Flying Southwest Airlines

[FrogFrog]

We are flying SW Airlines on a direct flight from Jackson, MS to Orlando. Some friends of mine have told me stories about not being able to sit with their families because of the seating structure SW uses. If my wife does not get to sit by me, she is not going to be a happy camper to start our trip!

Can anyone shed some light on what we need to do to insure that we are able to get seats beside each other? Thanks.

 

[lilclerk]

Check in online 24 hours before your flight. They seat you in the order you checked in. This link will tell you all about the boarding process, which is really quite simple: http://www.southwest.com/help/boardingschool/
For your trip home, you can have your hotel (or guest services at any of the parks, or if you have a cell phone with internet you can do that as well) check in for you 24 hours before the flight, and you can print your boarding pass at the airport.

My nephew and I were in the late B group on the way to FL this past February and still got to sit together.

 

[flynnibus]

We are flying SW Airlines on a direct flight from Jackson, MS to Orlando. Some friends of mine have told me stories about not being able to sit with their families because of the seating structure SW uses. If my wife does not get to sit by me, she is not going to be a happy camper to start our trip!

Can anyone shed some light on what we need to do to insure that we are able to get seats beside each other? Thanks.

It totally depends on your flight.. are you getting on a flight that is just stopping (so it already has people on it).. how full it is.. etc. Basically, just do the early check in to get in the earliest boarding group you can.. and find two seats together. There are no guarantees, but as long as you aren't the last stragglers on the plane usually it's not too much of an issue.

 

[cdswanda]

As long as you check in right away when you can you will be fine like the other commentor suggested. If you can't be on the computer you can always call Southwest at 1-800 IFLYSWA and they will check you in on the phone and you can print your pass when you get to the airport. On the bright side if you don't get to sit together the flight is super short. Good luck!

Wanda

 

[nolatron]

My wife and I have flown Southwest many times to Orlando. I usually try to make sure I check-in online as early as I can to at least get into group A or B for boarding. In those two groups, we've never had an issue getting two seats together.

If you're in C, you might start running into filled rows. So check in early!

 

[spaceghost]

Check-in online as soon as you can, preferably right at the 24 hour mark. We did so last time and still got some of the party in group A and another in group B. If that happens, just have the As "save" seats for the Bs. Not sure how large your party is, but if its just the 2 of you, you should be fine.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Should not be a problem if you are in the first two boarding groups and get your boarding passes at the same time (i.e. sequential).

I fly Southwest quite frequently and I like the new boarding procedure. Often I purchase business class which gets you automatically in the A 1-15 boarding group. The only bad part is that there seems to be more and more people that require assistance boarding and there have been times when they have boarded 10-15 people pre-board. This negates the benefit of paying more to get one of the first seats, especially if its a connecting flight.

They now board families with young kids between group A and B.

 

[accord99cutie]

I checked in at 7 am on the dot for my 7am the flight the next morning, I ended up near the back of group A. I would suggest sitting by the computer and be ready to hit the enter button at exactly 24 hours prior to your flight time! I had some ladies waiting beside me talking about how she pushed enter a few seconds too early and the extra 10 seconds it took her to back a page and hit enter again, she had already landed in the back half of B group...

 

[phenom1307]

Every time I have rode SW I have never had a problem sitting with my family. In fact there were so many empty seats I had an entire row of seats just to my self

 

[elizs77]

We've never had a problem with seating on Southwest.

I will admit, though, that we have usually flown with little ones, so we have been able to take advantage of the priority seating with little ones at times. But we haven't always done this.

Whenever we've checked in before the airport, we've gotten the A seating, which means we get *almost* first dibs on seating. At this point, seating is very plentiful.

The last time we flew, we used the priority seating because we didn't make it in to the A group as we flew back from Orlando. This meant that we were seated between groups A and B. Again, absolutely no problem.

I agree with a PP - I don't think you'll have an issue unless you are in the C group.

 

[Nemo14]

Every time I have rode SW I have never had a problem sitting with my family. In fact there were so many empty seats I had an entire row of seats just to my self

Have you flown them lately?
The past 6 or 8 flights that we've taken with them have been bookedfull or even overbooked. I love Southwest though.

 

[RobnRachal]

We LOVE Southwest!! Never a bad experience (fingers crossed) Ditto on the above posts. . just make sure you check in 24 hours ahead. We're usually a party of five, and we've never had a problem sitting together.
If you do check in exactly 24 hours ahead and find your seats are still half-way through the A boarding group, that's only because they reserve the first half of A for their "Business Select" guests. Sometimes there are only one or two people in that group.
Now. . since you are flying into Orlando please remember you may encounter families traveling with small children and they are allowed to board between A and B. That can take up seats.
There's only two of you so (fingers crossed, again) you shouldn't have any problems.
I understand your concern if I don't get to sit next to my hubby I can get kinda cranky too.

 

[justdru]

I know the feeling. My girlfriend has never flown and she's a nervous wreck about it! If she wasn't able to sit next to me on the plane - that is, if she even gets on the plane - she'd freak out.

 

[MrBug]

I've been on at least a couple SW flights where the flight attendants have used the PA to ask if folks would be willing to change seats to allow others to sit together. If for some reason it looks like you can't find 2 seats together, go ahead and ask, they'll likely try to help you out.

 

[Foolish Mortal]

Like the airline, absolutely HATE HATE HATE their boarding procedures.

 

[partyoffour]

I love southwest ! no hidden fees for bags and they give u food and drinks for free!!! I have never had a bad experience ( knock on wood ) . My trick is, and this is just between u and me , I sign on the southwest exactly 24 hours before our flight and get the first seating available. I even do this in Disney i just go to the guest services and log in right at the time 24 hours hits. So if your flight is at 12 noon you should go on a 11:50 the day before and have a quick slide of hand !! LOL

Hope this helps

 

[FrogFrog]

I sure appreciate all the advice. I will be sitting beside the computer the moment online check-in becomes available. Thanks again!

 

[RiversideBunny]

No matter where you sit you will all arrive at the same magical destination.

Have fun



BTW-
Inside joke (very inside):
How do you know when they are ready to board the passengers on a SW Airlines flight?

Answer:
They get out the cattle prods.

 

[Disney_Belle]

Southwest is by far my favorite airline to fly. I have flown with them over 40 times and have never had a bad flight with them. They are always on time, polite and quite fun actually.

As many have said, as long as you check in 24 hours you should be just fine. I have also seen on numerous occasions that if a family is separated, the flight attendants will ask people (especially solo travelers) if they can give up their seats so at least the family can be somewhat together (sometimes a parent and child in one row, and the other parent and children in the row behind them).

 

[disneygirl1]

I have flown SW a few times, and never had an issue b/c I had a baby in tow, and they typically let families with children board first. I agree with sveral of the other posters. Check in 24 hours in advance to ensure you get either A or B boarding and you should be fine.