Southwest Airlines

[Catzle]

I have never flown this airline and know nothing about it.

JetBlue has gotten out of hand with prices. Last week of April is over $500 one way that is crazy!!

Southwest flights aren't out yet for April, anyone know when they come out?

Tips or experiences are much appreciated.

I also see that they don't assign seats. What are the chance of a family of 4 being split up?

[NewDVCowner]

I have never flown this airline and know nothing about it.

JetBlue has gotten out of hand with prices. Last week of April is over $500 one way that is crazy!!

Southwest flights aren't out yet for April, anyone know when they come out?

Tips or experiences are much appreciated.

I also see that they don't assign seats. What are the chance of a family of 4 being split up?

I actually just looked this up today. Dates through April 11th will be released on August 11th. Doesn't help me with my April 16th flight.

[CynBeth]

Usually they are released 5 or 6 months in advance from our little experience with them.
I would suggest paying for the early bird check in both ways where they check you in a certain amount of time before the 24 hour in advance check in so you have a better shot of being in Group A or early Group B to board which will give you a better chance of getting the seats you want.

[Basket Mommy]

We fly Southwest a lot. We're a family of 6. Our airport is smaller, maybe about 4 airlines total, so our SW flights are usually full. We always check in online exactly 24 hours ahead of our flight, and in doing that usually secure group A or B. We have always been able to sit 3 and 3 either across an entire row (ABC, DEF) or one group of 3 in front of the other. I've never paid extra to check in early.

[PopPhan]

Tips or experiences are much appreciated.

I also see that they don't assign seats. What are the chance of a family of 4 being split up?

Southwest is a great airline. I fly them to Orlando every time for two main reasons: 1) Price and 2) Non-stop flights from Baltimore (BWI)

Also, from my experience, and I know that I am only one person, I have never had a Southwest flight that did not arrive On Schedule or a little early.

Now, for your question.....IF you are really concerned with having your family split up on the flight(s), your best bet would be to pay the $15 extra/seat to get the Early Bird Option. This allows you to board relatively early in the "A" section of boarding.

Southwest boards a little differently than most airlines. The have 3 seating groups - "A", "B" and "C" - each with 60 seating positions. At the beginning of the "A" seating are the Business Select (BS) and A-List (A-L) flyers. They get the 1 - n (n being the number of BS & A-L flyers booked on the flight). After that group, the Early Bird (EB) purchasers get the next seat of boarding numbers. Once they are satisfied, then it is first come-first served of the people who log on to Southwest.com and check in for their flights at the 24 hour mark. Once 60 positions are filled, they start the "B" group at #1 from the time you check in for your flight, and so on.....

No matter what you do, it is always wise to check in online at the 24 hour mark prior to your flight. BS, A-L, and EB flyers are assigned at the 36 hour mark, by the order of purchase.

It actually sounds a little more complicated than it is.

Just keep this one thing in mind: If you don't want split up, pay the $15/seat for the Early Bird option, check in at/around the 24 hour mark, and breathe easy.

I actually just looked this up today. Dates through April 11th will be released on August 11th. Doesn't help me with my April 16th flight.

You may not be able to book for your trip, but it does give you a good idea of what ticket prices will be when released. Since there are no typical travel holidays over that time frame, you can expect the prices for the rest of the month to follow the early April prices. I have done this often for budget purposes and it has always worked out.

[Fangorn]

I have never flown this airline and know nothing about it.

Tips or experiences are much appreciated.

I also see that they don't assign seats. What are the chance of a family of 4 being split up?

If you're unfamiliar with Southwest and how thing work, I'd suggest you go to their website. On the main page, scroll all the way to the bottom. You'll see four lists of text - the second one is "Flying Southwest". Click on that and you'll see a number of topics that will help you to understand how it all works. It's different, but not complicated. Specifically, check out the "Boarding the Plane" topic.

As has been mentioned, you can purchase the Early-Bird Option, which will get you a better spot in the boarding queue, and can alleviate some of the anxiety of doing something new. Cost for that is $12.50 per seat each way.

