KmmFIdreamer
Recycles dryer sheets
SW is my go to airline for leisure travel. I have never bothered paying for earlybird, I just check in at 23 - 24 hours before and usually get an upper B group position.
Traveling alone - I just grab the first seat that I can put my behind into that has a place to throw my larger bag in the overhead, whether it is a middle seat or not - I am not very particular. If we are traveling as a family then we usually end up between 1/2 and 3/4 of the way back in order to get a whole empty row together. Last time DH flew though he had a cane/limp and got a preboard card. He sat toward the front in a window and my son wanted a window too so we did not sit next to him. Not a big deal for a 2 hour flight.
If you are at the very end of C boarding on a full flight you may end up gate-checking your roller bag. Most flights though seem to have enough room for everyone to stow their stuff. I usually just check in my roller bag anyway since there is no charge for luggage check-in.
I find that if we pay for tickets booked together, all three of us are on the same itinerary. If I do reward (free) flights, then the itinerary is always separated and each of us has to check-in separately.
Two of the 3 of us have a know traveler number and we store it in our profile of our rapid rewards account so we don't have to enter it each time. For some reason DH's precheck didn't take last time when I booked his ticket using my rapid rewards points - we talked to the airline and they said I should have gone ahead and typed the number in because it did not pick up from his account even though his RR # showed on the reservation. I had bought the ticket while logged into my account. (Just a little tip if you have trouble getting the spouse's precheck to take.) On a weird note, on Hawaiian Air my adult son and I were on the same itinerary and they gave him precheck too even though he has never signed up for it. I really was not expecting him to even get it. I guess they do give it to some people that don't sign up for it for some reason.
(I fly Frontier a lot too and it kinda sucks, but is cheap! I just take my chances on a seat assignment and consistently end up in rows 20 - 22. Those must be the cheap person seats!)
Traveling alone - I just grab the first seat that I can put my behind into that has a place to throw my larger bag in the overhead, whether it is a middle seat or not - I am not very particular. If we are traveling as a family then we usually end up between 1/2 and 3/4 of the way back in order to get a whole empty row together. Last time DH flew though he had a cane/limp and got a preboard card. He sat toward the front in a window and my son wanted a window too so we did not sit next to him. Not a big deal for a 2 hour flight.
If you are at the very end of C boarding on a full flight you may end up gate-checking your roller bag. Most flights though seem to have enough room for everyone to stow their stuff. I usually just check in my roller bag anyway since there is no charge for luggage check-in.
I find that if we pay for tickets booked together, all three of us are on the same itinerary. If I do reward (free) flights, then the itinerary is always separated and each of us has to check-in separately.
Two of the 3 of us have a know traveler number and we store it in our profile of our rapid rewards account so we don't have to enter it each time. For some reason DH's precheck didn't take last time when I booked his ticket using my rapid rewards points - we talked to the airline and they said I should have gone ahead and typed the number in because it did not pick up from his account even though his RR # showed on the reservation. I had bought the ticket while logged into my account. (Just a little tip if you have trouble getting the spouse's precheck to take.) On a weird note, on Hawaiian Air my adult son and I were on the same itinerary and they gave him precheck too even though he has never signed up for it. I really was not expecting him to even get it. I guess they do give it to some people that don't sign up for it for some reason.
(I fly Frontier a lot too and it kinda sucks, but is cheap! I just take my chances on a seat assignment and consistently end up in rows 20 - 22. Those must be the cheap person seats!)