SW ? when flying with 7 &13 y.o.

[shannon006]

We have always flown Airtran and have been very happy being able to purchase our seat location. Now that Airtran will be no more, as the merge is almost complete it looks like I need to figure out the whole seating thing so we can use our Airtran credits to convert into SW points.

I have looked at the SW site, but it looks like we are not eligible for family boarding due to our childrens ages. Can someone please explain to me how the seating works? I understand not everyone will agree with me, but there is no way I am allowing my 7 year old to sit by a complete stranger for a 2 1/2 hour flight. Not only that, but this is a family vacation, and we do want to sit together on the flight

Thanks

 

[DVC-Don]

There is always airlines that let you book a particular seat.

 

[amomma23]

Check out the "boarding school" pages on the Southwest website. They explain it better than I will. In a nutshell... when you check in, you are assigned a spot in line to board. You can check in 24 hours before the flight. You are given your spot based on the order you check in, so the sooner the better. When it's your turn, you sit anywhere you want. You can pay $12.50/person to have SW check you in before the general public can check in. This generally ups your odds at having your choice of seats.
All that said...gather the necessary info and then don't worry about it. We are a family of 5 with kids 11, 7, and 5. We always fly SW and always sit 3 and 2 across. I also am not comfortable being split up, even for a short flight. It scarey because it's different, but it works.

 

[Gracie09]

Go to south wears website. Click on boarding school. It will explain everything you ever wanted to know about boarding. Purchase ebci.

 

[Mkrop]

Instead of a seat assignment, you are given a boarding number. This determines in what order you will board the plane. A1 will board first and so on. When you receive this seat assignment is up to you. You can have SW check you in at the 36 hour mark (the time before your flight) for $12.50, this is referred to as Early Bird Check In (EBCI). Or you can check in yourself at the 24 hour mark. Obviously if you purchase the EBCI you will be checked in before others so if you want to sit with your family than I would purchase the EBCI. It is also nice for the trip home bc you dont have to worry about logging onto your phone or a computer.


So let's say you buy the EBCI, and you get boarding A36. When they call for the A passengers to line up there are poles, you line up next to your number and board in order. You then can pick whatever open seats are on the plane.

Now Jane did not buy EBCI, and she got B4 at the 24 hr mark. She is noe behind you and family boarding so when she gets on there are less choices of seats but still not bad.

Now John forgets to check in and gets C4. He may end up with one of the middle seats that no one wants.

Hope that helps

 

[Hannathy]

Then maybe you shouldn't fly because no seat location is 100% guaranteed on any airline and maybe you especially shouldn't fly SW.

If you feel that strongly you should buy the early boarding and then you have a better chance of getting on early enough to find 2 seats together.

You pick your own seats on SW and the first on the plane of course get first choice. With Early Boarding you have a very good chance of getting at least 2 seats together but it can never be guaranteed.

I have flown with my children and been split up many times. It really isn't a big of a deal you are all on the same plane going to the same place at the same time.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have flown with my children and been split up many times. It really isn't a big of a deal you are all on the same plane going to the same place at the same time.

Whereas the only time I've been sat apart from my family is on United. (though before I had a family I had my seat moved around umpteen times on the old-school airlines, which is why I started flying SW in the first place! though I have since moved away from SW again)

On SW we've checked in exactly 24 hours out, got on the plane, chose our seats, easypeasy.

 

[suffieldhockeymom]

I've never had a problem sitting together, even when it was 7 of us last summer. Checking in at 24 hour mark is important. You will need to sit 2x2 or 3 in one side of the isle and 1 on the other.

 

[disneyag]

Best option--Purchase EBCI for $12.50 for each family member.

2nd best option--Check in at EXACTLY 24 hours prior to your flight. There is a good chance you will get in the "B" boarding group. You might have to split up as 2 and 2, but your 7 yo won't be alone. We have had high B numbers (40+) and still managed to get 2 or 3 of us sitting together.

If you get a "C" boarding pass, you MIGHT find someone who will switch one seat with you to sit by your 7 yo, but don't count on it.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

beside the EBCI I would look at first flight of day where plane overnights at airport. a plane coming from somewhere else will have people staying on plane, possibily even enough that an A boarding will not mean you can sit together. anyone staying on plane will have first choice of seats

 

[MillauFr]

Even if you purchase early boarding it does nothing for you if you have a connecting flight that is running late. What if you get to the gate after all of the C people board???

 

[SquirmansWife]

I'm with you- I wouldn't want my 6 year old (even at 7) sitting without one of us either. We flew SW last year and bought the Early Bird Check-In. For $100 total it gave me some peace of mind. It went well and we all sat together (across the aisle since there are 4 of us). No issues at all. Plus it was nice not to have to worry about checking in while we were at the park the day prior to our flight home.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Then maybe you shouldn't fly because no seat location is 100% guaranteed on any airline and maybe you especially shouldn't fly SW.

If you feel that strongly you should buy the early boarding and then you have a better chance of getting on early enough to find 2 seats together.

You pick your own seats on SW and the first on the plane of course get first choice. With Early Boarding you have a very good chance of getting at least 2 seats together but it can never be guaranteed.

......

Good advice, but you are confusing EBCI with early boarding, which it is not.

 

[Hannathy]

Good advice, but you are confusing EBCI with early boarding, which it is not.

Actually I wasn't in my mind, just to lazy to Type the letters with all Caps that I needed to say EBCI -whoops didn't mean to cause confusion with my laziness!