If you have one or more children 4 or under, Southwest does offer Family Boarding for those families. Family Boarding comes between boarding the "A" and "B" groups. Statistically, it is impossible for there not to be at least a couple of dozen groups of 2 seats together after the "A"s have boarded. Realistically, 2/3 of the rows will have no one in them at that point. This is especially true for flights to/from Orlando, where there are large numbers of families and not a majority of single travelers. As long as you are in the "A" or "B" group, you needn't worry about being split up. It could happen, though if you're in the "C" group. But even when it does, and I've seen it, the crew will go out of their way to try to shuffle people around and accommodate those situations. They'll typically make an announcement of the situation, and offer their undying thanks (and free drinks) to anyone willing to change seats to accommodate families. I've heard a tale or two of that not working, but I have personally only seen people be more than willing to help out in those situations.

Southwest is my airline of choice. They are efficient, friendly, and don't take themselves too seriously (except for safety). As PopPhan said, generally, they get you to your destination a few minutes early.

Steve

[Jen C.]

We have also just booked Southwest for the first time for our travels next month to WDW. I chose to add the early bird option, although this added $125. for my family of five. I really only need 2, 2, and 1, although we would ideally like to wind up in the same vicinity. Best of luck to you. From all I have read, the early bird add on is in your best interest.

[snowflakegirl]

You may not be able to book for your trip, but it does give you a good idea of what ticket prices will be when released. Since there are no typical travel holidays over that time frame, you can expect the prices for the rest of the month to follow the early April prices. I have done this often for budget purposes and it has always worked out.

The one caveat to that that I have found is that flying out of the northeast a lot of CT, NH, and MA have school vacations in April, so I have found prices to be variable from the beginning of April to the end of April. Usually not a *huge* variance, but sometimes $50-100 per ticket.

[CynBeth]

Southwest is a great airline. I fly them to Orlando every time for two main reasons: 1) Price and 2) Non-stop flights from Baltimore (BWI)

Also, from my experience, and I know that I am only one person, I have never had a Southwest flight that did not arrive On Schedule or a little early.

Now, for your question.....IF you are really concerned with having your family split up on the flight(s), your best bet would be to pay the $15 extra/seat to get the Early Bird Option. This allows you to board relatively early in the "A" section of boarding.

Southwest boards a little differently than most airlines. The have 3 seating groups - "A", "B" and "C" - each with 60 seating positions. At the beginning of the "A" seating are the Business Select (BS) and A-List (A-L) flyers. They get the 1 - n (n being the number of BS & A-L flyers booked on the flight). After that group, the Early Bird (EB) purchasers get the next seat of boarding numbers. Once they are satisfied, then it is first come-first served of the people who log on to Southwest.com and check in for their flights at the 24 hour mark. Once 60 positions are filled, they start the "B" group at #1 from the time you check in for your flight, and so on.....

No matter what you do, it is always wise to check in online at the 24 hour mark prior to your flight. BS, A-L, and EB flyers are assigned at the 36 hour mark, by the order of purchase.

It actually sounds a little more complicated than it is.

Just keep this one thing in mind: If you don't want split up, pay the $15/seat for the Early Bird option, check in at/around the 24 hour mark, and breathe easy.





You may not be able to book for your trip, but it does give you a good idea of what ticket prices will be when released. Since there are no typical travel holidays over that time frame, you can expect the prices for the rest of the month to follow the early April prices. I have done this often for budget purposes and it has always worked out.

That's the airport we always fly out of. I do not want to jinx anything but we alternate between a few airlines and always choose a first or second flight of a day and usually leave on time and land early.

[mydisneygirls]

We are flying Southwest this time also because of how JetBlue has changed dramatically! We used to fly SW and liked them. The only reason we switched to JB was because of the tv's. The times we did fly SW, never had a problem not sitting together.

