- Introduction
- Holiday Inn Chicago Countryside
- Southwest boarding with family
- 17 pieces of luggage
- Getting through security with kids
- Android phones don't work on Southwest
- Why is renting a car such a scam?
- NV / ID / OR county trip
- Review - Thunderbird Resort
- "You're the type of parent that shouldn't have children"
- Pancake machine at the Holiday Inn Express Downers Grove
My family and I have an upcoming trip on Southwest Airlines and in the process of doing some research, I thought I would share what I learned about the boarding process on Southwest.
There are already some good links with information about this – here’s the official “rules” from Southwest and Mommy Points had a good article about it from a year or so ago.
Most people know that on Southwest does not assign seats – instead you are grouped into 3 sections and board in that order.
First there are 60 people in the A section. You line up A1-A30 and then A31-60. Apparently, in the lineup you do typically line up in order within each group as well (so A10 is near the front and A28 is at the back of the A1-30 group). Then there’s B1-30 and B31-60, and then the C group.
Between the A and B group, families traveling with young children (under 5) are allowed to board. From Southwest’s site
An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding. However, those Customers holding an “A” boarding pass should still board with the “A” boarding group.
So how do you get in the A group?
One way is to purchase the Earlybird check-in. It costs $12.50 one way, and (usually) gets you an A boarding pass. If you buy a Business Select fare (yeah, right), you also get an A1-15 boarding pass number.
Besides that, you want to check in as soon as possible. Check-in starts 24 hours before the flight, and it’s first come first serve on boarding pass numbers. So the closer to T-24 that you check in, the better your boarding pass will be.
Remember too that if you’re not on the first flight of the day, the plane will already have some passengers that are connecting.
Passengers with disabilities
Again, from the official Southwest boarding FAQ
We have a child with autism, so we may be able to board some of our family then.
Saving Seats
Saving seats is for the most part not allowed or at least discouraged. Though there are reports that it’s less of a problem towards the back of the bus I mean plane 🙂
The other thing to think about is that nobody wants to sit next to someone else’s kids either. So hopefully that will work out too.
Bottom Line
So if you don’t want to pay extra (I don’t), the best bet is to try and check in as close to 24 hours before your flight departure time as possible. I will report back after our flight with how it went for us or any other tricks we found
But what about you – anyone have any good suggestions?
This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them
User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I still have a little one under the age of 5 (I wisely spaced my children 4 1/2 years apart to maximize my access to Southwest family boarding), so not yet an issue for me. But when my husband and I travel Southwest without the kids, we do not pay for early boarding and instead go for the 24 hour check-in strategy. Just be aware you have to be quick. Have the page open and ready. Start clicking 60 seconds before.the scheduled time so you can get in at the moment the flight opens up. Speaking from experience, every second can truly make the difference between B6 and B46. If people in your group are under more than one confirmation number, have multiple people on multiple computers ready to click. For your return flight when you might not have access to a computer, make sure to get the Southwest mobile app where you can check-in on the go.
You had kids 4 1/2yrs apart specifically for SW flights? WTF is wrong with you.
Pretty sure that was a joke…
Don’t fly on Southwest. 😉
I’m not sure if this has changed since this article was written, but the Southwest website currently states that parents with children age six and under can board with the family boarding group. Hope this helps someone!
The southwest site say 6 years and younger. Which is a big deal for those of us with a 6 year old!
There are 6 of us traveling on Southwest as a family 2 of them are under the age of 8. Are we able to sit together
Depends. In my experience, if you get your boarding passes right at the 24 hour period, you should be able to find seats together towards the back of the plane
Most people are also willing to move or asked to be moved so a family can sit together if you cannot find seats in a group close together. 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.S. befriended us in the gate area and suggested that we save seats for one another, whoever got on first. (We weren’t too concerned about our family members potentially being separated since our kids were old enough to sit alone if need be.) I don’t know if saving seats was against official rules, and we’re usually a rule-following family, but this other family seemed more experienced about doing so and assured it would be no problem. 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! I hope other passengers weren’t irritated by that. I wouldn’t do that again if it’s frowned upon. If I had younger children, maybe I’d just beseech other passengers to move, in addition to trying the additional methods of getting early boarding listed above.
FYI – I just looked up on SW website what age a child must be to qualify for Family Boarding … their website says 6 and younger (not 4).
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.