Hoc

Just checking to see if I'm doing this wrong. I book my ticket, and then add my wife via the Companion Pass. When it comes time to check in 24 hours before the flight, I usually get it done pretty quickly, but I don't have the option of checking us both in. So, I usually have to check out, then log back in, using her confirmation number, and check in for her.

The way this usually turns out is that our boarding order is fairly separate. For example, last flight I got A 35 and she got B 7.

This wouldn't be a huge problem, except for the incident I had Saturday. I sat down in the exit row and put my coat and sweatshirt on the seat next to me for her. A lady tried to occupy that seat and the next one for her and her husband. I told her, "That's my wife." She said, "that isn't your wife." When I told her that my wife was in the next boarding group, she said, "See?" and told me that I would have to move my coat. I told her that Southwest had no official policy about seat saving, and that therefore I was allowed to do it.

The flight attendant then chimed in that their official policy was not to allow seat saving. I advised her that people have checked repeatedly with Southwest administration, and that there is no policy, so that seat saving is allowed. She later went back and checked with a senior flight attendant and came back and told me that I was wrong, because there was no official policy.

By then, my wife had already boarded and taken her seat, and the lady and her husband were seated in a different seat. But none of this would have happened had I been able to check both of us in together. So, is there a way to do this?

nsx

No, there's no way to do it without two sets of hands. Two browsers (e.g. Chrome and Firefox) can speed it a little bit if you pre-load the data in each.

You overstepped IMHO by saving a seat in the exit row. A non-exit row would have caused no trouble. The other passenger was in the right and you were in the wrong, again IMHO. In your position I would have moved to a non exit row the moment someone arrived to claim that middle seat.

So, you are not doing the check-in wrong but you are saving a premium seat which is a prime source of conflict on board that we don't need. Be satisfied with a free companion ticket and please don't get greedy. Besides, and empty middle seat beats a full exit row, and you can usually get an empty middle in rows 13-17 if the flight is less than 90% full.

rsteinmetz70112

If you don't log in to an account you can load the information into two seperate browser tabs and check into two reservations very quickly, especially if you don't print a boarding pass, as soon as the boarding number shows you are checked it. You can always go back do it later.

However it may be the new system will solve this problem, I seem to recall reports of multiple passengers on one reservation.

PAX62

If you are companion pass you are gonna get a higher boarding position than your CP just based on status regardless of when you check in either of you.

Your companion does not receive the same status benefits as the CP holder.

You want a better seat, buy her a BS fare or upgrade at the gate.

NO SEAT SAVING...bad CP, no cookie.

geo979

You should have boarded with her at B7 and then selected seats together. Don't be a seat saving hog.

Critterlynn

Companion pass itself does not equal status. That said, in a situation where neither have status, the person who checked in first will have the better boarding position

Kevin AA

The official policy for boarding is that, if you wish to board together, you board with the higher number. You can board separately if you want, but you risk sitting separately. Saving a seat, especially an exit row seat, makes you a jerk.

mareh

I don't agree that most people would have a problem with you boarding early and saving a middle seat in the back half of the plane for someone with a B7 position. However, the exit row is a different matter.

dmbolp

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ving-jerk.html

birdiedouble

When we have traveled as a group of 4 we all have the app on our phones and will all check in at the same time. Usually end up within a very close range of boarding positions. When it's just my wife and I, using two browsers or 1 browser and the app on a smartphone also works well. I've never logged in to check in.

smmrfld

Saving an exit row seat = very poor form.

Marko123

Yep you don't need to log in to check-in. Just use a phone and laptop, or 2 phones.


(Of course there was that one time when my wife/companion got a better boarding position than me somehow and had to save me a seat, but it wasn't in the exit row.)

konems

Apologies for any typos in my reply as my eyes just rolled so hard they left my body.

pkerr

NO SAVING OF PRIME LOCATION SEATS!!!

I once was lucky enough to be about number 10 to board and the person in front of me and I headed for the exit row. When we got there some one was already there and he was saving a seat for a friend.

Well the person in front of me wasn't having any of that. She was a "road warrior" and appeared to be used to this kind of behavior. She was about ready plop herself right down there regardless as to what the seat saver wanted. He stood up in a huff and headed further to the back.

I was quite pleased with this as it opened up a seat for me as well.

So remember... NO SAVING OF PRIME LOCATION SEATS!!!

ursine1

As much as we here can dislike prime seat savers, there is no policy. So the seat saver is just as correct as the person taking the seat away from them.

Southwest says they expect the customers to "work it out among themselves."

Again, for seemingly the millionth time: Rudest person wins.