SW Preboard Policy?

[Bowen9475]

What is the policy regarding preboarding for a family with a 3 year old and 2 older children - 6 and 9? Can the entire family of 5 preboard or just the 3 year old and 1 parent with the carseat? We are flying out of Hartford and into Orlando. Thanks!

 

[MEG&MINNIE]

As far as I know , I think the whole family can board. We flew SWA when we went in August and I'm sure I saw entire families waiting to pre board. Have a great trip... Happy Planning,from another Central Ma. Diser !!!

 

[GoldenAfternoon]

Hi there! We are just down the road from you in Worcester. My mother and I traveled on Southwest from Hartford to Orlando with our 3 year old "princess" and we all preboarded without a problem. You can always call the airline directly if you want a more official answer, in reguards to their preboarding policy. Have fun!

 

[inkkognito]

It all depends on the make-up of the crowd. I have seen them be VERY strict in Orlando when the pre-board line is long (sometimes it's as long as a lettered line!). But on my last flight, which was barely half full and only had three pre-boarding families, they were more lenient.
Barb

 

[goofy4tink]

We flew out of TFGreen in August and it seemed that everyone in the entire family...aunts, uncles, grandma, gramps plus the mom, dad, 3 kids over 6 all got to preboard with the one kid that was under 5. It did seem that they were a bit more picky in Orlando though. I really think that it should just be the mom, dad and kids. And hi to all of you in the central Ma area!! Sure is nice to have so many airports to chose from isn't it?

 

[cjsmom5]

Typically they let the entire family board. One flight attendent put it this way, "once they get on the plane they will save the seats, anyways ... so whether they board with the others or not won't usually make a difference in what seats are available.

At Orlando they are a bit pickier. But, my mom pre-boards due to a medical condition and they told all of us we should board with her. We weren't going to do so but did when they insisted. We had A boarding cards anyways, and as they said, she would just save us seats.

 

[inkkognito]

In theory they can save seats, but in practice, if someone doesn't like the fact that two or three people are saving seats for their entire family tree, there's nothing to stop them from sitting in a "saved" seat.
Barb

 

[Snoozan]

When flying in September from BDL to MCO on Southwest, the gate attendents announced on both ends that parents and children could pre-board, but not grandparents and other extended family members. I saw a few unhappy grandparents have to get to the back of the lines. I'm sure, though, they got their seats saved for them anyways.

 

[4greatboys]

My dh and I usually preboard with out little ones and my teens just board with their boarding passes. Though we save a place for them anyway so it doesnt really matter.
I did have an attendant ask me one to preboard alone with my 2 small children and I said no dh needs to board with us as well. This was back when my 2 yr old was a little harder to deal to with with. Now that he is older he is much better.

 

[madge]

our entire family of 5 was eligible for preboarding last week--in Orlando, there was an announcement made that said only immediate families could preboard together., they specifically mentioned that grandparents, aunts, unlces, cousins, etc must wait until their boarding pass letter came up to be seated.

The flight was not full.

 

[DawnS]

We were a group of 9 adults and 7 children, two of whom were under 4 and we had no problem preboarding our entire group out of indy on the 30th of sept. The flight only had 83 people on board and almost everyone had an A pass anyway.

 

[stm61]

we fly out of Orlando 9/17 and they made the same announcement, numerous times. I preboarded with my dd's and had my ds12 wait in line with my mother. No big deal, we saved seats and I don't think any sane person would of sat with my group anyway. There was another extended family group who were in line in front of us. Mom, dad, grandma, adult aunts, 1 infant, 1 child about 6 who might have been special needs but walked all over the airport with grandma so not physically challenged. This group totally ignored the announcements and decided they were entitled to preboard everyone, regardless of what the flt attendants asked. They managed to grab the 1st 3 rows on both sides of the aisle by sitting on the aisle and telling everyone they had other family members waiting in line. Flt attendents were not happy to say the least. The parents sat in the first row with the older kid and passed the infant around.

The flt was about half full, that might have been why they didn't insist on their policy being followed. Still it was quite an inconvience for the entire rest of the flt to have to follow this group on, stand there waiting while they filled up the overhead bins and argued about where to put the stroller, and then discover that, while mom and dad were sitting together, the other 5 adults had a row to themselves.