Southwest Lap Baby Original or Copy Birth Certificate
With the Oakland Airdrome but 12 minutes from my front door, my family flies Southwest Airlines a lot. Southwest is often a favorite airline of flying families too, and with good reason. Since it has dissimilar rules and practices than other airlines, however, it can sometimes trip upward inexperienced flyers, peculiarly travelers with kids. But don't allow that worry you — Southwest also has a a number of unique perks that are of great value for family unit travelers. You just need to know how to take advantage of all that the airline offers!
That'due south what this post is all about. Don't be unprepared for your next Southwest Airlines flight when you travel with your children. Whether you are flight with a lap child on Southwest, young kids in their own seats, or older tweens and teens, Southwest does things a bit differently. Here are all the details you need to know to brand the well-nigh of Southwest's policies and perks and make your next trip on Southwest with kids a breeze.
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What You Need to Know Nearly Flying Southwest Airlines with Kids
1) Gratuitous checked bags will relieve y'all a bundle.
You've probably seen the ads: "Bags Fly Costless." Southwest is the last of the U.South. domestic airlines to nonetheless offering free checked numberless – 2 bags per person upward to l lbs each.
This is a real do good for families who travel, equally it is oftentimes difficult to pack lite with all the gear that little ones require. I discover that even when Southwest has slightly higher base fares than other airlines on like routes, when y'all factor in bag fees, Southwest actually comes out equally the cheaper overall option many times.
If you do take advantage of the free bags, be enlightened that lap children do not get a baggage assart. Also, checked strollers and car seats do non count towards your free bag assart. Those items e'er fly costless no matter what!
2) Family boarding volition let you to get seats together as a family.
Southwest doesn't have assigned seats unlike about other domestic carriers. Instead, it assigns boarding group numbers (A, B, & C, each numbered 1-60) to passengers, who are then free to take any open up seat equally they board. Every bit yous tin probably guess, the good seats like exit rows, then aisles and windows get fast. Passengers who board subsequently in the process find that oftentimes merely scattered centre seats are available.
This might seem similar a sticky situation for families who usually want to secure three or more seats together. But never fright! Southwest allows all families with children ages 6 and under to board between the A & B groups no matter what their assigned boarding numbers. In my many dozens of flights with Southwest, I have e'er been able to secure three or 4 seats together for my family when we board during family unit boarding. I've been well-nigh separated from my kids far more often on the airlines that supposedly promise assigned seats.
3) In that location are other tricks for ensuring yous sit together with older kids as well.
If your children are older than half-dozen and y'all desire to make sure you lot get seats together, there are options for sitting together as well.
First, there's ever the "fastest finger" selection, which is totally gratis. Southwest'south boarding group numbers are assigned starting at exactly 24 hours before a flight. Equally long as you bank check in (using the Southwest website or Southwest app) at that very moment, you lot have an excellent chance of getting at to the lowest degree an early B grouping boarding pass. In my experience, this is certainly early on enough for a family unit to find seats together. But you lot practice have to exist very fast – every second counts! At present that my younger child is over the age for family boarding, I set up an alarm on my phone for v minutes before the 24 hour marker equally an extra reminder.
Permit'south face up it – decorated parents don't always think to check in at exactly 24 hours in advance, fifty-fifty if y'all do set an alarm. For longer flights when sitting together really matters, my advice is to consider paying for "Early on Bird check-in." The price varies from $15-25 each way, depending on need. Paying for this option puts yous in the front of the check in line. This means you volition usually secure an A grouping or early on B grouping boarding pass.
Merely that'southward not the only viable shortcut. If you hold either the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Bill of fare or the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card from Chase, you are as well entitled to iv priority boardings per year when available. This is a smart fill-in to take in a pinch for those times yous forgot to cheque in at 24 hours and risked it without Early Bird. See my guide to Southwest credit cards for all the details.
four) Nativity certificates are required for ALL lap children.
Flying with a child under age ii on your lap? Southwest is the only airline that requires you to bear witness a birth certificate for your lap child.
This rule applies no matter what the age of your lap child and even for domestic flights. If you have flown another airline with a lap baby, chances are pretty expert you lot would not have been asked for proof of historic period unless the child looked to be nearing the age of 2. Non so with Southwest. Even if you patently take a newborn who would never be mistaken for a toddler nearing the two year cutoff, pack that nativity certificate!
