i often can not find seats together for me and my kids. Even when i book WAY in advance. I think the seats are there, but the airlines don't always show all available seats at any given time. If it weren't for passengers being kind enough to switch a seat now and then... then I'm not sure what I would do.

On the other hand, I doubt anyone wants to sit next to my 2 year old alone?! It's really in the best interest of everyone to let parents be able to sit next to their young children. My 6 year old is fine! I give him an iPad and a bag of snacks and he can sit next to anyone.

Anonymous wrote:I just don't think families should get to board first, just because they're...families. It doesn't make any sense, and punishes people without kids.

(Yes, I have kids, yes, I'm the one who doesn't fly WN)

So, what should parents of young kids do - we generally do not travel for fun but for medical appointments so not flying isn't an option. I am happy to give up my seat if I am alone for a family. I don't want to be entertaining some kid for hours in less mom/dad needs the help vs. cannot sit by them.

I just don't think families should get to board first, just because they're...families. It doesn't make any sense, and punishes people without kids.

(Yes, I have kids, yes, I'm the one who doesn't fly WN)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 and all had to sit separately. (kids were 8 and 10) The flight attendant tried desperately to get someone to move so my 8 yr old who was freaking out about sitting alone would be able to sit next to one of us, but no one budged!!

Good for them! You need to be flying an airline that allows you to pay for seats together instead of hassling other passengers.

Perhaps the person who is unwilling to display a bit of common decency should be the one flying another airline so they get their seat of choice. Southwest is not the airline for the inflexible.

I was recently on Southwest and a family was the last to board because their connection was late. I was next to one of the few open sets and was happy to move so the mom could sit with her four year old. WTH is the big deal?

I don't fly Southwest. I do however, fly an airline on which I have elite status and therefore my family and I can pick seats for free and we are not separated. If I did not have elite status, I would pay for my family to have seats together. You should never harass another passenger because you did not prepare well or decided to fly an airline that doesn't actually meet your needs.

Harassment is always bad but in my experience Southwest attendants don't harass anyone, they ask for volunteers. Obviously you should never feel obligated to do something if you are being bullied.

Anyway, the situation you describe is different. There is no way to pick a seat ahead of time on Southwest. Generally the family boarding arrangement takes care of it, but every now and then there's an issue. For the person saying, oh just don't fly Southwest then, please. To some cities Southwest offers the only direct flight from DC, and often prices are better than other airlines (although not so much anymore). And there is always a chance, despite buying all your seats together on another carrier, that your flight gets cancelled and you're at the whim of the airline on your rescheduled flight.

It's not different, actually. Family boarding is ridiculous concept to begin with - and no passenger should have to move because you couldn't figure out how to get things to work.

I'm not sure what you mean. What's wrong with family boarding? Would you rather all these families were in the C group and asking you to move?

If you're the person who doesn't fly Southwest, I actually think it DOES work quite well on that airline. I've been asked far less often to switch on SW than on other airlines where you have to pay to select a seat (which many people don't elect to do). As long as you're at the gate in time, there generally isn't an issue.

When we're on other airlines, we'll pay to select seats together but it doesn't always work. Had to book a short notice flight to attend a family funeral and flights were pretty full already and we couldn't book seats together. Luckily once we got to the gate the agent got us pairs of two seets together so it was fine.

It's all tradeoffs. There's no perfect airline out there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 and all had to sit separately. (kids were 8 and 10) The flight attendant tried desperately to get someone to move so my 8 yr old who was freaking out about sitting alone would be able to sit next to one of us, but no one budged!!

Good for them! You need to be flying an airline that allows you to pay for seats together instead of hassling other passengers.

Perhaps the person who is unwilling to display a bit of common decency should be the one flying another airline so they get their seat of choice. Southwest is not the airline for the inflexible.

I was recently on Southwest and a family was the last to board because their connection was late. I was next to one of the few open sets and was happy to move so the mom could sit with her four year old. WTH is the big deal?

I don't fly Southwest. I do however, fly an airline on which I have elite status and therefore my family and I can pick seats for free and we are not separated. If I did not have elite status, I would pay for my family to have seats together. You should never harass another passenger because you did not prepare well or decided to fly an airline that doesn't actually meet your needs.

Harassment is always bad but in my experience Southwest attendants don't harass anyone, they ask for volunteers. Obviously you should never feel obligated to do something if you are being bullied.

Anyway, the situation you describe is different. There is no way to pick a seat ahead of time on Southwest. Generally the family boarding arrangement takes care of it, but every now and then there's an issue. For the person saying, oh just don't fly Southwest then, please. To some cities Southwest offers the only direct flight from DC, and often prices are better than other airlines (although not so much anymore). And there is always a chance, despite buying all your seats together on another carrier, that your flight gets cancelled and you're at the whim of the airline on your rescheduled flight.

It's not different, actually. Family boarding is ridiculous concept to begin with - and no passenger should have to move because you couldn't figure out how to get things to work.

