Southwest (SW) questions (preboarding and others) - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I have a few questions regaring SW Air. How does preboarding work with autism?
The phone rep at SW is telling me only one adult per child with disability. My husband takes meds to get on the plane (phobic flyer) and am not comfortable leaving him and the other kids out there for regular boarding. The rep said it would be up to the airport if we can all board together. We have 3 kids 11 and under and need to sit together. What would be the best course of action? Should I just buy early bird? I am just confused by the whole boarding thing and then add the disability and the phobic flyer and I am really getting confused and stressed.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I wish I could help you but since there's only 3 of us - one a wheelchair uses, one with Autism - all 3 of us get to board together. All I can really suggest is to talk to the gate people and see what they say. As for boarding, the way it usually goes is this:
Disability
Business Class (I believe - at least that's what online says but they could also get the first few Group A numbers)
Group A
Families with children under 4 (it could be 6)
Group B
Group C
With 5 of you, it would be $60 for EBCI but even with that, it's become quite popluar and I've heard of people getting B boarding passes with it instead of A.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
Post Thanks / Like
Your best bet fir everyone's state of well-being is to all board together (in the families with kids under five? if you don't get A boarding) and go directly to the back end of the plane where most seats will still be open. Your chances of staying together are much better. Do the check-in at 24 hr in advance time for your flight down and buy EB for your flight home. Good luck.
Your best bet fir everyone's state of well-being is to all board together (in the families with kids under five? if you don't get A boarding) and go directly to the back end of the plane where most seats will still be open. Your chances of staying together are much better. Do the check-in at 24 hr in advance time for your flight down and buy EB for your flight home. Good luck.
Unfortunately my youngest is 6. What are the chances of getting A boarding?
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Chapel Hill, NC USA
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 36,592
Post Thanks / Like
Pretty good if you hit the 24 hour time exactly. Let me say that even if you got early numbered B passes, my suggestion to go to the back still holds. The only people I've EVER seen split up were seated with C passes. You'll be fine. You can still talk to the airline personnel at the gate and let them know your situation so they'll be aware of it.
I have found some SW people to be ignorant about Autism. When my ASD girl was 2 I was able to get the blue card for preboard no problem but I needed my oldest daughter who was 17 at the time to help me because I had her carseat. The woman at the gate entrance gave me such a hard time about it and I ended up having to explain my daughter's disability out loud in front of everyone. I couldn't wrangle her and the carseat by myself. She ended up letting us all three go. Then when I got to the door of the plane, I tried to explain to the FA that I needed our family of 6 to be seated in rows one behind the other because my daughter who has Non Verbal Autism would most definitely kick the seat in front of her disturbing that passenger. Her response was what is Non Verbal Autism? REALLY?? I said, umm it means she has Autism and she doesn't speak. This was THREE years ago...she ended up dropping the tray tables down in the seats in front of us which were like 15 rows back or something. It was quite unnecessary hullabaloo. This was out of Long Island. We havent flown with her since so October should be interesting!
Pretty good if you hit the 24 hour time exactly. Let me say that even if you got early numbered B passes, my suggestion to go to the back still holds. The only people I've EVER seen split up were seated with C passes.
This has been my experience as well (although I have gotten mid numbered B passes at 24 hours). The back of the plane is the last to fill up.
However, if this is causing you a lot of stress and worry, I would just go ahead and book EBCI.
I have a few questions regaring SW Air. How does preboarding work with autism?
The phone rep at SW is telling me only one adult per child with disability. My husband takes meds to get on the plane (phobic flyer) and am not comfortable leaving him and the other kids out there for regular boarding. The rep said it would be up to the airport if we can all board together. We have 3 kids 11 and under and need to sit together. What would be the best course of action? Should I just buy early bird? I am just confused by the whole boarding thing and then add the disability and the phobic flyer and I am really getting confused and stressed.
Any info would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
I would think the bolded part above should qualify your husband for disability pre-boarding on SW, which then leaves you as the parent responsible for all 3 kids. If one of the children also qualifies for disability pre-boarding (autism), then all of them should be allowed with you - the sole responsible parent. Please know I don't mean this to put down your husband, but if he gets that stressed out about flying that he needs to be medicated, SW should not consider him responsible for any of the children. Explain it all at the gate, and I believe you'll all board early.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
This has been my experience as well (although I have gotten mid numbered B passes at 24 hours). The back of the plane is the last to fill up. 
Linear Mode
