Post all SW questions concerns, etc. here...

[mmouse50]

I have been informed it depends on the personnel at the Gate to how many can board with a child in family boarding.

 

[mmouse50]

sorry double post

 

[JC1984]

I have a different problem with Southwest - it is the Early Bird that I have paid for but for some reason I get a B boarding number. Now I have paid for a spot that is essentially after all the "Family" (meaning Mom/Dad, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa and aunts) because they have 1 small child but think that the rest of the family can board at the same time. I wish that Southwest would only allow 1 adult with the small child(ren) pre-board and the rest of the "family" board at in their personal boarding spot.

Per SW website:
“Up to two adults traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding.”

So this sounds like a problem with the gate agent not enforcing it and I have seen them enforce it with families before. I use family boarding I have 3 kids 5 and under. I get dirty looks and I don’t care. I am simply taking advantage of a rule SW has in place. Someday I won’t have 3 kids and will load like the rest of the sheep. I choose to fly SWA for these reasons if I get tired of it I will play extra and fly United, Delta etc. Remember you get what you pay for.

 

[mmouse50]

You are so right - you should get what you pay for - Early Boarding! Not boarding after everyone with a child and won't pay for the right to board early.

 

[JC1984]

You are so right - you should get what you pay for - Early Boarding! Not boarding after everyone with a child and won't pay for the right to board early.

I am not denying you didn’t pay for it however it is written all on their website how the process works and clearly you didn’t read on how Early Bird Check In works. Sure you bought it but so did 100 other people on your flight. So by the time it got to you were in B and SW policy places family boarding in between A & B. Not discounting your frustration but there is a process and no one is breaking the rules except for the gate agent letting more than 2 adults board with a child.

 

[JC1984]

You are so right - you should get what you pay for - Early Boarding! Not boarding after everyone with a child and won't pay for the right to board early.

Again straight from the website:
“While EarlyBird Check-In doesn't guarantee an A boarding position, it improves your seat selection options to help you get your favorite seat.”

So imagine if you didn’t purchase it that day you would have been in C 50

The only time you’re guaranteed to board before family boarding on SW is if your purchase a Business Fare OR purchase upgraded boarding (if available) during check in and you are then guaranteed A1-15. Early Bird only checks you in automatically in hopes of getting a better spot but if the entire plane has paid for Early Bird then may the odds ever be in your favor.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

That’s how they sell more seats. People like to think I they have a chance of getting a great seat without paying an up charge like on most airlines. It really is a clever marketing strategy and clearly works.

I mean not really. SWA has has open seating since the beginning. They've had EBCI for a while and that was relatively small charge too, then Upgraded Boarding added then EBCI went to dynamic pricing so did Upgraded Boarding. They certainly have upsells within their product but that's not about selling more seats. You as the customer get to choose what you want to purchase for upsell.

I have been in the middle seat 99.9% of the time I fly with my husband. We don't choose the front of the plane the vast majority of the time, in fact if we can my husband would prefer the exit row for his height but we would be fine elsewhere. Now having an earlier boarding position does increase the odds of that exit row being available yes.

It's not like other airlines with different seats categories which are usually dependent on your location of the plane and leg room and lie flat/recline, etc

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have a different problem with Southwest - it is the Early Bird that I have paid for but for some reason I get a B boarding number. Now I have paid for a spot that is essentially after all the "Family" (meaning Mom/Dad, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa and aunts) because they have 1 small child but think that the rest of the family can board at the same time. I wish that Southwest would only allow 1 adult with the small child(ren) pre-board and the rest of the "family" board at in their personal boarding spot.

It used to be one adult then last year they adjusted it to 2 adults.

SWA gate agents however have always had leeway within the policy. Their goal is to get the plane boarded as fast as possible sometimes depending on a flight that's going to mean xyz. Most of the time I've flown they do make the announcement that it's only 2 adults not all the other family members but it's still gate agent dependent.

You are so right - you should get what you pay for - Early Boarding! Not boarding after everyone with a child and won't pay for the right to board early.

It's Early Bird though and SWA has always expressedly advised you would never be guaranteed an A Boarding position. This has been the case for years (you can check this thread and I'm positive you'll find that too). Even A-list and A-list Preferred isn't guaranteed an A Boarding position, A-List/A-List Preferred is only guaranteed that they get to Board after A's if they didn't get a Boarding position of A.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wouldn’t it be easier if SW just had people choose seats when purchasing tickets? Then you wouldn’t have this scramble every time upon boarding?

I'd fly another airline if that's what I wanted so for now I'm fine with how SWA does it. I actually wish I could fly SWA to Europe this summer because paying $120 per person just to pick seats in Economy for 1 leg (that was from Heathrow to Chicago) is irritating and so is worrying about what flight changes will do to that (and they already changed our flight). We'll still be scrambling come boarding time because of overhead bin space especially because we can't have our personal items at our feet since we selected Exit row seating and both items will have to be in overhead bin space.

