Help...flying for 2nd time and have ???'s

[beksy]

Hi everyone! This May when we go to Disney we are going to be flying. My sister and I flew in February and it was the first time I'd flown other than school trips and Beka's first time at all. Dad has a major fear of flying but now I can't imagine doing it any other way...we really used to waste four days on the road?!?! Anyway, February was a learning experience. We flew on Ted by United and it was ok but not great and flew out of Dulles which worked fine. After hearing all the good things about Southwest and realizing how much money I'll save (especially with all the baggage fees now!), I'm going to go that route. I know that there are no reserved seats, so is the seating order (A, B, or C) determined on when I book the tickets or check-in or some other method completley? Also, now that I'm in Morgantown, the Pittsburgh airport is two hours closer than Dulles but I don't have any experience with it. I'm thinking that is definately the way to go, especially after looking at the times of flights but would love some input from people who have used these airport and how it compares to others in ease of getting around, parking, etc. Also, how does parking work? Last time Dad dropped us off but this time I'll be driving and leaving my car there for the week. TIA! I knew I should just turn this over to the travel experts for answers instead of trying to figure it all out on my own (and probably wasting time and money). :mickey: 108 days! :yay::chipdale:

[disneyfan328]

Congrats on your upcoming trip! We flew SW in Sept 2007 and it was great.

parking at PGH airport if you are going to be leaving your car for a week or more is easiest and really not much more than a few dollars difference than parking at one of the outside parking places that then shuttle you. Make sure to park in LONG Term parking. Its about 5-6$ a day.

We were able to pull up and drop off our luggage outside at SW ( note that I did hear that this changed I am sure that someone who has flown more recently will be along to correct me) It was very convienent and there were no fees for 2 bags per person.

As far as the Seating - ABC order - what you have to do is get online EXACTLY 24 hours before your flight and check in - this will give you a boarding letter and number I believe like A 10 or B 12. A boarding boards first. After A it is people with small children then B and C and so on. We were able to get A no problem last trip. You have to do the same for your return flight as well - most of the resorts and Guest Services in the parks will do it for you. My husband did it at MK for our return flight and it worked out great. SW from what I hear also makes every effort to try and rearrange families if there is a need for people to sit together. For SW I believe you have to have a child under 5 to board between a & b or just go on and try for those A passes. I was told that there is now a letter and number which means that you don't have to herd to the A line an hour before flight time to line up with all the other A people. if you are A 10 you would be the 10th person in the A line. ect ect. again if this is not correct or I misunderstood someone will correct me.

SW was great and the flight from PGH Int'l was only a little over 2 hours. It was really easy and we can't wait to fly them again in April

have a great trip :)

[ThanxForNoticin]

Disneyfan328 has it pretty well covered.

SW has open seating - no pre-assigned seats. 24 hours prior to your flight's departure time, you can go online, check-in, and print out your boarding pass. If you can't print the boarding passes for any reason, still check in, though - they will print the pass for you at the airport, but checking in gets you your place in their boarding line. When you check in, you'll be assigned a letter and number based on how early you have checked in. Basically, the earlier you check in, the better selection of seat you will have on the plane.

The boarding order on SW flights is pretty easy. First to board are those who require extra time. Next to board will be the 'business class' passengers who will automatically get A1 through around A15 on their boarding pass. Following those folks will be the rest of the "A" boarding passes, which go as high as A60.

After the "A's" board, families with small children (under 5) can board (assuming they did not board with the "A" group). After the families, then boarding passes B1 through B60 get on the plane, and finally all the late-comers will get on with their "C" boarding passes.

Since there are 130+ seats on each flight, as long as you have a pass that's no higher than B10 or B20, you'll probably have no problem sitting together with your party. I hope this clarifies things for you and doesn't complicate it instead!!

Bottom line, if you have a chance to fly SW, take it. They are consistently one of the best airlines going for us right now. Have a great time!

[Beast_fanatic]

As far as checking in for your flight home in case you don't have Internet access, you can go to Guest Concierge at your resort or Guest Relations at the parks, and they'll check you in for your flight. Be sure to have your confirmation information with you.