Related: Tips for Flying with a Lap Todder
What if y'all don't take a birth certificate yet for your child? Often hospital discharge papers or vaccination records from your child'south pediatrician can suffice. Call the airline in advance if y'all observe yourself in this situation, because enforcement differs from aerodrome to airport and agent to agent.
5) Plan for extra fourth dimension to get boarding verification documents for lap children.
In order to lath your Southwest flight with a lap child, you need to obtain what is called a boarding verification document. This document is similar to a boarding pass and confirms that the child has been age verified by showing a nascence certificate.
You tin but go this boarding verification document at the ticket counter (or the Skycap curbside counters) at the airports pre-security. Yous cannot impress or download it in advance like you can with other Southwest boarding passes. And so, be sure to leave yourself extra fourth dimension to check in at the ticket counter at the airdrome if you are traveling with a lap child, even if you lot aren't checking bags.
6) Southwest has minimal food, so pack lots of snacks.
There are a lot of things that will brand your kids cranky when you fly, simply don't let hunger be one of the causes! Air travel is hectic, and I never rely on existence able to have fourth dimension to buy nutrient at the airport – especially not in 2021 with many airdrome restaurants closed or overrun with demand. Packing meals and snacks is simply a must when yous accept kids.
Related: l Child-Friendly Snacks to Pack for Airplanes
Information technology's even more important though when you fly Southwest because of the airline's limited food choices. Don't expect a sandwich or a hot meal for purchase like many other airlines have. Southwest has only pre-packaged snacks.
The snack options in Southwest have inverse a chip in contempo years, particularly since the hiatus in flying that many travelers took in 2020 and early 2021. If you lot were used the pretzels of former, you won't see them reliably anymore (and if you were planning for peanuts, those were discontinued awhile back due to allergies). The Nabisco snacks that used to be served on longer flights like shortbread cookies, Oreos, and Ritz cheese crackers too appear to be gone now.
In 2021, my family has mostly been served a Southwest branded snack mix (with pretzels, bagel chips, and cheese crackers) and sometimes also Brownie Brittle on near flights. Flying attendants usually let you help yourselves to equally many of these packaged snacks as you'd like, just the snacks are not enough for most kids on annihilation but the shorter haul flights.
If you lot are spring for Hawaii on Southwest Airlines, there are additional food options on these flights. Encounter my review of a Southwest flying to Hawaii for all the details and photos.
7) Southwest has aplenty kid-friendly entertainment (but you demand to download Southwest's app before flight!)
Keeping kids entertained on planes is essential for a less stress flying for parents. While we endeavor in my family unit to pack a few tech-free entertainment options for our kids, electronic devices surface area besides a crucial office of our strategy for passing the time.
Southwest'due south WiFi and in-flight entertainment options have really come up a long style in the last few years. The airline pioneered $viii WiFi – cheaper than every other carrier – and has had live streaming TV channels for many years.
In 2018, Southwest expanded its entertainment offerings. Messaging apps iMessage and WhatsApp are now gratuitous, but what volition make most families happiest are the complimentary in-app movies. In order to access the movies on smartphones and tablets, however, you must have the Southwest app on your device. Exist sure to download it before your trip, as you tin't do it in the air without paying for WiFi too.
In that location is usually a wide-variety of recently released kid-friendly movies available mixed in among a few classics, so chances are good you lot will find something new to keep your kids engaged. In September 2021, for example, choices included the new Pixar motion-picture show Luca, Despicable Me, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Raya and the Last Dragon, Shrek, Soul, and more.
eight) If there are extra seats on the plane, you can snag them for your lap child – for free.
Back to lap children for a second. Although I often purchased seats for my kids as babies and toddlers on other airlines, I didn't as often on Southwest. Why? Considering of Southwest'southward unique seating policy!
Because Southwest has open seating, if at that place are open seats to be had anywhere on the aeroplane, yous can normally snag them for your lap kid without paying for a ticket. Very few people will choose to sit next to you when you take a baby in full view.
You lot can ameliorate your chances of securing that empty seat past choosing seats at the very dorsum of the aeroplane. Alternatively, merits the seat past bringing your car seat on board to occupy the extra infinite. Of course, be sure to check with the gate agents to make sure there are sufficient empty seats to allow you to bring the seat on board starting time. They'll give you the become alee on flights that are non sold out.
9) Southwest's unaccompanied minor plan is one of the best (and least expensive).
Speaking of money saving tricks, Southwest has one more that families with older kids need to take note of. If your child is ready to fly as an unaccompanied modest, Southwest's policies are some of the best.
