When flying with Southwest air do you get to sit

[ducklite]

Yes, you do not need to worry about your family being split. We received a C boarding pass last time we flew and were able to sit 2 in front and 2 behind just fine. The crew will make an announcement if need be and ask for volunteers to switch seats. I remember I had my kids primed to be ready to put the tears on if necessary Luckily we didn't have to go the dramatics to be together

But people do NOT have to move. Period. And considering that especially on flights to and from Orlando, a huge number of passengers are families, they are not going to split up to accomodate another family.

Frankly I'm not going to move from my DH because someone didn't bother to check-in and get an "A." And crying, slobbering kids won't sway me either, they'll just make me disgusted and even less likely to be helpful. After all, who wants to take the seat that some kid has just been dripping snot all over because of their theatrics?

If I took the time to check in early, and then get to the airport two hours or more early to get near the front of the "A" line, there's no way in heck that I'm going to then give up that seat that I took extra time and effort to secure for someone who couldn't be bothered.

If a child is old enough to be away from the umbilical cord to go to school, then they are old enough to sit alone on a plane a couple aisles away for two hours.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Do you happen to have what I call the Golden Ticket?

My DS4 is my Golden Ticket- a child under five!!!

They preboard the under fives!!! Woo hoo!

I have heard that some resorts can print your boarding pass for you, I plan to ask at the resort when I get there.

Actually I've been on a couple of SW flights that due to half the plane travelling with kids under five they suspended pre-boarding except for disabled passengers and infants with tickets who would be in a carseat.

Don't always count on that "golden ticket."

Anne

 

[scammermom]

I just remembered that the last time we flew, I had the 2 girls with me in a row and my hubby was in front of us. A kid about 13 or so sat in his row at the last minute since he couldn't sit with his family. He had a gameboy so we didn't hear a peep from him.

So it's not a guaranteed thing but some people are kind and do help out. Obviously the above poster isn't one of them.

 

[keishashadow]

Does SW let those who could benefit from preboarding due to medical issues(assume those w/handicapped parking hang tags would qualify?) board before families w/small children?

 

[Mama Penguin]

Does SW let those who could benefit from preboarding due to medical issues(assume those w/handicapped parking hang tags would qualify?) board before families w/small children?

In our experience with SWAir, this is the case, at least in leaving MCO.

Our DS age 10 is in his wheelchair, and we were in preboard with a LOT of other families with children under 5. They called us up and let us preboard ahead of the families with the small kids. If the disabled person is not in a wheelchair, you may have to let the need to preboard be known at the gate.

After all, if they let every family with a kid under 5 preboard leaving Orlando, half the plane, or more, would preboard.

 

[keishashadow]

In our experience with SWAir, this is the case, at least in leaving MCO.

Our DS age 10 is in his wheelchair, and we were in preboard with a LOT of other families with children under 5. They called us up and let us preboard ahead of the families with the small kids. If the disabled person is not in a wheelchair, you may have to let the need to preboard be known at the gate.

After all, if they let every family with a kid under 5 preboard leaving Orlando, half the plane, or more, would preboard.

thanks for responding, we're flying SW home for 1st time in Oct., used to USAir & AirTran & having assigned seats; was thinking the same thing about the plane filling up with extended families.

Depending on how the week goes for our DS, it becomes a big deal to worry about struggling to the back of the plane.

Should we still check in 24 hours prior for the A/B/C designation?

 

[Pinnie]

Do you happen to have what I call the Golden Ticket?

My DS4 is my Golden Ticket- a child under five!!!

They preboard the under fives!!! Woo hoo!

I have heard that some resorts can print your boarding pass for you, I plan to ask at the resort when I get there.

Don't count on that GOLDEN TICKET. Last week on a flight I was on out of MCO, preboarding was limited to passengers with disablities and parents who bought a ticket for a child in a car seat. THAT WAS ALL!!!

pinnie

 

[english rose 47]

To the pwerson who would not give up there seat .. I said I would be checking in to get an A pass My concern is that they will let so many preboard that we wont get a seat together and my DGS will just turn 5 and I think it is important that he sits with his Mom . More so than Aunt Fannie and Uncle Herbert who are travelling with a family who has a 4 year old. I said families should be together meaning Mom , Dad and their kids and I would move from my DD and the kids to let aMom and child sit together as ling as it didn't leave 1 of mine aloneand far away from others in our group

 

[SueM in MN]

thanks for responding, we're flying SW home for 1st time in Oct., used to USAir & AirTran & having assigned seats; was thinking the same thing about the plane filling up with extended families.

Depending on how the week goes for our DS, it becomes a big deal to worry about struggling to the back of the plane.

Should we still check in 24 hours prior for the A/B/C designation?

