Group Booking Guide: Traveling as a Group of 20

Group Booking Guide

I live in Las Vegas. But, I am in a club at my school where there was a competition in Boston. The competition involved 15 people, plus chaperones, as well as 3 other people. This meant there was a total of 21 people on one booking. I don’t have experience doing group bookings, but I was happy to see what it was like. Overall, it is a lot more complicated in my opinion than a regular flight booking. But, with it comes some more lenient policies. Let’s get into this group booking guide.

When is a Group Booking Required?

Simply put, a group booking is required when there are 9 or more passengers on one booking. If there are fewer than 9 people, then you can just book it with the airline, through Google Flights, etc. But with 9 or more passengers, then you need to follow the airline’s group booking process.

Can You Use Miles on an Award Booking?

Unfortunately, you cannot. You can only use cash on these types of bookings. But, there are some airlines (mostly in the U.S. and including airlines such as Delta, Southwest, etc.) where you can use miles for any seats. In the case of those airlines, you can book up to 9 people on one reservation, then another 9, and so on. The problem with this is that prices might go up in the interim.

Disclosure

The trips I am discussing are or were with my school. For privacy reasons, I don’t want to talk about any specifics related to that. So most of this article is about the how-to’s and any tips I give can be applied to almost any group trip.

How Does Making a Group Booking Work?

Making a group booking varies a lot by the airline. But I’ll discuss how it works for each of the US ones.

Alaska Airlines:

Alaska has one of the more generous policies when it comes to group bookings:

• You can book your flights as far as 11 months out, and the price quoted is guaranteed until the ticket deadline as long as no modifications are made.
• Once ticketed, no refunds are allowed, and the deadline for ticketing is 60 days for the US and Canada except for Hawaii and 90 days for Hawaii and Central America.
• Name changes are free up until 72 hours before departure.
• Bookings can be made through the group desk at 1-800-445-4435, which is open Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 6 PM Pacific Time, and 7:30 AM to 6 PM Saturdays and Sundays. I found these agents to be very knowledgeable and friendly.
• More information can be found here.

Allegiant Air

I don’t have much experience with Allegiant, as I haven’t booked any group flights with them in the past. But, you can email them for a quote at [email protected] and they will provide further information.

American Airlines

Overall, I think American is not a bad option for group travel, especially concerning their policies. They offer 1 free name change per ticket, which in normal cases doesn’t sound like a big deal. But in the case of group travel, this is huge, as in case if someone can’t go you can simply switch out their name. From the time you receive the quote, you also have 14 days to provide a deposit and 81 for names and ticketing.

I also helped book an AA group reservation, though I didn’t “fly” on it. Here are some things I learned:

• You can use the PNR (confirmation code) given to you to pull up a person on the group’s reservation, but not the entire group. For that, you need to call.
• Seating changes can be made on the individual’s reservation but any entire group changes need to be made over the phone.

I also had a schedule change between after I requested quotes and when the deposit was due. American will rebook you on whatever flights they choose, and unless you are completely booked and ticketed, then you are stuck with the flights they rebook you on unless you are willing to pay the going price for new flights.

Group Booking Guide – Avelo Airlines

Avelo does not have any information about group bookings on their website. Because of that, I reached out to them and they said that it is not available online and that you have to reach out to their customer support center at (346) 616-9500. Avelo also offers airplane charters, which are available here.

Breeze Airways

Breeze offers the ability to book up to 9 adults and 9 children, which is something other airlines don’t allow you to do as far as I am aware. But, if there are more people than that, then you can email [email protected].

Group Booking Guide – Delta Air Lines

Although I fly Delta more than any other airline, I am not a fan of their group booking process. I find the wait times to talk to someone (+1 800-532-4777), and on one occasion, I found the agent to be very unfriendly. Their wait times after I filled out the form were at least 3-5 days, and when I finally heard back, they also said there was an additional group booking fee of $20. This seems rather petty to me as a “premium airline”. To make a group booking, you need to either fill out the group travel form or call 1-800-532-4777 Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 8 PM. When they do respond to the form, the price is a quote and not guaranteed.

