Thinking about giving *gulp* SW a try - questions.

[Anjelica]

Ok - I kind of like the new boarding rules they came out with on November 8th. It seems like you don't have to wake up at BAC of dawn (butt a** crack of dawn) just to get into line only to have tons of families and their 2nd cousin's wife's daughter's son join them.

Here are my questions:

1 - I can print the boarding pass out 24 hours prior to my departure time - if say I am 5 or 10 minutes later than the exact 24 hour departure time what are the chances of NOT getting an A boarding pass?

2 - In May, there will be 4 of us traveling but will only require 3 seats. It will be my husband, daughter (4 at time of trip), son (18 months at time of trip) and then myself. Will we three be allowed to pre-board between the A and B boarding groups? I read it is one adult per one child under the age of 5 - so does that mean my husband, I and the two children will be allowed to board?

3 - How good has SW been on the enforcement of 1 adult per 1 child pre-boarding rule? I hope it has been more stringent, etc. but am curious since they implemented the new boarding procedures.

4 - Opinions on those that have recently used the new boarding procedures. How has it been?

5 - I am pretty sure I can still use ME with both inbound/outbound flights for Southwest airlines - how has that been for folks?

6 - If a lower fare price comes out for the days I am traveling can I transfer to a new flight time, etc. and/or can I get a "voucher" for the price difference (this is mainly in regards to dings)?

Thanks in advance,
Anjelica

 

[Tara]

1 - I can print the boarding pass out 24 hours prior to my departure time - if say I am 5 or 10 minutes later than the exact 24 hour departure time what are the chances of NOT getting an A boarding pass?

You could get lucky and still be in the A group, but those spots can go within minutes, so be on time if at all possible.

5 - I am pretty sure I can still use ME with both inbound/outbound flights for Southwest airlines - how has that been for folks?

Yes, you can still use ME, you just can't use the luggage checking service at the hotel before you leave for the airport.

6 - If a lower fare price comes out for the days I am traveling can I transfer to a new flight time, etc. and/or can I get a "voucher" for the price difference (this is mainly in regards to dings)?

Depends on what type of fare you purchase. If you buy a Wanna Get Away fare, then you will get a credit for the difference, good for one year from date of original purchase. If you get a Business or Business Select fare, you will be refunded the difference in the same method originally paid.

 

[Vijoge]

Ok - I kind of like the new boarding rules they came out with on November 8th. It seems like you don't have to wake up at BAC of dawn (butt a** crack of dawn) just to get into line only to have tons of families and their 2nd cousin's wife's daughter's son join them.

Here are my questions:

2 - In May, there will be 4 of us traveling but will only require 3 seats. It will be my husband, daughter (4 at time of trip), son (18 months at time of trip) and then myself. Will we three be allowed to pre-board between the A and B boarding groups? I read it is one adult per one child under the age of 5 - so does that mean my husband, I and the two children will be allowed to board?

3 - How good has SW been on the enforcement of 1 adult per 1 child pre-boarding rule? I hope it has been more stringent, etc. but am curious since they implemented the new boarding procedures.

4 - Opinions on those that have recently used the new boarding procedures. How has it been?




Thanks in advance,
Anjelica

Anjelica-

Getting up at the BAC of dawn was never necessary with SW. It has always been possible to obtain your boarding pass prior to the flight and check-in online.

2. Your family will all board together. If you check-in at the 24 hour mark and get A boarding passes you will board with the A group. If you don't you will board between the A and B groups.


3. I don't think the are allowing one adult per child. They still allow mom, dad, and child(ren), just not Aunt Sally, Grandpa Joe, and the next door neighbor to board with them.

4. New boarding procedures are fine with me, but I didn't mind the old one either.

 

[disneyfan2]

Even if it was 1 adult per child, Pre boarding is for kids 4 and under,. so you would still have 1 child per adult
Depending on what day of the week you leave, and if it is busy travel, you should get an A unless you are over 1 hr i guess. We did our boarding pass 1 hr late last winter, we had totally forgotten and got A's but they were seats i believe in the 40's, which did not matter last year as seat # did not matter. But it was still A and we had 6 in our party and there was plenty of space to sit together.

 

[Tara]

Anjelica-

Getting up at the BAC of dawn was never necessary with SW. It has always been possible to obtain your boarding pass prior to the flight and check-in online.

