One of the big worries with flying Southwest Airlines as a family has traditionally been, ‘Will we be able to sit together?’ Southwest employs an oddball boarding system where passengers don’t have a preassigned seat but rather a ticket with a boarding group of A, B or C and then numbered 1 through 60 within that letter. People roughly line up according to that numbering system and, once on the plane, take the first available seat that suits their fancy. Since most people prefer window or aisle seats, that means an airplane usually winds up with a lot of empty middle seats, and few parents enjoy stowing a toddler between strangers for the flight’s duration.
Southwest has typically had families board just after the A group, but that usually doesn’t always ensure the family gets a row together. But now, as reported by The Street, Southwest is trying out a system—currently, just in Atlanta—where families (two adults with a child aged 6 or under) are allowed to board before the A group—so long as they don’t take seats in the first 15 rows. A Southwest representative confirmed this with Time Out, adding, 'This will take place in several phases through the first quarter of 2023 and is not an indication of a forthcoming policy change and not a Network-wide test, at this time. Specifically, we’re testing including a designated space in the gate area that organizes pre-board passengers and families prior to the start of the boarding process in several different iterations.'
Seems like a better plan, and that way the elite A group passengers (people who have paid extra for that benefit, business class passengers—or who people just lucked out when checking in) still get the coveted seats near the front of the plane, and parents can relax knowing they can protect their offspring from any snakes on the plane.
It’s still not perfect. For instance, no one wants a 7 year-old to have to sit by themselves; the cut-off of 6 years seems random. But it’s a step in the right direction. The Department of Transportation is working to ensure, based on a 2016 law, that families can sit together without paying extra. That law, the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act, states that the Secretary of State must create a policy for all airlines to permit enable any child, aged 13 or under, to sit adjacent to the seat of an accompanying family member over 13, with no additional cost. Wheels up, crayons down!
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