When do families board on southwest

Obviously, if you have an A boarding pass then you will board ahead of this offer. Related: Why purchasing Southwest early boarding rarely makes sense for young families. Once you get on board, you can choose any seats that are still unoccupied. The better your boarding group and number, the larger selection of seats you will have.

This is relevant for everyone, but especially relevant if you are trying to get multiple seats together for your family. Also keep in mind that if the flight has through passengers from a previous flight, there will be seats occupied even before the person with the A-1 spot gets to board. There are a few things you can do to ensure that your family gets seats together when flying Southwest.

With EarlyBird Check-In, you can grab a spot in the boarding process 36 hours before the flight and 12 hours before the normal time frame — for an extra fee. Purchasing EarlyBird does not guarantee you will be given an A boarding spot, but you have a very good chance. As we have noted, Southwest starts handing out most spots in the boarding process exactly 24 hours before the flight. This will be the difference between you getting in the A, B or C group. Your companion will have a different confirmation number for his or her ticket, so make sure to check that person in at the hour mark as well.

Related: The best credit card pairings to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. If you have a child in your party who is 6 or under, you can just board during Family Boarding after the A group regardless of your boarding pass position.

Your children and up to two adults can board during this time. In theory, this means just 60 folks are ahead of you, but in reality, the plane can already have many passengers on board who are continuing on from an earlier flight, so a whole row together can still be hard to come by if you want to sit in the front of the plane on certain flights.

This could be a last-ditch way to board on the early side if all other methods have failed. It is also one of the reasons I prefer this card over the other two personal Southwest credit cards. Related: Why the last row on Southwest is the best place to fly. However, for many families, using Family Boarding or checking in exactly 24 hours before departure should be sufficient. Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser.

Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. Many of the credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. If you need to change to a different flight, the same principles apply. If the new flight you book costs less money, you get the difference as a credit good for one year.

But again, there are no extra fees involved in any of this. Last but certainly not least is my favorite and most-used feature of traveling with Southwest. Not only can you change flights with no penalties with Southwest, but Southwest will also give you a credit back when a flight you already have booked drops in price. For families buying 3, 4, or more tickets, even small per ticket savings can really add up. But if you watch for Southwest fare sales , you can often save your family some real money on future travel.

If you booked your flight with Rapid Rewards points, your miles will be fully refunded to your account with taxes and fees refunded in full to your credit card. And please share your tips for flying Southwest with family in the comments! I originally published this post back in before I had any relationship with the airline. As always, all opinions are my own.

Southwest discontinued those fares on June 1, I replied below already, but I wanted to make an independent comment. The age verification is to prevent child abductions and trafficking, it's not just because of fares and fees.

Even if it's a custodial interference situation where the person is actually the parent and has legit paperwork, it still allows for tracking and for the agent to check the system for flags if the abduction has been reported to law enforcement. These policies are in place because Southwest actually cares about its guests and kids and wants to keep everyone safe. I understand it can be frustrating if you show up without the documentation, but please realize how grateful you'd be if that agent stopped a stranger from taking your toddler.

Do your research and call ahead. Good luck in your travels as we all set out into the world again! I just got off the phone with a Southwest agent. Discounts for children is no longer a thing, even though the Southwest website says it may provide "Anytime" fare discounts for some flights. I spent over 3 hours in total waiting on the phone to discover this. So don't repeat my mistake! The agent was very rude and unhelpful.

Disappointing experience given I use Southwest a lot for business travel. Guess Southwest isn't looking to support families anymore. Note that today's date is 18 Feb , so maybe after all the COVID stuff runs its course Southwest will go back to offering child fares?

I don't know. Very disappointing that Southwest's website is out of date. It literally tells you to call them when booking kids' fares to discover the discount. Don't waste your time! If I was traveling with my girlfriend and we a had a baby would we be the first ones on the plane. Thank you for information , it is very helpful. Especially i did not know this part to travel with southwest , "Birth certificates are required for ALL lap children" Goodness, this save me and my baby a lot , thank you again.

Trips With Tykes is a family travel blog devoted to simplifying the logistics of traveling with young kids. Kid-friendly movie choices from a flight. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit Email. Click here to cancel reply. Liz Thursday 27th of May Griffin Wednesday 26th of May Jay Thursday 18th of February I know how difficult it can be when you have a large group flying together.

A few years ago our family of 5, with 3 teens, flew easyJet from Paris to Rome. It had seating methods similar to Southwest. Another family from the U. As it turned out, they happened to board first, found enough seats for their family of 4, and had strewn their belongings over nearby seats to save 5 for us! Honestly, it drives me crazy when people save seats on Southwest. We pay for early bird for our whole party of 3 and follow the rules.

There is not supposed to be any seat saving on Southwest. We have seen instances where one person may have paid for early bird and they save a couple rows of seats. It is not fair. Your email address will not be published.

I don't want to miss another post - sign me up for the PWaC newsletter never more than 1 email per day, and no spam. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Family boarding on Southwest Airlines — tips and tricks on how to get to sit with each other by Dan Miller Jul 23, airlines , all , southwest 12 comments.

Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them. Sharing is Caring! More from Points With A Crew. Leslie H tripswithtykes on July 24, at pm. Paul on June 27, at am. WTF is wrong with you. Pretty sure that was a joke… Reply.