Quick question about flying on Southwest

[mdb78]

We're flying out tomorrow morning on Southwest. DD will be a lap seat. Those of you that flew with dc as lap seat, can I check in now online or do we have to wait and do it in person at the airport? I was reading the requirements and I got confused. It says one thing and then after it takes you to the page to confirm, it says another...
I haven't flown Southwest since I was a teenager. I don't even remember if it was open seating back then, but it sounds pretty cool right now.
TIA!! :)

[Ceepa]

I know when we flew on Southwest in the spring they did "family boarding." Group A was alowwed to board. THEN families with small children. Then Group B. Then Group C. So we were able to board before a lot of folks, but were still behind Group A. It wasn't a problem and we were able to get good seats on the plane.

[mdb78]

Awesome, thanks! :D

[Octobermommy]

You can check in online, if you get in group A then you can get in line with group A. If you are in B or C then you board after group A.

[firsttimemama]

I have just flown with Southwest twice with a baby and I wish I could tell you I had good experiences but I did not. We won't be flying them again. Some things to know:

You can't check a baby in online or at curbside, and he will need a boarding document. You have to stand in line at the southwest counter inside the airport to get this. You will need an age verification document for him (ie birth cert - we don't have the official one but we had an official doc from the hospital that sufficed)

Really important: Don't know if this is their policy or if it was a fluke: Last time we flew, first leg went fine. Return trip, *I* could not check in online because they tied the baby to *my* ticket somehow and I got an error when trying to online checkin. We arrived at the airport 90 minutes early.. I was still one of the last people to check in for the flight. I almost got bumped. DH was in the A boarding group. With 2 minutes to go before the plane took off, after a lot of stress and hassle, they "found" a seat for me (they'd oversold the flight) and we both got to fly. Our tickets had been bought months ago. And we did *try* to check in early. Their website would not allow me to do this.

I hope you have a better experience than we did!!

[Tinkerbell313]

I don't know about the family boarding process as I usually try to stay away from Southwest.

However, I used them for business last week and checked in 24 hours prior...you not only board by group (A, B, C) but you also get assigned a number (not a seat number). When you get to the boarding area, you not only line up in your group, you also line up in numerical order. So, those in group A have priority over group B, and C in choosing a seat. If you are in group A, person who has number 1 obviously has priority over number 2, 3, 4, etc.

What's great is that you no longer have to get to the gate early to make sure you are in the front of the line of your group. You get to the gate, obviously before boarding time, and you find your group and your number within that group.

Not sure if I confused you even more...but hope it helps.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I've checked in online with lap babies a couple times during the past year, but I did have to show ID for both of us at the check in kiosk. Each time it has only been a direct flight, so none of the hassle firsttimemama had - geez! yuk.

You probably should call 1800IFLYSWA and tell them to add a lap baby to your reservation, and clarify with them what you need to do.

[mdb78]

Watching them grow, I'm going to call them right now. Thanks! I just remembered that when we booked the tickets online, there was no box to click that we were going to have a lap baby.

Thanks everyone. I heard how the group boarding works its just that when I tried to check in online, it said one thing about infants and youths and then when I clicked to go onto the page to finalize the checking in it said another thing that confused me. I just wanted make sure that we were not going to get screwed with the seats. I'm glad to know that they at least have family boarding after the A group.

We're only flying out with Southwest and then flying back on JetBlue so if there's any problems at least its just one flight. :)