what am i missing booking sw seats separately?

[3angelsmom]

Hi,
I want to book rountrip air on southwest for 5 people using points. I get one price when I enter needing tickets for 1 person, and another price (per person) for 5 people. Based on the other post (Something weird with southwest), I'm assuming this is because there are not 5 seats available for the lower price.

So what would be the downside to booking separately for each individual? That way I could get the lower price for at least some of us. I'm not a seasoned flyer, so, is there something I'm missing? Would we need to check-in and board separately? Could we link the separate reservations after making them? We are flying with 3 small children so this is a concern.

Thanks for your help!

 

[corster]

You've got it exactly right.

See how many seats are left at the lower price (try for 2, 3, or 4 passengers), and then book 2 reservations, one for the amount of seats at the lower price, and one for the remaining passengers.

You'll be on different reservations, and if you check in online/kiosk you'll have to go through the procedure twice. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. If you're two adults and three children, i'd suggest one adult on each reservation, but even if you don't, it wont be an issue since you're travelling on the same flight. No need to book five separate reservations, 2 should get the job done.

 

[CookieDiva]

Sorry that I don't have an answer - I was just coming to ask a similar question. Getting ready to book on SW and I was going to ask that experts what is the best way to book in case you need to rebook or if you end up having credits.

 

[Diegosmom]

If you do online check in at the 24 hour mark you will have to check in more then once (however many reservations you have). People sit on there computers right at the 24 hour mark. I have often gotten B bording group even when I was right on at 24 hours so I would suggest if you have more then 1 reservation get someone on another computer (or smart phone) right at 24 hour mark so you can checkin at the same time...or other option is pay $10 per person and you will be checked in by southwest at the 36 hour mark so you'll get a A. Otherwise you will probably have to split up. Might be annoying if it is 2 adults and 3 kids but not so bad if you are all adults (child under 5 can do family boarding with 1 adult after the A group).

 

[3angelsmom]

Thanks for the quick replies!

 

[Jestocost]

If you do online check in at the 24 hour mark you will have to check in more then once (however many reservations you have). People sit on there computers right at the 24 hour mark. I have often gotten B bording group even when I was right on at 24 hours so I would suggest if you have more then 1 reservation get someone on another computer (or smart phone) right at 24 hour mark so you can checkin at the same time...or other option is pay $10 per person and you will be checked in by southwest at the 36 hour mark so you'll get a A. Otherwise you will probably have to split up. Might be annoying if it is 2 adults and 3 kids but not so bad if you are all adults (child under 5 can do family boarding with 1 adult after the A group).

One point of clarification is that purchasing Early Bird Check In does NOT guarantee an 'A' boarding group number. It only ensures that you are checked in automatically 36 hours before your flight. That usually means an 'A' group boarding pass, but not always.

Also, it's possible that even with EBCI separate reservations will get non-consecutive boarding numbers (heck, even tickets on the same reservation sometimes get non-consecutive numbers) and that can complicate boarding.

 

[3angelsmom]

This confused me a bit. What do you mean by non-consecutive boarding numbers? I thought people boarded by group (A, early bird, etc.), not boarding #?

Also, if, in a worse case scenario where our group of 2 adults and 3 children receive non-consecutive boarding #s, could one of the adults wait and board with the child? I could see how we couldn't move someone up to board earlier, but not why it would be a problem to wait if necessary. I understand that would make it less likely that we would get seats together, but it would help my anxiety about leaving a child in the airport while the parents are boarding the plane.

Our youngest will be 5, so it's my understanding that we don't qualify for family check-in. I'm hoping we won't need to pay for EBCI as the 5 year old is the only one who would have a huge issue with sitting alone.

One point of clarification is that purchasing Early Bird Check In does NOT guarantee an 'A' boarding group number. It only ensures that you are checked in automatically 36 hours before your flight. That usually means an 'A' group boarding pass, but not always.

Also, it's possible that even with EBCI separate reservations will get non-consecutive boarding numbers (heck, even tickets on the same reservation sometimes get non-consecutive numbers) and that can complicate boarding.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

This confused me a bit. What do you mean by non-consecutive boarding numbers? I thought people boarded by group (A, early bird, etc.), not boarding #?

Also, if, in a worse case scenario where our group of 2 adults and 3 children receive non-consecutive boarding #s, could one of the adults wait and board with the child? I could see how we couldn't move someone up to board earlier, but not why it would be a problem to wait if necessary. I understand that would make it less likely that we would get seats together, but it would help my anxiety about leaving a child in the airport while the parents are boarding the plane.

I wouldn't worry about not having non-consecutive boarding numbers. It just means that there is a possibility that between the time you make your booking for the first group and the second group, someone could have booked another reservation.

 

[Jestocost]

This confused me a bit. What do you mean by non-consecutive boarding numbers? I thought people boarded by group (A, early bird, etc.), not boarding #?

Also, if, in a worse case scenario where our group of 2 adults and 3 children receive non-consecutive boarding #s, could one of the adults wait and board with the child? I could see how we couldn't move someone up to board earlier, but not why it would be a problem to wait if necessary. I understand that would make it less likely that we would get seats together, but it would help my anxiety about leaving a child in the airport while the parents are boarding the plane.

Our youngest will be 5, so it's my understanding that we don't qualify for family check-in. I'm hoping we won't need to pay for EBCI as the 5 year old is the only one who would have a huge issue with sitting alone.

You get a boarding group--A, B or C--and a number from one to 60 within the group. Passengers line up and board in numerical order within their letter group. If you book four different reservations for four passengers, for example, you likely won't be able to check in fast enough to get A20-A23 and might get A20, A22, A25 and A26, or something like that. Not a big deal as you always can move back in the boarding order to all board as a group. It can get a little trickier if you wind up with some in the last part of the A group and more in the first part of the B group, but it's still not a big issue.

If everyone is booked on a single reservation, you almost always will get consecutive boarding numbers. Every once in a while you will get a gap in the numbers for some reason, but it's still not a big deal as noted above.

FWIW, here's the order of people who could be on your plane (not all apply to all flights):

People who flew in on the plane you are boarding and will stay on for your flight.
Medical preboards and unaccompanied minors.
Business Select ticket holders (A1-A15)
A-List Rapid Rewards Members
People who are connecting from an earlier flight and changing to your plane at your airport who used EBCI.
People originating on your flight who used EBCI.
People who are connecting from an earlier flight and changing to your plane at your airport who checked in at 24 hours.
People originating on your flight who checked in at 24 hours.
Everybody else.

 

[disneylvrnMS]

We have done well with only paying for EB for one in our party. That person will board and save seats for the others. This works well when there are 3 travelers.

The problem we did run into last week when leaving MCO was that the gate agent did not announce the boarding procedures. Several (at least 20 or more) people with B boarding passes lined up with the A boarders and the agent let them board with the business select group until some of us with A passes started complaining very loudly. By this time he had already allowed at least 15 of them to board.