout.

It's the checking-in part, not the printing-out part, that's important. If you have the front desk at your resort or a CM in the guest services locations do your check in they will print out your BPs for you if you would like.

SOME passengers report getting their BPs with their RAC package, but that doesn't seem to happen all of the time. Some theorize that passengers with morning flights get their BPs in advance and those with afternoon/evening flights do not, but it doesn't appear to be terribly consistent. I will say that we have flown out on evening flights and have never received our BPs the day before (which makes sense since they probably have to get the packets together before T24 in many of those cases).

If you use the RAC desk they will print your BPs then and you will get the same boarding number that was assigned through EBCI or when you checked in. You also can get your BPs at an airport kiosk (no need to wait in line if that's all you need), at curbside check in or at a one of the main check-in lines. You would be well advised to avoid the latter unless it's absolutely necessary.