Flying Southwest to LAX...need early bird check in???

[AprilJ26]

I’m not sure exactly where to ask this question...hope it’s ok here. I’m just wondering if anyone has any experience flying to LAX with Southwest Airlines. We are flying from New Orleans on an early morning direct flight on March 12th. I didn’t purchase early bird check in and now I’m wondering if I should. It just seemed so expensive to not even be guaranteed an A boarding position. There are 4 of us and my youngest will be 9 at the time of our trip. He’s pretty little, though, and I can’t stand the thought of him having to sit with strangers for 4 hours if we can’t find at least two seats together when we board.
There are several flights from MSY to LAX that day...what are the odds ours will be packed with families to fill up the good boarding positions??

 

[lalasmama]

If you check in at exactly 24 hours, you'll likely be in boarding B. Even if you are in C, there will be seats together. If there's not, you can talk to a flight attendant, and they will jockey people around. There might not be window seats, but most people will be willing to change a seat to keep a minor with their parent--especially when it's a not-self-sufficient minor. For families with younger kids (it depends on the ages and attitudes of the gate agent) there will be a Family Boarding spot between groups A and B. I fly Portland to SNA and LAX, and while I've seen several families use Family Boarding, I've never seen more than 5 or 6 families use it at once. So, there's 25-ish rows, with 6 seats per row (3 per side), which makes approximately 150 seats. Boarding A is only 60 people, and so even if another 30 people went on Family Boarding, there's still 60 seats for Boarding B, so there's plenty of room

 

[AprilJ26]

If you check in at exactly 24 hours, you'll likely be in boarding B. Even if you are in C, there will be seats together. If there's not, you can talk to a flight attendant, and they will jockey people around. There might not be window seats, but most people will be willing to change a seat to keep a minor with their parent--especially when it's a not-self-sufficient minor. For families with younger kids (it depends on the ages and attitudes of the gate agent) there will be a Family Boarding spot between groups A and B. I fly Portland to SNA and LAX, and while I've seen several families use Family Boarding, I've never seen more than 5 or 6 families use it at once. So, there's 25-ish rows, with 6 seats per row (3 per side), which makes approximately 150 seats. Boarding A is only 60 people, and so even if another 30 people went on Family Boarding, there's still 60 seats for Boarding B, so there's plenty of room

Thank you for the info! I’ve talked to my youngest and explained that it’s a possibility he might have to sit with a stranger, but surely we’d be able to get a seat close enough to keep an eye on him. I always plan for the worst

 

[Hofmanns4]

We are a family of 4 and like to fly Southwest. We have never had an issue finding seats together. We almost always check in right at the 24 hour mark. But a couple times we forgot and ended up b40’s and still found 2 and 2.

 

[AprilJ26]

We are a family of 4 and like to fly Southwest. We have never had an issue finding seats together. We almost always check in right at the 24 hour mark. But a couple times we forgot and ended up b40’s and still found 2 and 2.

Thank you so much! Hoping we have good luck, also! I have a reminder set on my phone to make sure we check in at 24hrs!

 

[twodogs]

Be aware that with your youngest being 9 years old, you will not qualify for family boarding between groups A and B:

From SW website:
Do families get to preboard?

An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. If the child and the adult are both holding an “A” boarding pass, they should board in their assigned boarding position.



So either plan to sit apart worst case, or buy Early bird, or get on at 24 hours ahead (both directions, because you get a different boarding number for each flight segment, ie on the way out and then have to do it again 24 hours prior to your return flight). And by “at 24 hours”, you should be on there, logged in and ready at the exact minute it hits 24 hours before your flight departure time to get a high boarding position. Out of MSY it may not be as competitive, but we live in Dallas, and if I am not on the minute the flight opens, I will be in group C (sometimes I am anyway). And on SW, there are so many families, they are not usually willing to bend the 6 years and under family boarding rule, otherwise literally half the plane has kids of some age and would board with family boarding. Also, many of our flights from Dallas come in from elsewhere, and some of those folks are staying on the plane and heading to our destination, which means some premium seats will be taken, even before the person with A1 gets to board the flight.

So set that alarm and you should be fine to at least get 2 together!

 

[AprilJ26]

Be aware that with your youngest being 9 years old, you will not qualify for family boarding between groups A and B:

From SW website:
Do families get to preboard?

An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. If the child and the adult are both holding an “A” boarding pass, they should board in their assigned boarding position.



