Boarding with children

[DebT]

Will six of us be able to board together during "families with small children" boarding? There are four adults and two children ages 2 and 4.

[bec102896]

@DebT

Here is the info I found on the southwest website 

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 I believe with 2 kids 2 adults can board during family boarding (1 adult per child) the other adults would need to board with their own group 

If you have 2 adults with A boarding send them first and they can save a seat for the rest of your group and the others can do family boarding if you don't all have A boarding 

Hope this helps

Blake

[TheMiddleSeat]

The policy is as Blake stated, but the gate agent is often willing to allow extra people to board if they are all traveling together.  If none of the adults are in the A boarding group then talk to the gate agent before boarding to see if they will let you all board during family boarding.  Worst case scenario, have some people board duing family boarding and save a couple seats for the remaining adults who board in the B or C group.  It's usually not too hard to save a couple middle seats.

--TheMiddleSeat

[DancingDavidE]

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@bec102896 wrote:

@DebT

Here is the info I found on the southwest website 

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 I believe with 2 kids 2 adults can board during family boarding (1 adult per child) the other adults would need to board with their own group 

If you have 2 adults with A boarding send them first and they can save a seat for the rest of your group and the others can do family boarding if you don't all have A boarding 

Hope this helps

Blake

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The policy says "an adult" but I think can be interpreted to be an adult, and an(nother) adult - I've never seen them reject two parents from boarding with one child. Who are the other two adults? They may be case-by-case if not the parents - i.e. grandparents...makes sense. Two unrelated traveling friends, maybe not?

[chgoflyer]

Back when the gay couple was denied Family Boarding, they had the children's grandparents with them, and there was much discussion afterwards regarding the denial being because of the grandparents, and not because they were a non-traditional family.

In general, Family Boarding is for the children and their parents(s) or guardian(s), only, not the extended family.