I was talking about buying ECBI! But truly any time you fly you can be separated. It is always best to have the child carry their own bag of entertainment for the plane and keep it with them under the seat. Children school age and above aren't going to garnish much sympathy with either passengers or the flight crew if you are trying to get people to move since children that age can fly alone and most figure if they can go to school and be on their own for 6 hours or more they can handle sitting on a plane for a couple.

 

[robhawk]

EBCI has never separated us in our 10+ flights. Good luck!

 

[kristenrice]

Our girls will be 9 and 11 when we fly in October. Our flight leaves at 6:50am so I am fairly certain that it is not a connecting flight and it will be empty when we board. I have to work the day before (at 7am) so it will be no problem for me to get to work a few minutes early and check us all in at the 24-hour mark. Even if we end up in the low B's (doubtful), we should still have no problems getting 2 sets of 2 seats together somewhere in the plane. We're all pretty easygoing so we will sit wherever we can find two seats together.

We are flying on points ($20 total for 4 R/T tickets) and I am not interested in paying another $100 for the EBCI. I don't think that there is any tangible benefit in our situation. If I knew that we wouldn't be able to check in at T-24 and that we had a good chance of getting "C" boarding, then I would consider it. The way I figure it, there are enough seats on the plane that if *EVERYONE* in the A and B groups took ALL of the window and aisle seats, then, only the middle seats would be available for the "C" group. Obviously, that is not going to happen. We plan to sit either window/middle or middle/aisle so I'm fairly confident that even if we are in the "B" group, we won't have any problems.

We are flying out of a small airport (FNT) so I think that may be an advantage as well. When DH and I flew out of GRR last November, there were a LOT of folks that had no idea how the boarding worked. Many of them had checked in AT THE AIRPORT and still squeaked in into the B group. It's funny because I checked us in about 20 minutes into the 24-hour window and we got A22 and A24 (I lost internet between the two and someone squeaked in between us). For our return, DH and I logged in to the app while we stood underneath Spaceship Earth. We checked in at exactly the 24 hour mark and we got B11 and B12. We sat window/middle in the 12th row on our flight down and we sat middle/aisle in row 2 on the way home. Obviously, our boarding location had no impact on our location in the plane. We just decided that we will sit in the first set of two open seats that we come across. We saw quite a few folks sitting in the middle seats and "spreading out" until the remainder of their group boarded. I didn't let it bother me...we got on the plane, we had seats and we made it to our destination....that's all that matters.

In October, our girls have been told the same thing...board the plane and sit where you want, as long as mom or dad can sit next to you.

 

[puffkin]

We have flown Southwest 2-3 times a year as a family and have never not gotten seats together. We never pay for the EBCI. I really wouldn't worry about it. Just check in at 24 hours (super easy to do from your phone or computer, takes 2 seconds). Even a few weeks ago, we got C passes (coming back from a cruise and my mom forgot to check us in) and still managed to get seats together. Yes there is a slight chance, but that is with any airline. You should have no problems at least sitting 2 and 2.

Ironically, the only time I have ever been split up with my family was with Airtran and Delta with assigned seats. On Airtran, it was back when they assigned seats at check in. I couldn't pre check in because I had a lap baby that trip and had to do it at the counter. Because we were all on the same reservation, our whole party got split up with whatever seats were left. I was furious and learned never to list the baby on a reservation until you get ot the airport. On Delta, it was just my husband and I and the flight was over sold. When we got to the gate, they had moved our seats and we were no longer together. They were "accomodating A-List (whatever their term was for their frequent flyers) requests to sit together" so we got moved. Nice, right Everyone always freaks out about Southwest and they are the only airline I have never had an issue with (and we fly a lot)

 

[bdoyledimou]

i feel bad for the person who is going to be sitting beside my 8 year old daughter she will talk their ear off, kick them and spill her juice on them.

 

[Gracie09]

i feel bad for the person who is going to be sitting beside my 8 year old daughter she will talk their ear off, kick them and spill her juice on them.

You see this attitude doesn't help anything and annoys me. The person sitting next to your daughter did nothing wrong. You had options and if you choose to not exercise those options to try and save a dollar that's on you. An eight year old should be able to behave and not spill her drink on someone for a few hours. I assume she does as much while at school. If not, again that's on you as a parent. You and your child are no more important than any other person on that plane.
If I was next to your child I would have my headphones or ear plugs in and either sleep or listen to my music and read my book. So her talking wouldn't bother me. As for spilling juice on me I would ask the flight attendant to find her parent and get your address so I can send you my dry cleaning bill.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You see this attitude doesn't help anything and annoys me. The person sitting next to your daughter did nothing wrong. You had options and if you choose to not exercise those options to try and save a dollar that's on you. An eight year old should be able to behave and not spill her drink on someone for a few hours. I assume she does as much while at school. If not, again that's on you as a parent. You and your child are no more important than any other person on that plane.
If I was next to your child I would have my headphones or ear plugs in and either sleep or listen to my music and read my book. So her talking wouldn't bother me. As for spilling juice on me I would ask the flight attendant to find her parent and get your address so I can send you my dry cleaning bill.

It's so tiresome to see parents with this attitude - you'll find comments like this every time the issue of seating with children is discussed on every internet travel board. Pretty sad a normal 8 year old would behave so poorly. That's the fault of the parents.