cm

We have been used to getting on Southwest planes first with our 2 year old. It seems people complained. Now group A goes first. Then families with kids under 4. Then group B and C. My husband asked a man if he would give up his seat so the three of us could sit together and entertain our toddler. He said no, but the nice woman in front of him did move. Then the woman got on the loud speaker and asked if there were others who would move so kids and parents could sit together. Seems like a silly new rule to me.

kgh8m

At the risk of sounding horribly cruel, if you need to be guaranteed seats together, why fly Southwest?

I can kind of see why Southwest changed its policy - it has a first-come/first-seated policy, but if a family with a small child checks in at any time, they get priority. It would certainly be frustrating if I'd gotten to the airport a LONG time in advance if I didn't get the benefit of my efforts. Southwest probably got a lot of complaints about it.

That said, I don't fly Southwest often, and I'd probably volunteer to give up my seat.

suze

If this is a new policy, I would not fly Southwest with kids.

Fodorite018

I would vote with my dollars on this, and fly any other airline. But then again, I am not a fan of Southwest. I flew on it when DD was about 18 months old. She was exceptionally small, so I didn't think to have her birth certificate with me. She was maybe 20 pounds, if that. Anyway, they insisted she was over 2 yrs old and made me buy a ticket on the spot. They lost a customer after that.

joan

cm, are you saying that by the time A was finished boarding, there were no empty rows?

fdecarlo

At the risk of sounding facetious, if you need to sit together, why book seats that are separated?

To simply assume another passenger is going to accomodate you is just plain rude IMO. If proper seating isn't available on a given flight, choose another flight. It's what everyone else does.

Greenhouse

It's a little hard to sympathize with you on this cm.

You do have the option to check in online 24 hours prior just like everyone else to obtain group A boarding. Obviously, if everyone did this, not all would get group A, but everyone doesn't.

DebitNM

Greenhouse is correct. IF boarding first and getting seats together is a priority, then simply checkin online exactly 24 hours before your flight and you should get A seats which will enable you to get the seats you want.

Did you have 3 tickets? Or did you have 2 tickets and a lap child that you wanted a seat for? I cannot imagine anyone wanting to sit in a row of 3 seats with 2 adults and a lap baby. I also cannot imagine you not finding seats together after A boarded. That usually doesn't happen until C boards.

I love flying Southwest. It works for me as it has a hub where I fly from and the prices are great. If it doesn't work for you, then there are plenty of options.

For what it's worth, count me among the group that used to get to the airport early so I could be sure to be up front in the A section. I used to resent the families that would get to preboard that had 1 child and a group of adults that walked up the last minute and got on before me.

I love the new system; the numbering addition is great too. Way better than having to wait online early for choice of seats.

Sorry, cm, no sympathy on this one. You did post this, so all replies fair.

Deb

Doh

fdecarlo,

You don't really sound facetious, but you do sound uninformed. Southwest is a lowfare airline that does not allow booking of any seats. Rather, you get assigned to a group based on when you check in. Originally, this was based on when you got to the gate, but now they assign it based on when you check in, even for online checkins. Thus, there are now people who pay some computer service a small fee to check them in at the earliest possible moment in order to get in the first group, and I think the airline is also starting to sell access to this first group.

cabovacation

I flew SW a few times last year - before they changed the priority seating rule - and I did notice that the number of people who thought they needed priority seating was HUGE. Not just parents with young children, (who I do happen to believe need to be seated before everyone else boards just because of all their car seats and "stuff")- but every person with a cane or limp - and I am not deriding the handicapped. The lines were very long - and that was before "A" was seated. By the time "A" boarded there were no good seats left.

I think SWA has created more trouble this way, because it is also their problem that there are not seats for little children and parents. You can't exactly separate them.

I travel alone and I don't care on shorter flights where I sit.

AnnMarie_C

My take on families pre-boarding is different. I want them on first so I know where they're sitting so as to avoid them. During my last SW flight two young boys took turns kicking my seat and that of my seat mates throughout a three hour flight. Also, they had some type of dvd player with no ear plugs or volume control. Had the family pre-boarded I could have avoided this. Same goes for the screaming baby on the return flight.

cfntmpn

I'm on the totally oposite side of you on this.

I have a brother in law who is 82. Last year I took he and his wife to FL. I purchased the tickets on SW because they are the only airline that gives sr. citizen discounts AND 100% refundable tickets.

The sister-in-law had ovarian cancer and was in not very good shape. She was in a wheel chair. (since deceased)

I also flew Southwest knowing that she would get priority seating due to her being in a wheel chair.

She was seated before children...with her husband.

My husband and I took our regular seats when our group was called.

I fly over 100k miles a year and have never witnessed such good care for senior citizens and the disabled.

follow_your_bliss

I think this is a function of 2 things:

1. When the policy (families with small children pre-board) was first implemented, there was no such thing as online check-in. Families would have to show up early to guarantee an A boarding pass, but then they're stuck at the airport with small children. So the preboarding was a courtesy that the airline offered.

2. However, the preboarding has been greatly abused by families with 1 small child loading 4+ adults, and when everyone does this, it lowers the value of A boarding passes and stresses everyone else out. Now parents who need to sit together can just do what everyone else does and check in online.

FainaAgain

This is not a new policy. First disabled, then passengers with A passes, then families with small children, then B and C.

Now tell me please, why can't parents get on-line 24 hrs in advance to get A passes for everybody, including the children?

And when you got on after A, there were no 3 seats available on the whole plane, or no 3 seats OF YOUR CHOICE?

soccr

Think you're making this more complicated than it is. Southwest is now trying to court more business travelers, therefore they are offering priority seating for those who purchase business-class seating -- and they are placed automatically in the priority boarding group. They decided to have families board after Group A on the theory that they would thereby not be taking seats that business travelers wanted or, maybe, sitting too near the business travelers.

If you want to travel with kids and everyone sit together, you do have the (pricey) option to pay the higher, priority fares.

Follow the money.

DebitNM

AnnMarie has a good take on this - I may be willing to rethink this on her grounds.

I also neglected to say that following surgery this past spring, Southwest's priority seating helped me tremendously as I was in a wheel chair and couldn't really walk that much--able to get bulkhead seat and no one sat in the 3rd seat [DH was in second seat].

Like anything else, once abuse sets in, it really can turn things - i.e. the families with 1 child and 4+ adults.

Deb

MikeT

In fairness to the OP, it is very easy to be in Group A and not find three empty seats. If you get on the plane in the middle of a three or four city run, it may arrive in your city with 60 people on the plane heading with you to the next city.

DebitNM

Again, MikeT is correct. This could be a factor, but the best defense for getting seats together is to checkin online for those A passes.

AnnMarie_C

I feel bad for the parents trying to load their kids, and their stuff, while other passengers are in the aisle fiddling with the overhead bin space, etc.--here's another hurdle, mom and dad! Granted, this happens on other carriers but I think pre-boarding families on SW did make it easier on them and it was something they could count on.

Can families get permission to pre-board on other carriers?

It seemed to me, before this new policy on families was introduced, that SW was working to combat the pre-board abuse by stating only immediate family members could pre- board--parents and their children only... which left out Daryl, his other brother Daryl, their wives... I guess it didn't work out.

follow_your_bliss

FainaAgain,

It is a new policy as far as the flights I've taken. On all of the flights I took over the past 10 years til just recently, disabled persons boarded, then families with small children, THEN A.