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Southwest Airlines new boarding rules concerns families
Families are no longer able to pre-board the aircraft before other customers unless they are willing to pay extra.
BAY AREA (Bay News 9) -- Southwest Airlines has recently decided to do away with pre-boarding for families with small children in an effort to lure business travelers willing to spend more on last minute tickets.
Those families will no longer be able to pre-board the aircraft before other customers unless they pay $10 to $30 extra per ticket to be in the business select group.
Parents know it's not easy traveling with little ones.
"It's harder because they want to wander and put their fingers in all the baggage carousel," said Paul Rasp, Southwest passenger from Chicago.
Those who purchase these "business select fares" will automatically be placed in the "A" boarding group.
If families can't secure boarding with this group, they fall in the "A 1/2" group, sandwiched between "A" and "B".
"Families that are traveling with children four years and under are boarding with our family boarding," said Myra Hitchens, Southwest Airlines Manager of Customer Service at TIA. "Which is between A and B boarding group."
This means 60 regular passengers may board before families with small children.
But those who tried out the new way are happy they still get a guaranteed spot between "A" and "B".
"If they didn't let some kind of family boarding we probably wouldn't even fly Southwest because of the non-assigned seating," Rasp said.
A Southwest Airlines spokesperson said the new boarding rules still give parents more than 70 seats to pick from.
Southwest Airlines wants to stress if families do end up in separate seats, they will do their best to get them back together.
The change comes just as a new initiative takes place, stating that all passengers will receive a boarding priority number with respect to groups A, B, or C.
With the old way, passengers would start lining up long before a flight to make sure they got their first pick in seats. With the new way, many passengers say it helps reduce anxiety at the gate.
"You just sit and relax and you know you'll be called up," said Sally Parker-Johnson, Southwest Passenger from Chicago. "You don't have to worry about being competitive with the other guys and standing in line. I liked it a lot more."
Even with the new letter and number boarding, it's still non-assigned seating.
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