No pre-boarding for families

by Roger Sinasohn (Subscribe to Roger Sinasohn's posts) Aug 27th 2008 9:00AM

Categories: Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Holidays

Once upon a time, families traveling with small children got to board first, to give them time to get their little ones settled in, put away their luggage, toys, and snacks, and do whatever else they needed to do, without blocking the rest of the passengers from getting on the plane. Instead of standing in the aisle getting angry at the parents, the other passengers could sit comfortably in the terminal, getting annoyed with the airline.

Not so anymore, according to the St. Petersburg Times. Southwest, American, Delta, and United have all dropped the practice, although you can still ask to board early on American and Delta; it's up to the gate attendants. The reason isn't corporate hatred of families; studies have shown that boarding everyone together -- including the little ones -- saves ten to twelve minutes, on average.

"If you're bringing on people who need assistance -- younger kids -- all at once, you potentially create a bottleneck on the front end, as opposed to randomly dispersing them based on where people are sitting in the aircraft," says Anthony Black, a spokesman for Delta. "The best process is to board the aircraft normally." I imagine, too, that parents move a little quicker when they feel the stares of other passengers beating down on them and saving time is clearly more important than saving a parent's sanity.

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Comments (10)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ninainindia 8-27-2008 @ 9:12AM

Yes, it makes most sense to have people with small children do late boarding instead of pre-boarding. That way they don't hold up the boarding and the children don't have to spend any extra time on the plane.

Sabrina 8-27-2008 @ 9:34AM

It works to have people board in sections from back to front, even if you have little kids. Especially if you have little kids and are sitting in the very back or very front. It's nice because LESS people are milling around you at once, and because it means your kiddos won't have to sit in their seats for as long as pre-boarding. Actually, boarding AFTER other people would be ok, if they'd leave any space for my 16 carry-on diaper bags! LOL

TwinMom 8-27-2008 @ 9:40AM

Really what they need to do is be a stickler for boarding people at the appropriate times and making people get out of line if they are not supposed to board. I hate it when people just want to get on and they are sitting in the front and blocking everyone from going to the back.

jen 8-27-2008 @ 10:31AM

I just flew Southwest on Monday, and they allowed pre-boarding for families traveling with children age 4 and under, as well as for "those needing extra assistance". When my children were small, I appreciated pre-boarding on Southwest (and other airlines that don't have pre-assigned seating) to ensure I would be able to get 2-3 seats together. There is nothing more annoying than to get on the plane and see every isle and window seat already taken, leaving only middle seats, and then having to ask people to move around so you can sit with your small children. This occurs on other airlines as well, when seat assignments are not yet available at the time of ticket purchase.

Jenni 8-27-2008 @ 10:38AM

I'm all for this. I loved when airlines went to boarding front to back AND window to isle. I had said for years this is the way they should do things. This way, if you are sitting in an isle, you don't have yourself all settled before your window seat-mate makes their way down.

I know it takes some time to get people settled, but if you go in order, you don't have to worry about holding people up trying to get by you. I have, many times, been stuck behind that "preboard" family in the first row who still isn't settled even after the plane is half boarded.

I know having children in tow is difficult, but with children in tow I much prefer to be the last on the plane and the last off. It's so much easier that way.

Michael Rowe 8-27-2008 @ 11:10AM

The original practice was that children, families, and "special assistance" passengers got to board first, to get them safely installed. Then, when the flight landed, they'd wait till the other passengers were off the plane to get the same assistance leaving the aircraft as they (apparently) needed getting on. Needless to say, their "needs" miraculously disappeared once the plane landed, and the jumped out of their seats and jostled their way off the planes with the people who had to wait, originally, while they boarded, demonstrating remarkable ease when it was time to leave.

I agree with the new policy, since the previous one was so open to abuse.

Nicola 8-27-2008 @ 12:41PM

I am still of the opinion (and practise) that when you are flying with a small child, you want to board as LATE as humanly possible. We fly six to eight times a year. My son is now 4 1/2, but I've been doing it since he was 6 months old. In general, we present our boarding passes when they call our name. When we hear, "Final boarding call, Evans", we head onto the plane. No sitting around in the stuffy cabin, no long hot wait on the runway while people shove every last item that they own into the overhead bin. We get on, buckle up, and taxi away from the gate.

This only failed me once, when we weren't paying attention and they failed to do a final boarding call. They had already closed and locked the door. Thankfully, they were able to get us on anyway, but I've been a bit better about actually hanging out AT the gate while they board, rather than wandering...

tina 8-27-2008 @ 2:09PM

Actually, Southwest allows families with children 4 & under to board AFTER the first group of passengers...in between the A and B group. I have a toddler and make sure when traveling on Southwest, I check in online as soon as I can to get an A boarding pass. People were taking advantage of the pre-boarding. I've seen families with 1 3 year old and 3 or 4 older children ALL pre-board. That's a bit ridiculous!

SKL 8-27-2008 @ 4:22PM

I will go with the flow on this one. The only time I've flown with my kids, they were both infants who needed to be carried. I also had my mom with me, in a wheel chair, and she couldn't carry her own stuff. Our seats were in the back of the plane. Between two adults' carry-ons, two diaper bags, two infants, four coats, etc., the double stroller and wheelchair that needed to be dealt with at the door of the plane, and an elderly lady who needed to go into the plane toilet as soon as possible to deal with medical-oriented stuff, I must say we needed to be the first people getting on that plane. But, of course that is an extreme example, and I'd hope if it ever happened again, an exception would be made to whatever the rule was.

Sherry 8-27-2008 @ 8:33PM

I love to preboard with my kids, but only at airports, usually ones NOT in America, where they actually do preboarding properly. I often fly out of Narita airport in Japan on American and families with children under four are not only called up for preboarding, but the crew and gate agents HELP you. This means they help you get yourself and your kids on the plane and really and truly settled before they send other people on. For flights taking off in the US, if they let you preboard at all, it seems to mean they let you go on after first class is boarded, but then they just start sending everyone on after you seconds later so you really aren't preboarding at all.

Yes, it is annoying at times to get on the flight and wait while everyone else gets on. It adds time to flights that are already long and miserable, but it also insures that I have a chance to get my kids settled and at ease on the plane, which helps prevent tantrums, and have my stuff nearby so I can get to it easily when the kids need something instead of having all my storage space stolen by idiots who manage to violate all the carry on allowances and size limits.

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