Frontier Airlines

In the most Frontier move ever 😉, they do not offer group bookings. So if you want to make a group booking, then it is best to book separate reservations with up to 9 people. The risk for this is that the price will likely go up after each subsequent availability, as in most cases, there are 9 seats in each fare/price bucket.

Group Booking Guide – Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian does not have a lot of info on its website about group travel, but you can book it as far as 11 months out by filling out the form here.

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue is another airline that I found to be very straightforward. You can call 1-888-JETBLUE, or fill out the form here and you can get a quote for your preferred times and dates. I found the agents to be very friendly, and they did a great job of explaining everything. That being said, there are a few things to be aware of:

• There is a $50 deposit per person to confirm seats and that is due at most 14 days before booking
• It is $100 for every name change made 72 hours before departure
• All payment is nonrefundable
• Final payment is due 30 days before departure domestically and 60 internationally
• A checked bag and personal item are included, but carry-ons are not

Southwest Airlines

Southwest is the airline I have by far the most experience with, as I made and flew on a group booking with them. More on them later.

Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines is going to probably be the worst airline to make a group booking with, as their policies and luggage allowance is so restrictive. I reached out to them for a quote, and they quoted me the following for a Thursday to Sunday trip in January from Las Vegas to Boston:

• Option #1 Base Fare + Taxes & Fees – $ 338.78
• Option #2 Base Fare + Taxes & Fees + 1 Standard Checked Bag* – $ 392.78
• Option #3 Base Fare + Taxes & Fees + 1 Carry-on* – $ 402.78
• Option #4 Base Fare + Taxes & Fees + 1 Standard Checked Bag + 1 Carry-on – $ 456.78

To get the fare quoted, you must make a $5 deposit within 24 hours, which is a pretty unreasonable timeline for a group of 18 in our case. Also, we had about 20 checked bags, so that was quite costly.

Sun Country

Sun Country allows you to book group travel, and offers the following:

• Custom pricing for flights
• One checked bag (required for each paying passenger)
• Pre-reserved seat assignment
• Priority check-in at MSP airport (if applicable)
• Flexible deposit, payment, and cancellation options
• Flexibility in passenger lists, as names are not required until 21 days before departure
• Ability to earn Sun Country Rewards points for members

These are overall solid benefits, and they can be booked by clicking here.

Group Booking Guide – United Airlines

For group bookings on United, you can either fill out the form here or call +1-800-426-1122 to receive a quote. One free name change per passenger is allowed at least 7 days before departure, and the fare quoted is valid for 24 hours. If they do not hear from you in 24 hours, then the fare given will be canceled.

Why Southwest is the Best for Groups

I think overall Southwest is best for groups for a few reasons. We were going to Boston for a science competition. This resulted in needing over 20 (yes, 20) checked bags. Other airlines (besides JetBlue) would have charged at least $30 per bag, per way. For our flights, Southwest was also the cheapest in general, but with the bags, it also saved us over $600.

In addition to that, Southwest also allows unlimited name changes as long as they are made more than 72 hours out, which is incredible.

Booking Process

Booking on Southwest is easy but it does require you to pick up the phone. Like regular reservation phone agents, there are good agents and bad agents. I’ve found some to be super quick and competent, while others are rather slow.

But, the main part of Southwest that I find better than other airlines is the flexibility. Unlike Spirit wanting a deposit within 24 hours, Southwest gave 11 days to make a $50 deposit, and then 2 months (!!) to make the final deposit. When planes change, people back out, etc., it is amazing to have added flexibility and it is worth extra in my opinion to have this.

Baggage Allowance

As mentioned above, baggage allowance is 2 free checked bags per person, per way. A carry-on is also free, along with a personal item. This has to be the most generous policy of any airline worldwide, at least for economy passengers since it is for all flights without exception.

Group Booking Guide – Check-In Process

Our flight left at around 6:45. Because of that, along with the fact that we had about 20 bags and around 20 people, we thought it was best to show up at 4 AM. That’s very early, but I think we made the right choice.