[snowflakegirl]

I meant to also say, of the times that we have flown Southwest the one and only time we had a problem not sitting together was on a connecting flight (for our honeymoon of all things). We had a flight from Hartford to Chicago connecting in Chicago to San Francisco. Our flight out of Hartford was late because someone had stolen an exit sign on the originating flight (also the only time that we've had a late flight with Southwest) so we landed in Chicago at the time that our flight was supposed to be leaving. They held the flight for us because there were 8 of us connecting, but it was a full flight, so the 8 of us had to take seats where we could find them.

[mandaep]

Great responses on here about Southwest. They used to be called Airtran right? That is what we have always taken in the past and I don't know if we have had the chance to take "southwest" yet. My family has taken them and they had no problems.

One great thing too is you get free checked in bags (up to 2 I believe)!! We hardly need checked bags but taking a family to Disney that is a deal maker, especially when you just check them in and Disney puts them in your hotel for you.

I had a question I was hoping someone on here could answer, though... we have found some non-stop decent hour flights (like 1230-230pm) from our Dayton location to MCO for some dates in February, even earlier months. I am looking ahead and a lot of Feb and March do not have those days and times? I really, REALLY want a flight that is 2 hours nonstop in the early mid day. Really bad! I wonder if they add those flights later on, or if what you see on a certain day is what you get. We are looking at April which isn't out yet though.

[lindique]

Great responses on here about Southwest. They used to be called Airtran right? That is what we have always taken in the past and I don't know if we have had the chance to take "southwest" yet. My family has taken them and they had no problems.


I had a question I was hoping someone on here could answer, though... we have found some non-stop decent hour flights (like 1230-230pm) from our Dayton location to MCO for some dates in February, even earlier months. I am looking ahead and a lot of Feb and March do not have those days and times? I really, REALLY want a flight that is 2 hours nonstop in the early mid day. Really bad! I wonder if they add those flights later on, or if what you see on a certain day is what you get. We are looking at April which isn't out yet though.

Southwest and AirTran were two separate airlines until recently, when Southwest purchased and then consolidated AirTran into their operations late last year. I believe AirTran was previously called ValuJet.

When Southwest puts out a schedule it almost never changes it. So don't count on additional flights being added or times changed once the April schedule is announced. Actually that's one thing that Southwest flyers like about it - that you can count on your booked flight not being changed or cancelled.

[ddcrna]

I would not spend the money for early checkin. If you go online or use their mobile app and check in when allowed (24 hours), you should be fine. We have NEVER had an issue and sometimes fly with a group of nine.

[CynBeth]

I would not spend the money for early checkin. If you go online or use their mobile app and check in when allowed (24 hours), you should be fine. We have NEVER had an issue and sometimes fly with a group of nine.

You are lucky. After not flying with them for a while we used them a few years ago and it was our first time with this new boarding method . We chose not to pay for the early bird checkin and even though we were online exactly 24 hours in advance we did not get a good boarding position so the only place we could find 3 seats by the time we got on the plane was the last row by the bathroom.

[RBrooksC]

If you are flying as a family of four with children under 5, you would be able to do Family Boarding after the "A" boarding group.

Barring that, you have to log on at exactly 24 hours before your flight and check-in. If you have an "A" or "B" on your boarding pass, you will most likely get to sit together. Now, remember, the seats on a 737 are three and three. There are no four seats together so it does depend on how you want to sit.

The $10 extra priority boarding, isn't a bad deal. SWA will check-in your family so you don't have to log on 24 hours before the flight. And usually you will get an "A" boarding pass but that isn't a guarantee.

Also, make sure you are at the airport and in the departure lounge one hour before the flight. This way you board with your group and not be running on the plane trying to beat the door being closed. Many a flight I have been on where the FAs need to make an announcement that a mom and her young child need to sit together and would somebody give up their seat. All because that person wasn't at the gate early enough.

Don't be that person.

[ThanxForNoticin]

Many trips to Disney, we've had the strategy to do our own online check-in at the 24-hour mark for the trip to Florida, but purchase the Early Bird for the trip home. That way we don't spoil our last day at the parks by worrying about getting online 24 hours before the flight - or take the chance of forgetting to do the check in. It's one less thing to worry about at the end of the trip.