luminajd

Next week will be my first time flying with SW, with my husband and 3 kids. Can someone reassure me that if I check in 24 hours prior to departure and board at family time, we will get seated next to each other? Its clearly not the end of the world if we cant, but it would be ideal.
Thanks

Jaimito Cartero

How old are your kids?

kennycrudup

Sit in the back. I'll nearly guarantee you'll all be together.

zachary

Barring highly, highly unusual circumstances, you will get seats together. 95% or better chance; maybe even 99%+.

Often1

Unless it's a flight with a lot of through passengers and you check in at T-23:58 and everybody else checks in one second earlier, you ought to be fine. If not, at least paired up 2 and 2.

How old are the kids?

luminajd

11, 8, 6

Jaimito Cartero

Checkin right at 24:00, or buy early bird. You don't get early boarding for older kids.

elevatorgeek

6 and under qualify for family boarding. The older kids should be able to board with you as well.

rsteinmetz70112

There have been reports of some OAs allowing only kids under 6 to board during family boarding with one parent. Most allow the entire family to board togeather.

Checking in at exactly T-24 should allow you to all sit together, if you are nervous purchase EBCI for all passengers.

Another question. Are you all on the same ticket? If so you will all get checked in together. If you are on more than one ticket when you check in at T-24 there may be a gaps in your boarding numbers. IF you are on more than one ticket you should prepare to use multiple browsers and/or multiple devices to ensure you are all checked in as soon as possible.

It is also remarkable how many people delay checking in. Monday afternoon my wife changed her flight from the evening to the morning for a flight she scheduled on Tuesday evening. Well under 24 hours to take off. Her new boarding number was B-30, on an almost completely sold out flight.

luminajd

I *think* we are all on the same ticket but how do I tell for sure?
Ugh, I never thought my 2 older kids might not be able to board with myself and my 6 year old. It wouldn't be the end of the world if they are split up from me and with my husband, but this their first plane ride so I want it to be awesome. I probably care more about sitting with them than they do with me
I have read quite a bit about EBCI on here, how much does it actually improve my odds? I hate to waste $75 if it doesn't really improve my odds that much .
Next questions...
On our way there, we have a stop by no plane change. On our way back, we have a plane change, so I will have to check in t24 for connecting flight as well, yes?
Thank you SO much for your help.

toomanybooks

You are way overthinking this. People get worked into such a lather over seating, but it's virtually never a problem.

How many reservations did you make? If one with all 5, you will get sequential boarding numbers almost for sure. One parent boards between A and B with the 6-year old, the other with the other 2 wherever they land.

Remember 1/3 of the plane is middles. No one traveling alone wants a middle. So 1st parent grabs an aisle and middle. Shoot for just behind exit row, if you have to, as those fill last. No one will take that window next to a 6-y.o. until near the end. So you have a spot available for a second child later. Thus the second parent only has to grab a middle somewhere for third child with either aisle/window available.

Or it conceivably would be as simple as asking someone to switch from an aisle seat to another aisle seat. Aisle is my preference, but pretty much any aisle is equivalent to another. I would always switch for you in this case.

And in some worst case scenario, an 11 y.o. should be able to sit alone in a middle a row or two away.

Now if you insist on all 5 sitting together, rather than 2 and 3, that's a bit less likely. Then you might start looking at Early Bird.

At the stop w/o plane change you can change seats.

One checkin for the plane-change trip.

rsteinmetz70112

Is there more than one confirmation number? Your confirmation email should say. You can also look it up on the website or call reservations. In fact now that I'm thinking about it I'm not absolutely positive each passenger doesn't need to check in individually. Perhaps someone else can comment on that. I never book multiple passengers on a single ticket.
EBCI are assigned boarding numbers in the order of purchase immediately following A-List passengers and before anyone who checking in a T-24. Where you end up is highly dependant on the flight and the route. Reports are the EBCI is often in the high As but can be well into the Bs Whether it's worth $75 is up to you.
You only have to check in once each for the outbound and return trips. The connecting flights will be checked in at the same time. You will get 2 boarding passes.

Troopers

If you first flight is late or if you get to the gate late after boarding starts, EBCI won't matter.

Troopers

Oddly, a few times this has not been the case for me. I had to check-in my kids separately.

rove312

It's been a long time since I've seen it, but: when you start the check-in process, is there a box next to each passenger name that needs to be checked?