I could be misinterpreting the OP's post, but I think she is talking about the old system that required being at the airport early if you wanted to get a good spot in line for boarding, not getting up early to print a boarding pass. Even if she is talking about printing boarding passes, if you have a flight at the BAC of dawn , then you still have to get up at the BAC of dawn the day prior to your flight to check-in IF you want to get in the A group or get a low number in the B group.

 

[Vijoge]

I could be misinterpreting the OP's post, but I think she is talking about the old system that required being at the airport early if you wanted to get a good spot in line for boarding, not getting up early to print a boarding pass. Even if she is talking about printing boarding passes, if you have a flight at the BAC of dawn , then you still have to get up at the BAC of dawn the day prior to your flight to check-in IF you want to get in the A group or get a low number in the B group.

Yes, that's what I thought she meant. I don't undertstand why you would need to get to the airport early (under the old system) if you had an A boarding pass. The last A was only 45th to board, after the medical pre-boards and families with small children, of course. There would still be plenty of seats left at that point. I know some people sat on the floor for hours so the could board fourth instead of sixth but that never made sense to me.

In addition, you only have to get up early (aka BAC of dawn) to check in if you have a BAC of dawn flight. Most SW flights don't fall into that category, IMHO, but I guess that would depend on what you (not you personally) consider the crack of dawn. For my family that would be 3-4 AM. I guess for some it could be any time before noon!

 

[Anjelica]

Yes, that's what I thought she meant. I don't undertstand why you would need to get to the airport early (under the old system) if you had an A boarding pass. The last A was only 45th to board, after the medical pre-boards and families with small children, of course. There would still be plenty of seats left at that point. I know some people sat on the floor for hours so the could board fourth instead of sixth but that never made sense to me.

In addition, you only have to get up early (aka BAC of dawn) to check in if you have a BAC of dawn flight. Most SW flights don't fall into that category, IMHO, but I guess that would depend on what you (not you personally) consider the crack of dawn. For my family that would be 3-4 AM. I guess for some it could be any time before noon!

YES - that is what I never understood was the folks who even if they got A boarding passes would still get to the aiport several hours to sit in a line. I got the impression that even if you were the last A to board (old system) you may still be behind not only all the other A's but also the pre-boards, which depending on the situation could possibly include "gobs" of others.

BAC = departure flight time of 6ish. AA and SW both fly to Orlando, out of St. Louis Lambert, between 6-630. Even to get to the airport, say at least 1.5 hours before you would have to get up between 3-4 and be on the road. That is way to early, in my opinion, to deal with a 4 year old and an 18 month old.

 

[DonnaL]

Totally agree with other poster above........getting up at the crack of dawn was never necessary with SW.....waiting in line also was never necessary ........DH and I travel with SW quite frequently and usually have A passes. which I try to get right at the 24 hour mark, but, have been successful at getting several hours (maybe 5 or 6 hours) after the 24 hour mark...as far as the line goes.....we simply sit and wait until almost the end of the A line has boarded and then get up and board. Also, IMO, even though some families do try to get everyone and their brother in the preboard group, it usually doesn't work. I have seen gate agents on many, many occasions tell people only the parents of young children can board with them. On very few occasions have I seen large groups being allowed to board with young kids and we travel to Orlando from PHL (one of the supposed worst places for this occurrance) several times a year. Personally, I preferred the old system, especially when DH and I are travelling alone, w/o our adult kids and our grandson, who's 6. We always would just head to the back of the plane "the adult section" as we enjoy calling it. The way boarding is set up now, I don't know whether the back will continue to be "the adult section". However, I do think you will be pleasantly surprised with SW.......I have never received better customer service anywhere than I have from the employees of SWA. And their equipment, IMO, is kept up far better than many of the legacy airlines.

 

[Vijoge]

BAC = departure flight time of 6ish. AA and SW both fly to Orlando, out of St. Louis Lambert, between 6-630. Even to get to the airport, say at least 1.5 hours before you would have to get up between 3-4 and be on the road. That is way to early, in my opinion, to deal with a 4 year old and an 18 month old.

Absolutely agree. But "old way" or "new way", it won't make any difference as far as how early you need to get to the airport. I'm not sure why anyone with small children would book a 6 AM flight unless perhaps they think the children will be more likely to sleep on the plane at that hour.