Check your family in early on Southwest and get yourself a great seat for $10 each way or otherwise be prepared not to seat together!
Southwest Airlines is not like other airlines it doesn’t give passengers assigned seats, however for $10 each way it’s giving customers a better shot at scoring that window or aisle seat.
Southwest announced Wednesday that customers can pay extra to reserve a spot in the boarding line right behind elite regular fliers and ahead of families with young children and other travellers.
So what does this decision by Southwest mean for families with young children, well it could be that you get split up as you get trumped by someone willing to pay extra to reserve a spot.
This new offering comes after Southwest introduced new fees for minors travelling alone and for bringing a small pet on board. Southwest still doesn’t charge to check the first two bags, but experts and regular passengers are starting to wonder if that’s next.
Southwest, like other airlines, is desperately looking for revenue to offset a slump in traffic, especially among business travellers who usually pay higher fares for last-minute or refundable tickets.
The airline believes the early check-in charge can raise about $75 million a year, on par with Business Select tickets, which cost more but come with extras such as early boarding and a free drink. “We’d be thrilled if it became in the hundreds of millions,” Krone said.
The new $10 fee is called EarlyBird Check-in, and it was made available on Wednesday for trips beginning Thursday and beyond.
Benefits of the new charges for passengers
- Better seat placement on the aircraft
- Secure your spot 25 hours ahead of boarding to jump the boarding line
- Leapfrog all the other passengers including families.
Disadvantages of the new charges
- Families not willing to pay to jump the boarding line will be penalised
- Pay the charge and not get the seat you wanted with the A group
The early birds will still wait behind passengers who bought more costly tickets called Business Select and elite-level frequent fliers, but they’ll leapfrog over everyone else, even families traveling with small children, and they should find plenty of space in the overhead bins for their carryon luggage.
Southwest officials say that by paying the extra $10, you’ll probably be among the first 30 people to board – the “A” group – although they won’t promise it.
After “B” passengers, the last group to board Southwest planes is the “C” group. Folks in that group are usually stuck with a middle seat; Southwest’s Boeing 737 jets have three seats on each side of the center aisle.
Experienced Southwest travellers go to the company’s Web site precisely 24 hours before scheduled departure to be among the first to check in. They’ll still be able to do that, but they may find themselves far from the front of the line.
So if you find yourself flying Southwest with the kids and don’t pay the extra $10 for each family member you could find yourself displaced!
If you have experienced being separated when flying with your children, we would love to hear your story leave your comments below.
Source: Associated Press
