Southwest Airlines, kid seating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, I'm hoping to find a way to board together. Kid is shy and would want to be with me. I don't care if the ticket is refundable, just didn't know if I needed to have the same type of ticket so we can board together.

Honestly, this is a great opportunity to push your kid out of their comfort zone a bit. So what if they're shy? Perfectly socially acceptable to put on headphones on a plane, smile hello, and then not talk to your seatmate for the entire duration of a flight.

I am not a helicopter parent, I have let my 7 year old fly unaccompanied and would be happy to let them sit alone, but I would not leave an 11 year old and board alone. I have heard too many stories where a party is split up and one member gets left behind.

OP, very worst scenario, you board with your kid in his boarding group. You can always board later than your assigned group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, I'm hoping to find a way to board together. Kid is shy and would want to be with me. I don't care if the ticket is refundable, just didn't know if I needed to have the same type of ticket so we can board together.

You do not.

But you do need to familiarize yourself with SWA's boarding procedures. It is not typical. You board in groups - A, B, and C. There are 60 slots in each group. And then when you get on the plane it's open seating. So A group has their choice of the entire plane and C group basically gets what left. So what you need to concentrate on here is either paying extra to board in A group or making absolutely certain you check in exactly 24 hours before so that you're in B group. Because the lower your group and number, the more likely it is that there will only be middle seats left, and because of the open seating people on SWA are not likely to be open to moving. So if you want to sit with your son make sure you are in A or B group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, I'm hoping to find a way to board together. Kid is shy and would want to be with me. I don't care if the ticket is refundable, just didn't know if I needed to have the same type of ticket so we can board together.

Honestly, this is a great opportunity to push your kid out of their comfort zone a bit. So what if they're shy? Perfectly socially acceptable to put on headphones on a plane, smile hello, and then not talk to your seatmate for the entire duration of a flight.

I realize OP has already made her decision, but really folks, air travel is not the place to do this if your kid is not up for it. It's perfectly ok for an 11 year old to want to sit with their parent and for their parent to make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, I'm hoping to find a way to board together. Kid is shy and would want to be with me. I don't care if the ticket is refundable, just didn't know if I needed to have the same type of ticket so we can board together.

Honestly, this is a great opportunity to push your kid out of their comfort zone a bit. So what if they're shy? Perfectly socially acceptable to put on headphones on a plane, smile hello, and then not talk to your seatmate for the entire duration of a flight.

I realize OP has already made her decision, but really folks, air travel is not the place to do this if your kid is not up for it. It's perfectly ok for an 11 year old to want to sit with their parent and for their parent to make it happen.

What? Why in the world not? If for some reason kid gets a C, Dad can board with kid in the C section. So they’d be sitting in two middle seats near each other. 11 year olds are perfectly capable of sitting quietly and flying without their parent immediately next to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, I'm hoping to find a way to board together. Kid is shy and would want to be with me. I don't care if the ticket is refundable, just didn't know if I needed to have the same type of ticket so we can board together.

Honestly, this is a great opportunity to push your kid out of their comfort zone a bit. So what if they're shy? Perfectly socially acceptable to put on headphones on a plane, smile hello, and then not talk to your seatmate for the entire duration of a flight.

I realize OP has already made her decision, but really folks, air travel is not the place to do this if your kid is not up for it. It's perfectly ok for an 11 year old to want to sit with their parent and for their parent to make it happen.

What? Why in the world not? If for some reason kid gets a C, Dad can board with kid in the C section. So they’d be sitting in two middle seats near each other. 11 year olds are perfectly capable of sitting quietly and flying without their parent immediately next to them.

Capable yes. But we fly for vacation and want to enjoy ourselves and be relaxed. So we pay for priority boarding.

[Anonymous]

Why do people subject themselves to this nonsense? Garbage airline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, I'm hoping to find a way to board together. Kid is shy and would want to be with me. I don't care if the ticket is refundable, just didn't know if I needed to have the same type of ticket so we can board together.