Southwest charges only $fifty each way, while many other airlines accuse triple that! And Southwest only charges for 5-11 year olds. Kids who are 12 and up are free to travel without the service. Other airlines continue requiring information technology until kids turn 15, even if they don't need it.
My girl flew equally an unaccompanied pocket-sized on Southwest for her ane and merely time so far. She was 10 years old and went downward to Southern California for a weekend with her uncle. The gate agents and flight attendants took swell care of her, and I was happy the service didn't cost an arm and a leg for such a curt trip. At present that she's 12, I'm besides happy I volition no longer have to pay to utilise the service once I make up one's mind she's gear up for solo travel. Since nosotros wing then much and she's independent and savvy, I'd be totally ok with letting her fly on a similar Bay Area to SoCal flight without help.
10) Southwest's Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program is the most flexible and usable for family travelers.
Take you ever collected airline miles for years simply to discover them next to incommunicable to redeem at a decent charge per unit when you lot actually desire to employ them? Or have you had trouble finding plenty honor tickets for a family of four or more on a single flying?
Y'all'll accept no such issues with Southwest. Why? If there are seats available for purchase with cash, you can redeem your Southwest Rapid Rewards points for them. This anytime availability makes Southwest'due south frequent flyer programme the most practical and easy to apply for traveling families in my experience.
And so be sure to sign yous and your kids up for Rapid Rewards accounts the very offset time you plan to wing Southwest. It takes seconds. Y'all'll accrue miles you can actually utilize! Points on Southwest also never expire, then it'due south not some other date to rail.
And be sure you lot are doing all you tin can to earn points for your family's side by side trip. Chase partners with Southwest to offer iii different personal credit cards with big signup bonuses that can help add to your Rapid Rewards balance.
Exist sure to read my guide to which Southwest credit card is right for y'all for all the details on these offers and the specific card choices. There are two business card choices as well if you are eligible for a business carte (and it'southward possible to accept both a personal and business concern Southwest credit carte equally well, similar I do!).
11) Southwest's no modify fee policy affords flexibility to families.
For families, flexibility in travel is a huge benefit. With kids, things come up – from sickness to a school or extracurricular scheduling conflict.
For a long time, Southwest was the only United states of america domestic airline that did not accuse modify fees when you had to cancel or change a booked trip. Other airlines accept added this benefit in 2020 and 2021, just Southwest's policy is still far more generous that the contest. (Related: Comparing Airline No Change Fee Policies: Which is the Best?)
So how does this work? If you demand to abolish a trip, Southwest volition concord the full value of your ticket for a total year from when y'all booked it every bit a credit. There'due south no additional penalty or fee for this privilege.
If you need to change to a unlike flying, the same principles apply. If the new flight you volume costs less money, you lot get the divergence as a credit good for one year. It's only of course if the new flight costs more that you have to pay the extra fare difference. Just again, in that location are no actress fees involved in any of this.
12) Southwest can even save your family money when fares drop.
Last but certainly not to the lowest degree is my favorite and most-used feature of traveling with Southwest. Non but tin can y'all change flights with no penalties with Southwest, but Southwest volition also requite you a credit back when a flying you lot already have booked drops in price. For families ownership 3, 4, or more tickets, even small per ticket savings tin really add together up.
This isn't automatic – yous take to call or rebook your flying online at a lower rate yourself. Just if you watch for Southwest fare sales, you tin can oftentimes salve your family some existent money on future travel. Annotation that these credits must be used within a year of the date you originally booked the flight, so don't miss the expiration dates.
If you booked your flight with Rapid Rewards points, your miles volition be fully refunded to your business relationship with taxes and fees refunded in full to your credit carte du jour. For travel that you lot aren't sure you volition take or for flights you lot recall are likely to drop in price, information technology's often all-time to book with points for only this reason since y'all won't have a 1 year credit expiration to runway and worry about.
Be sure to check out Southwest's Travel with Children section on its website for the latest information. And please share your tips for flight Southwest with family in the comments!
Disclosure : I was a paid Southwest Airlines #SouthwestStorytellers brand administrator in 2018. I originally published this post dorsum in 2014 earlier I had any human relationship with the airline. As always, all opinions are my own.
Editor's Note: An before version of this article referenced discounted child fares. Southwest discontinued those fares on June 1, 2021.
Source: https://tripswithtykes.com/the-complete-guide-to-flying-southwest-with-kids/
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