Family-friendly flying with Southwest Airlines

A few weeks ago my three-year old daughter and I flew to Florida to visit my parents. Thanks to having both sets of grandparents out-of-state, my toddler is quite the seasoned traveler. But this was one of our first solo flights, so I would be lying if I admitted I was fully confident to take to the air on my own with a little traveler in tow.

No seat assignments – yikes!

It had been quite some time since I flew Southwest, and I completely forgot they did not have specified seat assignments for general boarding. I’m absolutely an aisle seat person,  especially when traveling with my daughter who usually gives me no warning before desperately needing to go to the bathroom!

Despite checking-in almost exactly 24 hours before the flight, we still were assigned a “lower” rated boarding group. Luckily, Southwest allows for passengers traveling with young children to board first – phew! So,  although this may seem like an obvious protocol, don’t be late or forget to board with this special group!Getting two seats (aisle being one of them) at the front of the plane was so well worth it and helped put my mind at ease.

Airplane crackers and wings – oh my!

Despite packing what seemed to be months worth of snacks, my daughter somehow managed to eat almost all of them within the first 30 minutes of our flight. Thank goodness for Southwest’s complimentary airplane snacks. They handed out airplane-shaped animal crackers and honey roasted peanuts. Not the ultimate luxury, but still more than other airlines distribute these days! Southwest also gave me a cute wing patch for my daughter – a nice throwback feature to the good ol’ days when pilots allowed kids to help co-pilot in the cockpit!

Cool sailings with the flight crew

If you’ve ever flown Southwest, you’ll know what I mean by the flight crew being a little edgier than most airline staff. Starting with the casual uniforms and somewhat laid-back attitudes, the crew gave off a nice and relaxed energy. Much needed when traveling!

The crews on both our flights to and from Florida were incredibly nice and made the extra effort to check in on my daughter and me and make sure she was doing OK. (If only they could have fixed our portable DVD player that decided to die on us as soon as we lifted off!)

Penguins take to the air on a Southwest flight!

As a further statement of Southwest’s coolness, a recent story just popped up about them allowing a penguin to roam the aisles. According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, a Southwest flight from San Francisco to San Diego had a few very important travelers on board. A group from SeaWorld was transporting penguins to San Diego for a conference, and got the OK to let them to waddle around the plane.

Check out this link on YouTube of the adorable footage taken by a passenger. You can even hear an educational commentary from the speaker system as a SeaWorld representative gives a little tutorial on the penguins.

Now if only my daughter and I could have been on that flight!

Amy Turner is VP of Client Strategy for Mom Central, helping brands connect with Moms through cutting-edge social media campaigns. She is also a wife, proud mom of two and devoted owner of a Belgian Malinois. Connect with Amy at Amy@momcentral.com and follow her @amyjo917.

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