Honestly, this is a great opportunity to push your kid out of their comfort zone a bit. So what if they're shy? Perfectly socially acceptable to put on headphones on a plane, smile hello, and then not talk to your seatmate for the entire duration of a flight.

I realize OP has already made her decision, but really folks, air travel is not the place to do this if your kid is not up for it. It's perfectly ok for an 11 year old to want to sit with their parent and for their parent to make it happen.

What? Why in the world not? If for some reason kid gets a C, Dad can board with kid in the C section. So they’d be sitting in two middle seats near each other. 11 year olds are perfectly capable of sitting quietly and flying without their parent immediately next to them.

*Sigh* - reading is fundamental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people subject themselves to this nonsense? Garbage airline.

Its not at all. Love this airline, far prefer it over United. We used family boarding for a very long time without issue (long past age 6) and now we just pay for early bird check-in. Never once had an issue sitting together and we fly them 2-3x a year at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They probably will not say anything if you just board together. If that feels wrong/pushy to you, you can board first and save a seat for your child. At 11 he can board by himself.

I would not pay extra.

I literally had a SW worker give me a hassle about letting my 6 year to board with me in my group because she was booked in the next group. So I was the end of the A's and my daughter was the beginning on the Bs.

I would not let an 11 year board by themselves on SW. People are not nice.

So you do family boarding but no, you can't both board during A boarding. If you were already at the end of A you would be next anyway. Not worth getting into a fight with the agent over this.

So I was supposed to board the plan and leave my 6 year old in the terminal to wait their turn? You don't seem that smart. I've been on several flights that didn't offer family boarding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much for the feedback.

Yes, I'm hoping to find a way to board together. Kid is shy and would want to be with me. I don't care if the ticket is refundable, just didn't know if I needed to have the same type of ticket so we can board together.

Honestly, this is a great opportunity to push your kid out of their comfort zone a bit. So what if they're shy? Perfectly socially acceptable to put on headphones on a plane, smile hello, and then not talk to your seatmate for the entire duration of a flight.

I realize OP has already made her decision, but really folks, air travel is not the place to do this if your kid is not up for it. It's perfectly ok for an 11 year old to want to sit with their parent and for their parent to make it happen.

What? Why in the world not? If for some reason kid gets a C, Dad can board with kid in the C section. So they’d be sitting in two middle seats near each other. 11 year olds are perfectly capable of sitting quietly and flying without their parent immediately next to them.

So you let your 11 year old girl sit in the middle seat between two men? No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They probably will not say anything if you just board together. If that feels wrong/pushy to you, you can board first and save a seat for your child. At 11 he can board by himself.

I would not pay extra.

I literally had a SW worker give me a hassle about letting my 6 year to board with me in my group because she was booked in the next group. So I was the end of the A's and my daughter was the beginning on the Bs.

I would not let an 11 year board by themselves on SW. People are not nice.

So you do family boarding but no, you can't both board during A boarding. If you were already at the end of A you would be next anyway. Not worth getting into a fight with the agent over this.

So I was supposed to board the plan and leave my 6 year old in the terminal to wait their turn? You don't seem that smart. I've been on several flights that didn't offer family boarding.

DP here. All Southwest family boarding and its always between A and B. I'm guessing what happened to you was just one overzealous gate agent. But in terms of seat selection, there is no meaningful difference between the end of the A's and doing Family Boarding. Either position will still have loads of entirely empty rows to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They probably will not say anything if you just board together. If that feels wrong/pushy to you, you can board first and save a seat for your child. At 11 he can board by himself.

I would not pay extra.

I literally had a SW worker give me a hassle about letting my 6 year to board with me in my group because she was booked in the next group. So I was the end of the A's and my daughter was the beginning on the Bs.

I would not let an 11 year board by themselves on SW. People are not nice.

So you do family boarding but no, you can't both board during A boarding. If you were already at the end of A you would be next anyway. Not worth getting into a fight with the agent over this.

So I was supposed to board the plan and leave my 6 year old in the terminal to wait their turn? You don't seem that smart. I've been on several flights that didn't offer family boarding.

No moron, you board with your kid when it's their turn. You are not an experienced traveler if you can't figure this out.