READ THIS - Comment Policy

Unfortunately, after too many vitriolic, rude, nasty, full of hatred, comments, all comments on this site are moderated.

This is a site for parents of small children who fly Southwest.  It is owned and moderated by Shaun Dakin, a parent and a previous Southwest Airlines fanatic who is deeply saddened by the elimination of pre-boarding for families.

Here are the rules, borrowed from Jeremy Zawodny's blog:

Things you should not do when posting a comment on my weblog.  And since it is my weblog and not yours, you don't have any say.

DO NOT:

1. post off-topic.  If you're not sure what the topic is, you probably shouldn't be commenting.
2. engage in personal attacks.
3. provide a fake e-mail address. If you want to comment, you must provide a valid email address.
4. provide a URL to a non-weblog.  If you don't have a weblog or don't want to link to it, leave it blank too.
5. spam.  Yes, this is redundant with #1 most of the time, but I figured I ought to be explicit.

Other rules with credit due to OptiNiche, Thanks.

Comment Moderation

In order to maintain the integrity of the blog and its content, all comments, trackbacks, and pingbacks made to the this blog are moderated.

Language And Flaming

This blog has a diverse audience with different sensibilities and opinions. That said, please avoid harsh language and the use of profanity. Flaming or use of threatening language is not allowed nor will it be tolerated.

E-mail Addresses

You must use a valid e-mail address when commenting on the blog. It will not be displayed unless you type it in the body of your comment and you will not be subscribed to any mailing list by leaving a comment.

If you use an invalid e-mail address or one which requires any type of human interaction to confirm I’m not a spammer, your comment will be deleted — no exceptions.

Editing Comments

I reserve the right to edit or delete comments as I feel necessary. Blatant spelling and grammatical errors will be edited and serious edits will be notated at the end of the comment.

If your comment conveys a coherent thought, it may just be edited; tirades will most likely be deleted.

Special Provisions For Comment Spam

I take comment spam seriously and all IP addresses used for spamming will be reported to the internet blacklists, the ISPs/hosts for the offending domain will be notified, and the owner of the IP block will be notified of the problem.

While comment spam continues to proliferate, I can and will do my part to help combat it.

Final Words

You, and only you, are responsible for your words. They are yours and you get to keep them, however, by posting your comments to the blog you are granting me the right, in perpetuity, to use, alter, and/or display them however I see fit.

Once your comment is submitted, that’s it — you’re immortalized.

(From time to time, this comment policy may be updated, so please make sure to check back every so often.)

 

Comments

[3sissy]

Putting families in the back of the airplane is not a good idea. Think how bumpy it is in back, especially during the summer. There would be a lot of vomit!

Business travelers should prefer families pre boarding. That way, when they board, the know where the kids are, and can choose to sit elsewhere.

What is the big deal about wanting to sit up front? Why do adults feel "it's not fair!" blah, blah blah.

I feel bad for the flight attendants. They are the ones that will get the brunt of this poor decision.

[Andrew]

I would like to start off by saying that I do not have kids, but I fly a lot. I can understand how families would like to preboard because of the fact that they will all sit together. That was the entire point of allowing families to preboard, correct? If familes are allowed to board after the "A" group then they are still all getting to sit together. I therefore to not understand why everyone is so upset. If you families are so concerned then just get an "A" boarding pass by checking in 24 hours in advance online. And if you are unable to do that because of time constraints, then you just board after the "A" group. Honestly the old policy was unfare to people who did not have small children and possesed "A" boarding. Preboarding is really intended for people with medical conditions who need help. If I am wrong with my reasoning, please let me know-

Andrew

[Shaun Dakin]

Andrew,

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I'd suggest that you read last week's USA Today article about biz travelers vs. families for a well done article that lays out all the issues.

One of the issues is that it is now taking LONGER to board.

Regards,

Shaun

[Stephanie]

When they first announced this decision, I wasn't too concerned because we always check in online and always get an A boarding pass. Well this morning I went to check in close to 9:40 and it said it wasn't 24 hours in advance yet, so I decided to go tinkle and then come back to try to check in again. Well when I checked in I got a B boarding pass and it said I was the 65th passenger to check in online. Something's not right here!!!! How could 64 people checked in ahead of me in the short time it took me to pee?????? I tell ya one thing. When we board our flight tomorrow, I'm not going to be accommodating at all. While my husband is putting in our son's car seat, I'm going to hold our son and stand in the aisle so no one can get past me. If they want to complain, they can take it up with Southwest. I always assumed that preboarding for families with small children was so that they could put in car seats and not hold up other passengers - not so that they could sit towards the front. That's the way it is on airlines who have pre-assigned seats, so why wouldn't it be the same for Southwest?

[Dave]

Given that the vast majority of profitable air fares generated by any airline are from business travelers, any change that can be made to accomodate these travelers is welcome. Families with toddlers are provided Greyhound-level-travel-by-air fares, which reduce the quality of travel for the rest of us, due to the fact that those who travel for a living pay the majority of the freight. Southwest will now get more of my 100K+ annual miles due to this policy, which removes a major irritant I have experienced in the past.

[Stephanie]

Southwest's new boarding system is a joke. For our outbound flight, we boarded after the As. There was a long line down the jetway and once we actually did make it onto the aircraft, the flight attendant made an announcement asking people to hurry up and take their seats because they were becoming delayed. Now who's fault is that? I asked a Southwest employee why I got a B boarding pass when I checked in 24 hours prior. I was told that 30 of the A boarding passes went to business travelers who pay a higher fare and the other 30 are given to frequent flyer members. So for our return flight, I checked in under my husband's name since he has a frequent flyer account and we got A boarding passes. I was amazed that even though we boarded with the As, there was still a long line in the jetway. We have always gotten As in the past and never experienced these kind of delays in the jetway before. Obviously their system isn't working - a flight attendant even told us that this new system is delaying them more.

I can see Southwest offering this business traveler "perk" on the short haul/commuter flights. But on the long-haul flights when it's mostly vacation travelers, what's the point? If I was a business traveling flying a long distance, i would rather have the families board first so I could sit away from them and not have to deal with a crying kid or a child kicking my seat. As it stands now, you are out of luck and a family with children can sit anywhere near you.

[Ed]

Personally, it doesn't matter to me whether families board before or after Group A. I think a lot of "families" brought this on themselves by abusing the old policies by having half a dozen adults board with a single small child, then grabbing the front rows, so I'm not terribly sympathetic. But I think it probably serves everyone better to let families board in a group.

I vote with those who say let families board first, but require them to fill the plane from the back row forward.

Several reasons. First, boarding will be faster. If families carry their clutter (meant in the nicest way) straight to the back, there will be room for Group A to start boarding right away -- instead of having to wait for them to get situated.

Second, when it comes time to disembark the entire plane will not have to wait while the families up front gather their stuff and leave.

For those who think they ride is bumpier in the back; no, it isn't. I'm a frequent flyer, I've experienced the whole of the aircraft, and there's no appreciable difference.

[Stephanie]

Ed - I couldn't agree more with you. I think families with kids should be towards the rear of the aircraft because it does take us a lot longer to gather our belongings and deplane.

I also think that Southwest should perhaps re-evaluate their new boarding policy. Maybe those families who need to get a car seat put in for their small child should be allowed to preboard. The families who REALLY need the extra time can approach a gate agent and the gate agent can give them a special boarding card so they can preboard. During our last flight, my husband had to be very careful not to hit anyone (who had already baorded) with our car seat as he was boarding the plane.