I printed out the boarding passes for everyone, which is… time-consuming. We also had a connection, so I printed out 40 boarding passes in total. I was surprised the printer didn’t run out. 😉

Once I was done with that, I walked from the entrance of the LAS Terminal 1 short-term parking and over to the ticket counters. I ended up also printing out about 40 bag tags. I am overall team carry-on, but for the event we were going to, traveling with checked bags was a necessity. If you are doing a group reservation, I would recommend getting a count of how many bags you are going to check because getting these tags “deactivated” is not only a pain for airport employees but also time-consuming.

After that, we proceeded to security. I went through PreCheck along with one other person in my group, but since everyone else didn’t have it, we had to wait a little while. Some people also got secondary inspections on their items, so that took time as well.

From there, we walked over to the LAS B Gates, which is a bit of a bus terminal in my opinion. 😉

After some time, it was time to board!

A-List Status Match

Ahead of our flights, I decided to do the A-List status match. This may sound odd, but I realized that it made a lot of sense. A-list status allows you to secure the earliest boarding position provided the booking was made at least 36 hours before departure. So long story short, it is effectively early bird check-in as you are checked in 36 hours out. You won’t know your position until 36 hours out though. However, on group bookings, this benefit only applies to the person with the status. However, on non-group bookings, the earlier check-in would apply to companions.

Boarding Process

Southwest’s boarding process was the same as usual. The process starts with pre-boards, then A1-30, A30-60, B1-30, and up to C31-60 on certain planes.

Our outbound flight left out of LAS’ B Gates, which is a bus terminal that happens to have slot machines. I loathe the Southwest boarding process. Couple that with the cramped boarding area, and boarding out of B Gates is a disaster. But after a couple of minutes, I was on board.

We were on a 737 Max 8 that was delivered in March of 2023, and our plane had new overhead bins that had enough space to put bags on their sides. Southwest does not have the issues with carry-on bags other airlines do since checked bags are free, but it is still a nice feature to have.

Group Booking Guide – Seat Selection

Southwest uses a different model compared to other airlines, which is that there is open seating on their planes. This supposedly helps reduce time on the ground, as passengers don’t need to go to their selected seat and instead take any seat. For the group size I was with, I would consider this to be a drawback. Having to frantically figure out who is going to be where and sitting next to who is a bit of a hassle.

Because of this, I figured it was best that I just head to the back of the plane since it would be easiest to find open seats. Overall, this worked out. So unless everyone has the same boarding position, then this is the strategy I would use in the future if traveling as a group on Southwest.

Southwest’s flight experience is the same as almost any other domestic flight/airline, so it isn’t really worth talking about. All we got during the flight was a drink and a very small snack.

Connection in Chicago

We got into Chicago right on time. Our connecting gate was a bit of a hike, but Chicago Midway is not a big airport. The good part about traveling as a group was that we could leave our bags and then someone else would always be there to watch it. We got food, and then since we had an hour-and-a-half connection, we didn’t have to wait much longer before it was time to board. For this flight, I got the boarding position A26.

Flight to Boston

This flight was a little over 2 hours. I used the same strategy as the last flight in terms of seating. We had a delay of about 40 minutes, most of which was spent in an extremely hot cabin, so this was not fun. After that was over, we had a quick taxi before our 2-hour flight to Boston. The experience onboard was the same as the previous flight.

Arrival in Boston

After a short taxi, we made it to Boston. There was a quick walk to baggage claim, where we had a short wait for bags. Figuring out which bags need to come out and which we have was a bit tedious, but it was made a lot easier through the new Southwest bag tracker site. This site allows you to enter your confirmation number and name and then see any bags checked. Fortunately, that showed all our bags were delivered and we received them shortly thereafter.

Group Booking Guide – Final Thoughts

Overall, traveling as a group can be a bit chaotic as well as a bit of a puzzle to figure out. In addition, some airlines make it easy while others do not. But the fun that comes with the trip can be worth it. Hopefully you found these tips and tricks for group bookings useful.

What are your thoughts on group bookings? Let me know in the comments below!