We have never traveled Southwest (they don't come to our area), so I have no experience traveling with them.
Here is a link to their page of disability information.
Here's what it says on that page about "Assistance in Boarding",
Priority preboarding is available for those who have a specific seating need to accommodate their disability and/or need assistance in boarding the aircraft. If a Customer has a disability and requires preboarding, the Customer should request a blue preboarding sleeve from our Customer Service Agent positioned at the Departure Gate. The sleeve serves as notification to our Operations (Boarding) Agent that the Customer has a need to preboard. It’s important to keep in mind that Customers who preboard may not occupy an emergency exit seat.
I would definately suggest you ask to preboard - don't assume they will see the wheelchair and know that you need to preboard. In our experience, traveling for many years with a wheelchair, airlines used to assume if you brought a wheelchair and were gate checking it, you needed to preboard; they no longer assume that.

 

[keishashadow]

We have never traveled Southwest (they don't come to our area), so I have no experience traveling with them.
Here is a link to their page of disability information.
Here's what it says on that page about "Assistance in Boarding",
Priority preboarding is available for those who have a specific seating need to accommodate their disability and/or need assistance in boarding the aircraft. If a Customer has a disability and requires preboarding, the Customer should request a blue preboarding sleeve from our Customer Service Agent positioned at the Departure Gate. The sleeve serves as notification to our Operations (Boarding) Agent that the Customer has a need to preboard. It’s important to keep in mind that Customers who preboard may not occupy an emergency exit seat.
I would definately suggest you ask to preboard - don't assume they will see the wheelchair and know that you need to preboard. In our experience, traveling for many years with a wheelchair, airlines used to assume if you brought a wheelchair and were gate checking it, you needed to preboard; they no longer assume that.

thanks!

 

[goofy4tink]

I have flown SW just for one trip....why? Because I really don't like the unassigned seating. It's wonderful that we have a choice in airlines. When I flew SW, I got a terrific fare, so was willing to 'take my chances' in being able to sit with my dd, then 11. Yes, I know she is 'able' to sit somewhere I am not, but that isn't my choice as her parent. I don't want her sitting alone at the movies, next to a stranger either. So.....I checked in, on-line, about 12 hrs. before our flight. I got A bp's. We got to the airport, TF Green, about 2 hrs early. We were 7 and 8 in the A line. The preboarding line was already about 15 people long. By the time we started boarding, the preboarders line had about 45 people in it.....some elderly with walkers/wheelchairs, one lady with an artificial limb and her dh, and then the families....omg, the families. There had to be groups of 6 or more, some with mom, dad, the 4 kids, the grandparents.
By the time dd and I were able to board, we had to head to the back of the plane...we ended up sitting 4 rows behind the wing..it was the first row that had a window and a middle seat together!! All the other rows had the middle seat empty..with people in the aisle and the window seats, hoping that no one sat in that middle seat. Well, it was a full plane and when complete strangers starting sitting in those middle seats, you should have seen the commotion...all sorts of shifting of seats. Then, about 2 minutes before they closed the door, a mom and her child, about 5 or so, got on board. No two seats together.....the FA made a request for some people to give up their seats together so that the mom could sit with her child. No one moved, the FA made a second announcement saying the plane wasn't going to move until that mom and her child were seated together! Yep, two people gave up their seats, had to sit apart so that this late arriving mom could sit with her child. Now, before anyone gets all in a twist, that mom was walking around the gate area long before the flight boarded....she just waited too long.
Oh, and the lady with the artificial limb that preboarded? Where do you think she tried to sit with her dh??? The emergency exit seats!!! They just couldn't understand why they had to move...the FA kept trying to tell them that anyone who had to 'preboard' could not sit in those seats since they would not be capable of assisting others in an emergency. And that woman kept insisting that she could assist others!!! They ended up moving since the FA told them they would be removed from the plane if they didn't move.
Nope, way too much hassle for me to fly with SW unless the fare is really, really terrific.

 

[english rose 47]

This is all making me nervous! While I know the seats are 3 "s I plan on sitting with 2 DGDs and DD with DGS , I,m not sure how DGDs would do alone . They have never flown before. I wouyld have no problemme sitting alone obvious ly but the kids would want to be close or with us. I just don,t think they should allow the extende family to preboardwhen there are so many others with young kids too who are just a little over 4. I will definately try for the A pass and get there as early as we can.

 

[bookgirl2632]

But people do NOT have to move. Period. And considering that especially on flights to and from Orlando, a huge number of passengers are families, they are not going to split up to accomodate another family.

Frankly I'm not going to move from my DH because someone didn't bother to check-in and get an "A." And crying, slobbering kids won't sway me either, they'll just make me disgusted and even less likely to be helpful. After all, who wants to take the seat that some kid has just been dripping snot all over because of their theatrics?

