swdke

I booked some flights from MCO-DAY on the Southwest website. Aircraft will be those operated on Air Tran. Am I able to call Air Tran and select seat assignments? Thanks.

mke9499

My information is that seats will be assigned at check-in, even if you have elite status. Even for those with elite status, no pre-assigned (pre-check-in) seat selection will be available, but boarding will be in Zone 1.

FindAWay

Your seat assignment will be made automatically at check-in. However, I don't think anyone has reported (either way) about changing the seats after such assignment.

There is a lot of discussion in this thread: Southwest and AirTran begin connecting networks

According to WN's website's FAQ on the networks connectivity (choose the "Seat Assignment" subtopic):

iTanNicNic

The phone rep I had the other day said that seat assignments "are in the works"... which doesn't make much sense unless they are just tweaking the AirTran website to allow checkin there similar to how DL/NW did during their merger

Nennie

I emailed Southwest about this, as I'm concerned b/c my upcoming trip was booked on points, which resulted in 3 seperate confirmation numbers. I'm traveling with a baby and a 4 year old, so obviously would like to sit with them.

Here is reply from SW:

We certainly thank you for being proactive in contacting us to inquire about our policies. We appreciate the opportunity to respond.

Our open-seating policy has been quite the success since our inception, but it’s easy to understand that families with young children (age four and under) need to sit together. To make that possible, we created Family Boarding, allowing children and a guardian to board after the A boarding group. AirTran also has a family boarding zone where families can get situated prior to departure. We understand the concern with the seat assignments that will be automatic through AirTran. If you are not assigned a seat with your children, please discuss your needs with the Customer Service Agent at your AirTran departure gate and they will assist you at that time.

Thanks again for contacting us. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us anytime at 1-800-I-FLY-SWA (1-800-435-9792).

Sincerely,
Melissa, Southwest Airlines

So, I guess I just wait and see what happens? Hoping that they are leaving some empty seats for those SW customers who may need to be rearranged at the gate!

PA42

I can help you out with this...See your PM Inbox.

TimesTwo

Glad I saw his thread as I was just going to pose the same question. Yesterday I booked flights for the fall with our 2 year old twins and I have the same concern for our Air Tran flight. Will look forward to hearing your resolution.

tjs198

anyone figure out how to reserve seats in advance?

ajpaterson

I'm in the same boat as original poster. Travelling with my daughters 7 and 10 on airtran flights in July booked through Southwest.com and I fully expected to be able to buy either southwest's earlybird check-in or Airtran's pre-selected seats as usual. I'm pretty sure that it didn't tell me I couldn't do either option until I had already checked out. Most airlines give you a reservation code you can use on the codeshare airline's website to do seat selection. Finding out 24-hours before the flight that we will get the last few individual middle seats all over the plane and then not being able to do anything about it until you are on the plane is not the way to begin a de-stress vacation. I'd be happy to pre-pay a seat selection fee.

GottaLuvCruising

I booked my son's family of five on Airtran, via the Southwest web site. I thought I was being really clever by printing the available seats before I booked anticipating that five of them would disappear and I'd know that they were seated together. Not so much! His youngest is 3 years old, so obviously they will have to assign one of the parents to sit with her. We'll see how it goes...

InkUnderNails

Why is this so hard? C'mon Southwest. You are dropping the ball here.

Passenger gets PRN but there is not facility on WN site to assign seat. I get that.

Passenger goes to AirTran site and a link is provided that says "Select Seats for Ticket Purchased using Southwest."

It takes the passenger to a simple screen that allow the entering of the PRN and Last Name. The computers verify that the credentials are valid for the flight and allows selection of seats.

It is not even complicated programming.

Wait..... I think I may have just found the problem. Never mind.

As you were.

steved5480

^^^

CarolinaSarah07

I'm in this same situation -- there are fourteen of us traveling, including a 5-year-old, 2-year-old, and 6-month-old. Obviously I don't NEED to assign seats for everyone, but it would be really nice to be able to guarantee the little ones are with their parents. PM sent, PA42!

lougord99

Well, the complication comes in that the AirTran site must verify that you have paid the WN site for the privilege of seat selection prior to T-24.

InkUnderNails

Set bit, 0 or 1. There has to be a spare byte in the passenger record that they could use for these binary properties. Good programmers leave this kind of stuff in.........

I did it again.

Never mind.

As you were.