Anonymous wrote:Just flew Southwest with my twin 5-year olds. We were on a non-stop flight so we didn't have your problem when we boarded after A group. But the last people to board the flight was a family of 3 - mom and two young daughters, maybe 6 and 9. The flight attendant made an announcement that there was a family aboard that would like to sit together and asked if some people would give up their seats. The flight attendant offered one free drink ticket to each passenger willing to move. Wasn't a problem.

This. I've seen this done many times on Southwest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 and all had to sit separately. (kids were 8 and 10) The flight attendant tried desperately to get someone to move so my 8 yr old who was freaking out about sitting alone would be able to sit next to one of us, but no one budged!!

Good for them! You need to be flying an airline that allows you to pay for seats together instead of hassling other passengers.

Perhaps the person who is unwilling to display a bit of common decency should be the one flying another airline so they get their seat of choice. Southwest is not the airline for the inflexible.

I was recently on Southwest and a family was the last to board because their connection was late. I was next to one of the few open sets and was happy to move so the mom could sit with her four year old. WTH is the big deal?

I don't fly Southwest. I do however, fly an airline on which I have elite status and therefore my family and I can pick seats for free and we are not separated. If I did not have elite status, I would pay for my family to have seats together. You should never harass another passenger because you did not prepare well or decided to fly an airline that doesn't actually meet your needs.

Harassment is always bad but in my experience Southwest attendants don't harass anyone, they ask for volunteers. Obviously you should never feel obligated to do something if you are being bullied.

Anyway, the situation you describe is different. There is no way to pick a seat ahead of time on Southwest. Generally the family boarding arrangement takes care of it, but every now and then there's an issue. For the person saying, oh just don't fly Southwest then, please. To some cities Southwest offers the only direct flight from DC, and often prices are better than other airlines (although not so much anymore). And there is always a chance, despite buying all your seats together on another carrier, that your flight gets cancelled and you're at the whim of the airline on your rescheduled flight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 and all had to sit separately. (kids were 8 and 10) The flight attendant tried desperately to get someone to move so my 8 yr old who was freaking out about sitting alone would be able to sit next to one of us, but no one budged!!

Good for them! You need to be flying an airline that allows you to pay for seats together instead of hassling other passengers.

Perhaps the person who is unwilling to display a bit of common decency should be the one flying another airline so they get their seat of choice. Southwest is not the airline for the inflexible.

I was recently on Southwest and a family was the last to board because their connection was late. I was next to one of the few open sets and was happy to move so the mom could sit with her four year old. WTH is the big deal?

I don't fly Southwest. I do however, fly an airline on which I have elite status and therefore my family and I can pick seats for free and we are not separated. If I did not have elite status, I would pay for my family to have seats together. You should never harass another passenger because you did not prepare well or decided to fly an airline that doesn't actually meet your needs.

Southwest is different because you can't pick your seats in advance and you really are at the mercy of other passengers or flight attendants.

On other airlines, you pick your seats in advance so what got people agitated on the other threads was a poster who said she knowingly booked a flight with 4 seats apart and basically said, oh well, I guess I'll have to ask someone to switch with me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 and all had to sit separately. (kids were 8 and 10) The flight attendant tried desperately to get someone to move so my 8 yr old who was freaking out about sitting alone would be able to sit next to one of us, but no one budged!!

Good for them! You need to be flying an airline that allows you to pay for seats together instead of hassling other passengers.

Perhaps the person who is unwilling to display a bit of common decency should be the one flying another airline so they get their seat of choice. Southwest is not the airline for the inflexible.

I was recently on Southwest and a family was the last to board because their connection was late. I was next to one of the few open sets and was happy to move so the mom could sit with her four year old. WTH is the big deal?

Anonymous wrote:I was just on a SW flight, and if I heard things correctly, they gave a passenger who moved for a family a free flight.

You sure it wasn't a free drink?

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 4 and all had to sit separately. (kids were 8 and 10) The flight attendant tried desperately to get someone to move so my 8 yr old who was freaking out about sitting alone would be able to sit next to one of us, but no one budged!!

Good for them! You need to be flying an airline that allows you to pay for seats together instead of hassling other passengers.

I was just on a SW flight, and if I heard things correctly, they gave a passenger who moved for a family a free flight.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a dumb question, but how can I figure out whether my flight is a connecting flight originating from somewhere else? We are travelling as a family on southwest soon and I've been thinking of this issue as well.

OP here, if you search for the flight number they would be the same. You won't be able to tell how many people are getting on and off, but if the city before it is en route, there's a good chance many passengers stay on the plane for the next leg. A ticket agent would verify for you, too.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Never had to sit them with strangers. People have moved for us and are generally polite about it.

You think someone is going to kidnap the kid on the plane.

I pay for early boarding and you should do the same if you want to sit together.

Yikes you are a rude one! The problem is the second leg when you get on a flight which is a continuation for it is loaded with the people from their original leg also.

OP, the PP is one you want to sit the 3 year old by and then go to the back and close your eyes.

It happened once, 5 yr old, and we got along fine. Read him a couple of stories.

You sound creepy!