If I took the time to check in early, and then get to the airport two hours or more early to get near the front of the "A" line, there's no way in heck that I'm going to then give up that seat that I took extra time and effort to secure for someone who couldn't be bothered.

If a child is old enough to be away from the umbilical cord to go to school, then they are old enough to sit alone on a plane a couple aisles away for two hours.

Anne

Charming.

 

[salmoneous]

This is all making me nervous!

No need to be nervious. 99% of the time everything always works out (which is the best you'll get from any airline). You'll note that even in the "horror stories" people love to post, everything works out fine. Seriously, no need to be nervious.

 

[tolookaa5]

This is all making me nervous too, but it seems that if you check-in the 24 hours in advance and get the A boarding passes you will be ok. I have children 13, 11, and 6 that will be flying with me. the 13 and 11 year old could very well sit alone but they have never flown before and are very nervous. So, I will make sure to check-in in advance and get to the airport well enough in advance.
One question,
with the boarding pass already where do you go? I will still have luggage to check-in, so how does this cut down time? Kinda confused.

 

[salmoneous]

One question, with the boarding pass already where do you go? I will still have luggage to check-in, so how does this cut down time? Kinda confused.

The exact procedure depends upon which airport you are flying out of. But in general, there will be self-service kiosks at the Southwest ticketing counter. You go to the kiosk and put in your name and reservation number. It will then call up your reservation and ask if you have bags to check. You punch in how many bags you have, and a Southwest attendant will print out the luggage tags and put them on your bags. (Note - you will also have the opportunity to reprint your boarding passes at this point if you don't have them for some reason).

Depending upon the airport, the agent will either take your bags, or direct you to walk them over to a TSA screening area. Once you bags are taken, you go to through security and off to your gate.

 

[havencruiser]

If you aboslutely must have your whole family together, be sure to get "A" passes and as soon as you get to the point where you are free of security, have somebody from your group secure a place in line in the "A" line at you departure gate. Doing that, the only people who board before you will be the pre-boarders. Southwest has a very liberal policy for pre-boarding so it could be anywhere from 5 to 50 folks who board before you regardless of how close you are to the front of the "A" line. But if you are one of the first to board in the "A" group, or anywhere in the "A" group unless it's a really small plane, you should have absolutely no problem sitting together. THink of all the seats on an airplane so even after the pre-boarding hoards get on, there will be plenty of room...if you in the "A" group. THis will involve some work on your part...which is checkin online at the 24-hour mark before your flight. If you wait to do so at the airport, you WILL get a "C" pass and then will be at the mercy of getting what's available. YOu don't need to print the passes at home, you just need to check-in at home. The same process applies on your return trip. IF you are staying at a Disney resort, the concierge desk will print your boarding passes and check you in 24 hours before your departure. This may mean that somebody has to go back to the resort to make this happen but if staying together is important, it should be worth it.

 

[carl59]

SW has seating for 135 people, that's 45 sets of 3 seats together. With each "letter" having 45 people. You should be able to find two rows together even if you are "B". And if you can't most people further back in the plane will move a row if you ask them. Personally I will not sit in the first 7 rows on the plane, the seats are just a little smaller. After that it does matter, will all get there at the same time.

 

[disneyldwjr]

Do you happen to have what I call the Golden Ticket?

My DS4 is my Golden Ticket- a child under five!!!

They preboard the under fives!!! Woo hoo!

I have heard that some resorts can print your boarding pass for you, I plan to ask at the resort when I get there.

The "Golden Ticket" works IF they do not suspend preboarding for children 4 and under. They are doing that more and more.
Guest services at the parks can, and are happy to, check you in and print your passes for you. I just did this Thursday at Epcot.

 

[disneyldwjr]

i ALWAYS fly Southwest & can answer your questions for you:

1) can we sit together?
if you get an A pass the answer is definitely. b pass most likely. c don't know, never had one of these. i've flown with as many as 6 people & have always been able to sit together.

2) can we use magical express?
YES! you can use the luggage service and ride the bus to the resort on your trip there but CANNOT use the luggage service on the trip back. You just take it with you to the bus & the driver will load it underneath. when you get to the airport, you have to check it yourself.

3)how can we check in at disney?
go to your hotel's guest relations desk (NOT FRONT DESK) with your name & reservation #. not only will they be happy to check you in, but they will print your boarding passes which can save you a line at the airport if you don't have to check luggage.

Hope this helps and have a great trip! Here's some PIXIE DUST!!!

The front desk will check you in and print your boarding pass also. The reason I mention this is because OKW does not have Guest Relations, they have front desk and the con service, either will do it for you.