On Southwest Airlines new family boarding policy

[KotOD]

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There has to be a middle ground here. Having two small kids myself, its great to be able to get on board early and get the car seats set up. I also am a business traveller occassionally and I totally see the point of getting those people on an off the plane quickly.

Maybe they could create a family section towards the rear of the plane. They could let the families on first, but remind them to sit in the further back rows. I know that this doesnt coincide with the sit-anywhere theory, but at least its a better option than not letting families get on early.

One other consequence of not letting families get on first is that if the flight is full and they are in group C, there's a decent chance that they wouldnt be able to sit together. That is a terrible result as well, especially with small kids. Even if people offer to move around, it will still significantly slow the boarding process and piss people off in the meantime.

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Exactly. The people who are against it aren't thinking it through.

[Blarg]

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Chip,

I don't get why people are hating on your vent. It's your right to, and no doubt SWA values its customers' feedback.

That said, and having read everyone's comments, I have to say that I like the change. I don't fly much but if the kids in front does slow down the deplaning process for everyone else, then that is a PITA that must annoy the hell out of a frequent traveler.

As for kicking the back of seats being a reason to sit up front, what is that? Control your kids, they shouldn't be kicking the back of seats, period.

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People who are given power find it hard not to abuse it, even if only passive-aggressively. Like the guy playing poker who waits until it is his turn to play to start telling some long story, freezing the game and holding everyone hostage. It's extremely common for people to purposely slow down when they know they can annoy people doing it. And kids are the perfect excuse, because it's so common to put on a righteous, long-suffering air about them. How could you criticize a mother??? I could see many families making deplaning drag out for ages and ages, and definitely wouldn't want to wait for them.

[KotOD]

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Chip,

I don't get why people are hating on your vent. It's your right to, and no doubt SWA values its customers' feedback.

That said, and having read everyone's comments, I have to say that I like the change. I don't fly much but if the kids in front does slow down the deplaning process for everyone else, then that is a PITA that must annoy the hell out of a frequent traveler.

As for kicking the back of seats being a reason to sit up front, what is that? Control your kids, they shouldn't be kicking the back of seats, period.

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People who are given power find it hard not to abuse it, even if only passive-aggressively. Like the guy playing poker who waits until it is his turn to play to start telling some long story, freezing the game and holding everyone hostage. It's extremely common for people to purposely slow down when they know they can annoy people doing it. And kids are the perfect excuse, because it's so common to put on a righteous, long-suffering air about them. How could you criticize a mother??? I could see many families making deplaning drag out for ages and ages, and definitely wouldn't want to wait for them.

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Oooooooookay. But in the world that's not contained entirely in your martyred brain, toddlers in restraint seats take effort to get on and off of a plane.

[Blarg]

I don't recall saying I cared, though in "the world contained in your martyred brain," you might have thought I did.

[ChipWrecked]

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special treatment they have no right to

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normal people.


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I don't believe the issue is about 'rights', it's merely the abolition of a courtesy the airline had extended to families who have a lot of baggage to handle (literally) when flying. We will vote with our feet and fly another airline where we will pick the assigned seats that will work best for us.


'Normal people'?

I think this phrase is indicative of the breeder hate engendered by the gay and lesbian political movement, that seems to have permeated management at SWA.
What the hell is abnormal about having a family?

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Oh wow, sorry. I just reread your OP...I realized that I called YOU the stupid parent.

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My vent on their blog

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Sorry about that...the comment just struck me as a random asinine parent trying to score cheap points against the airline. You're neither neither random nor asinine so I was wrong on that...apologies. I'm going to post in the "putting your foot in it" thread now. [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

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NP brah.

[tshort]

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And on the other side - making families board with everyone else creates a giant bottleneck when mom or dad is trying to install a carseat and holds up everyone behind them.

Pre-boarding is essential for families with kids still in "restraint seats", because of install times, but should not happen for families with children large enough to sit in the regular seat.

Also, mondo: griping about handicapped people pre-boarding - GFY.

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Nice. When the plane lands I'll stand 8 rows back ready to go while you play with your carseat and luggage for 10 min.

Pre-boarding is fine if you go to the back of the plane.

[4_2_it]

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The policy is 1st come, 1st served and was changed based on feedback. I never liked seeing families seated at the front because they usually take longer to disembark, which drives me nuts when I just want to grab my carry-on and get out of dodge. Sorry to disagree with you here bro.

Note: I have been flying Southwest with my kids since they were 2 and 6 years of age and we never pre-boarded.

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And on the other side - making families board with everyone else creates a giant bottleneck when mom or dad is trying to install a carseat and holds up everyone behind them.



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I'm never in a hurry to get on the plane. Most flights leave late anyway. However, after listening to kids screaming and kicking my seat for 3 hours I want to GTFO of that plane as soon as that seat belt sign goes off.

Sticking all the pre-boarders in the back is the right way to go about it; however, that would require extra SW employees on the plane asking people to move so I can understand why they did not implement it.

[ChipWrecked]

Frankly, I wouldn't care about sitting in the back.

However, 'A' groupers will still get to deal with families trying to lug their stuff down the aisle - impossible to avoid hitting someone with something during that process.

And while we didn't use a car seat, it still took us a while to get organized at our seats. Which meant we blocked the aisle during that time.

I started this thread partly to vent, but also to gauge reaction vs. the SWA blog post comments. tl;dr is weighing in much the same, with views on either side.



I've done a lot of business traveling solo as well. I didn't care for screaming babies or getting my seat kicked any more than anyone else would.

I never felt the hate for family fliers that I'm seeing both here and on the SWA blog though. I don't understand it.

There is a growing segment of society that detests children and the people who have them. It's not confined to this airline policy; my daughter and I have been scowled at by angry lesbians on the streets in Berkeley as well.

WTF? Do all these people hate their own parents this much for bringing them into the world?

[4_2_it]

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I never felt the hate for family fliers that I'm seeing both here and on the SWA blog though. I don't understand it.

There is a growing segment of society that detests children and the people who have them. It's not confined to this airline policy; my daughter and I have been scowled at by angry lesbians on the streets in Berkeley as well.

WTF? Do all these people hate their own parents this much for bringing them into the world?

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I am a family flyer and I never cared for (or used) the old policy. I always viewed it that the issue of flying with kids was mine to deal with, not the airlines or the other passengers problem. Many times on SW flights passengers offered to exchange seats so that my family could sit together (usually near the back). I always made sure that my kids thanked them right there and again after we deplaned.

I've always felt that special boarding privileges should only be given to those who are physically handicapped.

Anyway, I'm not hating on you, I'm just saying that I welcome the policy change. Your feelings are understandable.

[Blarg]

Probably it's generally more non-specific, toward anyone who is annoying, disruptive, or selfish. And parents with kids can easily be a combo that exhibits that.

It's probably also that parents seem to be getting more indulgent toward their kids, and less responsible themselves, all the time. It used to be thought of much more poorly to let your kid scream his head off, run up and down aisles during movies and in restaurants, speak in a screaming voice, etc. Now a great many parents don't seem to care to control their kids so as to keep an environment reasonably pleasant for everyone. The results are predictable.