Flying for the first time questions?
My family and I are flying to Tampa this June from St. Louis on Southwest Airlines. Our departing flight has one plane change in Memphis that departs 55 minutes after our arrival. I know nothing of the whole flight process and have a couple stupid questions. Will we have to get our luggage and check them again or are they automatically directed to the new flight? Will that be enough time to make it to the next plane? The next flight is with Southwest, so I heard from several people that there should be plenty of time to be able to get there. Also, will we have to check-in again at the counter because southwest gives you a boarding number , or will we get that when we check in for the first time in St. Louis? Any help will be appreciated.
Air Travel - 3 Answers
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1 :
No. When you check in in St. Louis you will recieve a boarding pass for Memphis and another one for Tampa. Your luggage will be tagged with the appropriate information. When you arrive in Memphis, you will get off the plane and go to the gate of your next flight. You will not have to go through security again. Your luggage will be transferred to your next flight automatically.
2 :
1.) Yes they will take care of the luggage. They will tag it to make sure it follows you the whole time to where ever city you are at lol. Pretty much it will be there in Tampa when you get there. Just check it in when you are in St. Louis and pick it up at baggage claim in Tampa. 2.) Yes it will be enough time, once you get the the airport you want to at least find your gate and be there at least 20-30 minutes before it is time to board (meaning you can walk to the food court or bathrooms). You will have enough time. 3.) No. You will not have to check in again. Just have your boarding pass and when it comes time to board you will show the guards (idk what they are called lol) the boarding pass and they will let you go on to board the plane but this happens when they say they are boarding. So just take your ticket out when they start boarding first class and wait until they call your zone. 4.) You have to check in to get your boarding pass. You will have the plane ticket, you get the boarding pass at Lambert (which has each stand for the plane. Go to Southwest). This is where you will check in your baggage, they will weight it (to make sure it is under 50 pounds) and they will tag it and put it on a cart. You get a carry-on and personal item (like a bag or purse) so make sure if it is carry-on you tell them and it won't get tagged. Then you will walk through security which is really hectic especially at Lambert. You will take off your shoes and put then in the bin with your purse and jacket. Then put your bag and the bin on the conveyer belt which is the x-ray and walk through when they signal you. Grab your stuff and find your gate where there will be seats and giant glass windows. Once you find your gate you can walk around to the food court and stuff just make sure you are back in time. Then they will say they are boarding First class, business class, and then economy (which I am sure you are flying, you will either sit in the middle or the back of the plane depending on your seat). You will show the boarding pass to the guard and he/she will tell you to have a nice flight. You will walk down this long hallway and step into the plane. Show the flight attendant your ticket and they will point you to your seat (they will tell you to follow a person in front of you). The seat numbers are where the luggage compartment are. Put your carry-on in the luggage compartment and put your personal item under your seat. Sit down and buckle up. The flight attendants will point to where the life raft and boats are on the plane and how to use the mask. Then the pilot will talk to you guys about how the weather is and then get ready for take off. The plane will drive to the right runway and when it gets there it will take off. It goes very fast and then the plane lifts off the ground, it feels like a rollercoaster and is really fun. I like looking out of the window as well. The flight can get boring so bring some music, a book or magazine, a portable dvd player, look out of the window or even sleep. Landing is ok, you will have a slight bump when it touches the ground but not that hard. You will get off and go to your next gate in Memphis and sit there, you will have all of your boarding passes in St. Louis so don't worry. And do the same thing that you did at Lambert. Then you will board to head to Tampa. Hope this helps and gives you an idea. It can be hectic but you can make it through it. Make sure your bottles are the right fluid ounces if it will be in carry on. And make sure you use little baggies to carry it and not a large one (I made this mistake and one of the miserable workers told me I would have to throw away all of my things. Just the find out they had small baggies on the table. So pretty much she lied to me). Other flyers tend to be miserable so just ignore them, I had some guy snap on me because he thought I jumped in front of everyone. When he really didn't know that the one guy was handling our whole class so I was supposed to be in that line since we were a large group and going on an international trip.
3 :
These aren't stupid questions for someone who hasn't done it before! As both flights are on the same airline your bags will probably get checked right the way through to Tampa - check when you check in that they are. With only 55 minutes to spare this won't be enough time to re-check them in Memphis anyway. You will have to check in again to get a boarding pass for the next flight but without bags to worry about. If there are signs to Transfers, go there rather than to Arrivals and they'll sort it all out. Or they might check you in for both flights in St Louis. Ask when you get there to make sure.
