SWA--adding infant? ECV ?

[tmli]

Two questions....do we have to add infant to a reservation prior to arrival at airport or can it be done at airport?

Secondly, my mom will be travelling with her personal ECV for the first time....do we have to notify SWA? Does she just drive it to the gate and they take it from there like her manual chair? Do we need to dismantle any part of it?

 

[tmli]

anybody?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Yes, you HAVE to inform Southwest of ALL passengers. If you don't tell them about the infant until you get to the airport, he/she may not be allowed to board.

Check Southwest's website for information about wheelchairs/ECVs.

 

[dunbarfamily]

I've never used SWA, that being said, I would call and inform them of baby BEFORE you get to the airport. No sense in waiting until the last minute. I shudder at thinking of all the things that could go wrong. What would happen if you were denied boarding??? Yikes!!

Sorry, no advice on ECV. Maybe check out the DisABILITIES forum.


I just read your sig! Congrats on your upcoming wedding! Enjoy!

 

[dsneygirl]

Two questions....do we have to add infant to a reservation prior to arrival at airport or can it be done at airport?

We've flown SW 4 times this past year with our DS as a lap baby and did not inform them until we got to the airport. DH books the tickets and he said online there is no where to include an infant's information.

When you check in at BUF they will ask for a birth certificate for the baby and put their information on your boarding pass.

 

[strmtroopr96]

We've flown SW 4 times this past year with our DS as a lap baby and did not inform them until we got to the airport. DH books the tickets and he said online there is no where to include an infant's information.

When you check in at BUF they will ask for a birth certificate for the baby and put their information on your boarding pass.

I agree. We flew last September with a 3 month old and didn't let Southwest know ahead of time. We booked our flights online as well. Once at ALB, they didn't even ask for her birth certificate (she was obviously under 2 years old) but they did ask for it on our return flight out of MCO.

We got a special ticket for her and handed that along with our Boarding Passes. We will be flying again in just a month with an almost 15 month old and plan on doing things the same way. HTH Have a great trip!

 

[tmli]

Thanks everyone. As you can see from the signature I am getting down to the wire!

 

[clkelley]

As far as the ECV, I would call them. It makes it easier if the airport personnel know in advance.

When you arrive at the gate area, go to the agent there, and they will give you instructions. The biggest thing of concern is are her batteries sealed gel cell batteries. If so, no worries. If they are liquid batteries, then they will need to be specially boxed to travel, and that will need to be done at the ticket counter. We fly SW with hubby's ECV all the time and it really is very easy.

 

[Hannathy]

I'm a bit confused why you wouldn't just call SW and have the infant added? It won't cost anything so why not just do it? There probably won't be a problem but what if there is? What if for some reason 50 other people decide to fly with infants and there aren't enough Oxygen masks for your child. This just seems to be a duh thing thing to me. Call.

 

[strmtroopr96]

I'm a bit confused why you wouldn't just call SW and have the infant added? It won't cost anything so why not just do it? There probably won't be a problem but what if there is? What if for some reason 50 other people decide to fly with infants and there aren't enough Oxygen masks for your child. This just seems to be a duh thing thing to me. Call.

I don't think they are going to stop selling seats because there may be lap babies on board. There is going to be the same # of oxygen masks regardless.

If Southwest wanted passengers to provide info on Lap Babies ahead of time, then they would have that as their policy. I don't see that they do.

I always book our flights online and don't even have to deal with an actual person until the morning of my flight so I am not going to worry about making a phone call that is not needed.

 

[Hannathy]

There is only 1 extra mask per row so there can only be 1 infant per row. Yes the chance that there is an infant in each row is slim but I still don't understand the big deal with calling. But yes there is a predetermined number of lap babies per flight for your information.

 

[mommy2paris]

After reading this thread, I called Southwest to find out, since we are also flying with a lap baby, and there was no where to put her on the reservation. The lady that I spoke to on the phone said it is not a necessity, but that they like to have the information ahead of time. She added our dd, and wanted to know who she would be sitting with, and when the conversation was over, I received a new confirmation email, that showed my dh's name along with something like "plus lap infant". So, it wouldn't hurt to call, just to be on the safe side.
She did tell us that curbside check in is able to do our age verification, and give us the special boarding pass for baby, and we can do everything there, without getting in the big line. I did not realize that before.
Hope this helps.