So either plan to sit apart worst case, or buy Early bird, or get on at 24 hours ahead (both directions, because you get a different boarding number for each flight segment, ie on the way out and then have to do it again 24 hours prior to your return flight). And by “at 24 hours”, you should be on there, logged in and ready at the exact minute it hits 24 hours before your flight departure time to get a high boarding position. Out of MSY it may not be as competitive, but we live in Dallas, and if I am not on the minute the flight opens, I will be in group C (sometimes I am anyway). And on SW, there are so many families, they are not usually willing to bend the 6 years and under family boarding rule, otherwise literally half the plane has kids of some age and would board with family boarding. Also, many of our flights from Dallas come in from elsewhere, and some of those folks are staying on the plane and heading to our destination, which means some premium seats will be taken, even before the person with A1 gets to board the flight.

So set that alarm and you should be fine to at least get 2 together!

Thanks for the info! I know we don’t qualify for family boarding, that’s why I am so worried, lol. I have an alarm set so hopefully I can get checked in early enough for a couple seats together. I did check and our flight isn’t coming from somewhere else with passengers already on board, thankfully.
Do you use the SW app for check in or do you do it from a pc? I’ve heard the app isn’t as reliable as the regular website, but our internet service at home isn’t the best.

 

[Sjwillia]

Thank you for asking this question and thanks to all who responded. We have the same situation and concerns for a flight on SWA in August. We will be flying from Portland (PDX) to LAX. Can you tell me how you find out where a flight originates to determine if it will already have passengers seated when we board?

 

[AprilJ26]

Thank you for asking this question and thanks to all who responded. We have the same situation and concerns for a flight on SWA in August. We will be flying from Portland (PDX) to LAX. Can you tell me how you find out where a flight originates to determine if it will already have passengers seated when we board?

I did a google search of my flight number and found a website..I think it’s Aviability.com maybe. It lets you type in your flight number and date and it will show all trips for that flight number for that date.

 

[DLgal]

You will be fine. Just remember to check in exactly 24 hours before.

 

[ParkHopper1]

I fly southwest several times a month and there are really more than 8-10 thru passengers on any given flight.

 

[Karyanne]

Thank you for asking this question and thanks to all who responded. We have the same situation and concerns for a flight on SWA in August. We will be flying from Portland (PDX) to LAX. Can you tell me how you find out where a flight originates to determine if it will already have passengers seated when we board?

I fly from Portland fairly frequently into lax. I have yet to have any issue with getting seats together. Generally I check in exactly 24 hours ahead and get a group for us. We fly in a party of 4-8. Once or twice we have gotten b group and we still sit together, just in the back of the plane.

 

[Denise0362]

Southwest always boards families after Group A. Works very well when we travel as a family. No problem ever getting seats together. Even if you all get Group C. When they call for family boarding board then.

From Southwest:
Do families get to preboard?

An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. If the child and the adult are both holding an “A” boarding pass, they should board in their assigned boarding position.

 

[ParkHopper1]

Southwest always boards families after Group A. Works very well when we travel as a family. No problem ever getting seats together. Even if you all get Group C. When they call for family boarding board then.

Not applicable. Youngest child is 9 per OP's original post.

 

[Denise0362]

Not applicable. Youngest child is 9 per OP's original post.

I’m sorry I missed his age!

 

[twodogs]

Thanks for the info! I know we don’t qualify for family boarding, that’s why I am so worried, lol. I have an alarm set so hopefully I can get checked in early enough for a couple seats together. I did check and our flight isn’t coming from somewhere else with passengers already on board, thankfully.
Do you use the SW app for check in or do you do it from a pc? I’ve heard the app isn’t as reliable as the regular website, but our internet service at home isn’t the best.

I always try to check in from my computer, though I have done it from my phone and it went through fine. I think either one will work. If you are on right at 24 hours and there are no through passengers on the flight, you will be fine to sit 2 and 2, I think.

Again, everyone’s experience will be a little different, depending on how crowded the flight is, how popular your origin or destination is, time of day of flight etc. So one person who got onto a not-fully sold out flight in group C and got a whole row together should be contrasted with someone who boarded a fully sold out flight with through passengers in group C, where there may not be 2 seats together (people tend to sit aisle and window and leave a lot of open middle seats, so even if you try to do the math, you need to account for that seating pattern that “ruins” a lot of 2 seats together opportunities). In Dallas where I live, we have a lot of flights with through passengers from other cities in Texas that are using Dallas as a jump-off point to other states, so through passengers impact our seats more than perhaps other origin cities. And since you have no incoming passengers, that should help you!

My kids are now 13 and 11, and they can sit by themselves of course. But I don’t like that so I rarely fly SWA for that reason. Plus their fares out of Dallas are equal or sometimes more than American, on which my husband has high status to get us checked bags, upgrades etc. So it is rare for me to try SWA, but when I do, the seating situation stresses me out too! Has always worked out though for me and the kids, and I wish the same for you! Pixie dust!!