 

[nekonekoneko]

You are so right - you should get what you pay for - Early Boarding! Not boarding after everyone with a child and won't pay for the right to board early.

Yes, you get what you pay for - early check-in. There's nothing in the terms that guarantees early boarding. It's even spelled out on Southwest's website, that "you get the benefit of an earlier boarding position." They explicitly spell out that there's no guarantee of an A spot. The only thing it guarantees is that you're before everyone who did not purchase EBCI

 

[JC1984]

I mean not really. SWA has has open seating since the beginning. They've had EBCI for a while and that was relatively small charge too, then Upgraded Boarding added then EBCI went to dynamic pricing so did Upgraded Boarding. They certainly have upsells within their product but that's not about selling more seats. You as the customer get to choose what you want to purchase for upsell.

I have been in the middle seat 99.9% of the time I fly with my husband. We don't choose the front of the plane the vast majority of the time, in fact if we can my husband would prefer the exit row for his height but we would be fine elsewhere. Now having an earlier boarding position does increase the odds of that exit row being available yes.

It's not like other airlines with different seats categories which are usually dependent on your location of the plane and leg room and lie flat/recline, etc

I agree with you however SW could have changed their seating policy in the last 50+ years but there are people who fly SW exclusively for the seating policy. If it wasn’t making them money I don’t think they would have kept it so long. Wether it is finding the niche of customers that likes it or getting extra route on the plane a day.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I agree with you however SW could have changed their seating policy in the last 50+ years but there are people who fly SW exclusively for the seating policy. If it wasn’t making them money I don’t think they would have kept it so long. Wether it is finding the niche or customers that likes it or getting extra route on the plane a day.

Well sure but it's not to "sell more seats". SWA likes to be different than other carriers, it's their tagline it's why in the last 50 years they haven't done too too much to alter their product and yes it's why they have a loyal customer base. And without having baggage fees (especially having 2 checked bags per passenger) one can hardly think they won't have something on their end that they can work with their system.

People do often forget what comes with other airlines from baggage fees, change fees, seat assignment fees, seat type fees, etc.

 

[JC1984]

Well sure but it's not to "sell more seats". SWA likes to be different than other carriers, it's their tagline it's why in the last 50 years they haven't done too too much to alter their product and yes it's why they have a loyal customer base. And without having baggage fees (especially having 2 checked bags per passenger) one can hardly think they won't have something on their end that they can work with their system.

People do often forget what comes with other airlines from baggage fees, change fees, seat assignment fees, seat type fees, etc.

100% why I choose to fly with them is baggage, change fees, etc.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

100% why I choose to fly with them is baggage, change fees, etc.

It's def. a plus to us. I like their points not only in redemption (which is typically much better value even over the years in comparison to other airliens) but their policy including how you can get points back (and money back in the form of travel credits). They are the most flexible of airlines in that respect.

 

[FCDub]

Family boarding arguments, “you don’t look disabled” arguments. Next up should be a seat saving argument.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Family boarding arguments, “you don’t look disabled” arguments. Next up should be a seat saving argument.

Oh no let's not give anyone ideas

We don't need any of that stuff. It's been relatively non-controversial for several years on this thread related to that, hopefully it'll stay that way

 

[JC1984]

Family boarding arguments, “you don’t look disabled” arguments. Next up should be a seat saving argument.

I think we just like to be pissed off at anything we can find. I am waiting for someone to say that military shouldn’t have priority boarding. I am may lose it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think we just like to be pissed off at anything we can find. I am waiting for someone to say that military shouldn’t have priority boarding. I am may lose it.

Yeah but eventually it's best to move those to some other thread.

 

[Kristi391]

So reading these comments about the family boarding/EBCI, I am getting nervous. I am flying to MCO June 25-July 2 with my 7 year old niece. I purchased EBCI because it is just the two of us and I don't want to be separated from her and she doesn't qualify for family boarding. I will be very upset if even with EBCI we end up in a situation where we cannot sit together. We will probably be fine, but you never know.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So reading these comments about the family boarding/EBCI, I am getting nervous. I am flying to MCO June 25-July 2 with my 7 year old niece. I purchased EBCI because it is just the two of us and I don't want to be separated from her and she doesn't qualify for family boarding. I will be very upset if even with EBCI we end up in a situation where we cannot sit together. We will probably be fine, but you never know.

Generally you should be fine. And going for 2 seats is also much easier. Every flight is different so no one can give you a sure fire answer but the experiences of many show you'll generally be fine. Most often the advice is to head towards the back of the plane.

Boarding positions are hard to decipher what that really means since each flight is different. I've been on flights where people bypassed a good chunk of the front, I've been on ones where people spread out such that you had a person in a window or aisle farther down the plane than you might expect, I've been on ones where there's a lot of pre-boards and ones that have few to none, ones with a lot of families and ones with just about none.

Only thing I could see with your flight back home is being closer to 4th of July but you're leaving Orlando so probably not as big of a concern with families who may be vacationing to Orlando at that time.