Flying SW with a kid too old for family boarding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A sw agent told me you can family board with kids up to 12. They don’t advertise it but said it’d be fine.

This does appear to be a recent policy change that isn't 100% official yet.

https://simpleflying.com/southwest-airlines-changes-family-boarding/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A sw agent told me you can family board with kids up to 12. They don’t advertise it but said it’d be fine.

This does appear to be a recent policy change that isn't 100% official yet.

https://simpleflying.com/southwest-airlines-changes-family-boarding/

I’ve been family boarding with kids older than 6 for six years. They may be spreading the word now, but they never enforced 6 or anything close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A sw agent told me you can family board with kids up to 12. They don’t advertise it but said it’d be fine.

. Yup we fly SW all the time and the last time me and my now 8 year old got B30, while we were boarding the gate agent said we should have boarded with family boarding. no one wants your elementary school kid to sit next to them in a middle seat with the parent in a different row.

Exactly. My experience has been that southwest loves families. Not the entitled a-holes that forced them to have an early boarding group people could pay for.

Yeah I’m kind of surprised the bitter PP flies southwest, seems like there would be too many kids and not enough amenities for their liking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just get in line for family boarding with older kids. No one has ever stopped us. Done it dozens of times.

This. My kids are older, but i’be always seen families prevailed including the older siblings. Are you seriously thinking of leaving your 8 year old stand in line alone while the 4 of you pre board with families?!! and what would you do if he doesn’t show up?

OP back… this thread took a turn.

I was more afraid that 1) SW would stop us and I wouldn’t have gone on 24 hours on the dot and had boarding group D or 2) passengers would be angry and yell/ make comments at us. I’m not confrontational so I’d probably just step out of family boarding.

My 8 year old is fully capable of sitting alone and I am not concerned about that. In fact he likes to be by himself. In the airport though? I’d be concerned though I think he could handle it.

I don't know the whole composition of your family, but the kid can bring any 2 people on with them. I mean, one needs to be old enough to be useful, but you can totally count the 8 year old as one of the two people for one of the younger kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have the formula wrong, it not more than two adults per kid under 6. It prevents grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle, adult cousin, creepy uncle’s trophy wife from all saying “but we’re family”.

This. Why is this so hard for people to understand?

Just because people breed doesn’t mean they get special status. There should be no kid boarding at all. Everyone waits in line or pays extra for group A.

I appreciate the OP having her child wait his turn. Kids aren’t special.

Southwest does not give special status to people who breed. If they did, then you would be able to do family boarding by showing a DNA test, on a business trip. They give special status to people under 6, including allowing them to have someone to support them with them. Southwest does not discriminate. A 4 year old can bring their parents, even if they are adopted. They can also bring Grandma, or a babysitter overseeing a custody exchange, or a teenage sibling.

[Anonymous]

I was told by a SW boarding agent that they’re not allowed to question why you think you need early boarding. They said it was fine for me to do early boarding with my 10 year old twins. The people who boarded at the same time as us included an older couple and their special needs 30-something son. I wouldn’t worry about anyone hassling you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was told by a SW boarding agent that they’re not allowed to question why you think you need early boarding. They said it was fine for me to do early boarding with my 10 year old twins. The people who boarded at the same time as us included an older couple and their special needs 30-something son. I wouldn’t worry about anyone hassling you.

That's weird, not that they let you board, but disability preboarding is before A, family between A and B, so I'm not sure why you boarded with them, unless maybe they were late and missed preboard or didn't know about it?

The preboard process for them is really smooth. I have more experience with that than family boarding.

[Anonymous]

You have two kids under the age of six. Each child can bring two extra people to pre-boarding. That's four extra people in total. Your family will be fine since you have two children under six and three additional pre-boarders.

[Anonymous]

People send their little kids alone on flights all the time to visit grandparents or non custodial parents but now they can’t sit alone on the trip to Disney?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People send their little kids alone on flights all the time to visit grandparents or non custodial parents but now they can’t sit alone on the trip to Disney?

Why should a little kid have to sit alone when their parents are on the same flight? Jfc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just get in line for family boarding with older kids. No one has ever stopped us. Done it dozens of times.

This. My kids are older, but i’be always seen families prevailed including the older siblings. Are you seriously thinking of leaving your 8 year old stand in line alone while the 4 of you pre board with families?!! and what would you do if he doesn’t show up?

OP back… this thread took a turn.

I was more afraid that 1) SW would stop us and I wouldn’t have gone on 24 hours on the dot and had boarding group D or 2) passengers would be angry and yell/ make comments at us. I’m not confrontational so I’d probably just step out of family boarding.

My 8 year old is fully capable of sitting alone and I am not concerned about that. In fact he likes to be by himself. In the airport though? I’d be concerned though I think he could handle it.

I don't know the whole composition of your family, but the kid can bring any 2 people on with them. I mean, one needs to be old enough to be useful, but you can totally count the 8 year old as one of the two people for one of the younger kids.

Actually it’s unlimited kids. Max 2 adults. You can’t bring the grandparents too.

[Anonymous]

You are good as long as you have ONE kid in your group who is 6 or under.

Only when my youngest was over 6 - aka 7, and now 8, have I started paying more to ensure we board early. At some point I'll stop paying extra for that but IDK when.

I am risk averse and want to assure we sit together right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are good as long as you have ONE kid in your group who is 6 or under.

Only when my youngest was over 6 - aka 7, and now 8, have I started paying more to ensure we board early. At some point I'll stop paying extra for that but IDK when.

I am risk averse and want to assure we sit together right now.

Me again - if this is wrong - I guess it is a moot point for me. I have 3 kids. And we boarded as a family as long as we had one 6 or under and no one said anything to us and I thought I was following the rules. If I wasn't - it's too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are good as long as you have ONE kid in your group who is 6 or under.

Only when my youngest was over 6 - aka 7, and now 8, have I started paying more to ensure we board early. At some point I'll stop paying extra for that but IDK when.

I am risk averse and want to assure we sit together right now.

They don’t care. We’ve gone though family boarding with a 9 year old and 12 year old (and no other kids.) The only thing I’ve seen them be strict about is 2 adults per family. If you are traveling with other adults (grandma, nanny, whatever) only two adults can board with family boarding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People send their little kids alone on flights all the time to visit grandparents or non custodial parents but now they can’t sit alone on the trip to Disney?

Sure, but they are unaccompanied minors and airline staff check in on them