There’s a bit of backlash going on against Southwest Airlines’ for changing their “family first” boarding policy. Previously, families traveling with children under 4 were allowed to board before the “a” group. Now they’ve been bumped back behind “a” but before “b” and “c.”
While Southwest claims that the new policy will help things move along faster— “accidentally” attracting more business travelers who are put off by having to give up the best seats to a gaggle of toddlers just might have something to do with change.
Now one parent is mad enough to start a blog called “Stop Southwest Airlines Family PreBoard Policy Changes” that aims to… well. You know.
From the blog:
Are you outraged with Southwest and their new revised family preboard policy in which parents and children under 4 no longer can board first?
!!! Then sign our online petition here – (you can do it anonymously) !!!
Are you a parent of a toddler who has had it with air travel?
We have.Do you know that Southwest changed their pre-board policy 10.02.2007 so that families with small children no longer pre-board but must wait until Group A has already boarded?
We call it A and a half boarding. We also call it outrageous and extremely short sighted for Southwest.
Southwest says they have no plans to revert back to the old policy.
Stop Southwest Airlines Family PreBoard Policy Changes
(Photo:busbeytheelder)
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I say let one guardian or two parents board with ONE infant. And they MUST go to the back. ALL the way to the back. Then everyone else can board on quickly and they can take their sweet time getting their precious sweet child strapped in without obstructing the aisle. They won’t obstruct at the end of the flight as well. Again, they can take as long as they need to exit the plane.
Yes, there will still be jerks who block up the aisle, but they won’t have any excuse besides being slow jerks.
@Caswell: Yay! I did just that yesterday. A child who’d been running pell mell around my doctor’s office decided she wanted to yank off some pins I had on my bag. I gently removed her hands from my pins (with which she could’ve stabbed herself) and told her, “noooo. noooooo. nooooo. Don’t touch that.” (The child looked at me with utter incomprehension in her eyes. I was probably the first person to ever tell her the word “no.”) That earned me a cold chill from the adults in the room. The parent? She just came by and scooped her up. No “don’t grab things that aren’t your’s.” No “I’m sorry she was bending your things.” No “thank you for keeping my child from stabbing herself in the hand.” Nope. She just walked away. Two minutes later she was back to running around and around the doctor’s office. ARGH.
Listen. Kids/no kids doesn’t matter. Old, fat, gay, whatever. There is a social contract that everyone signs onto when you leave your own house. This is simply a difference in perception of what the terms of that social contract is. Personally, I believe that I am not in breach of the social contract when my impact on the people around me is as minimal as possible. Many people are “me firsters” that don’t care about you, and only themselves first. Those people have a very special punishment. It’s just being them.
I’ve got a toddler, and we’ve never boarded early. In fact, we take great pride in the fact that we have our shit together at a higher level than everyone in the airport except the most seasoned business traveler (which we both were before kids). We’ve flown internationally with her several times, and she’s had around an hour of inconsolable meltdown in around 60 hours of in-air time. We get more compliments about her than anything else. There was actually a man that sat behind us that asked us to meet his wife at baggage so that she could meet our daughter – she’s that charming.
People pre-judge us on sight. Don’t think we don’t see it. The thing is, I don’t care. We’ve got a good kid and I know that we do everything that we can to keep her under control. Judge away. I don’t give a damn. However, if you’re vocal about it, especially spiteful or venomous, expect us to take longer or otherwise inconvenience you. I want you to really earn all that hate or spite that you’ve invested in. For us, it’s entertainment.
At the very least when we travel, I want you to say, “I sat behind this cute kid, and she was great”. Because she will stand up in my lap and look at you and grin and wave. She’ll peek at you through the crack in the seat and grin. She thinks it’s all kinds of fun to hold her tiny little finger out to you and wait for you to touch it with yours. She doesn’t know you. She doesn’t know that you hate her. She’s too little to know that there are jerks in the world except our dog.
If you hate kids and “breeders”, I would encourage you to be vocal about it. Tell those people. If you’re going to believe it, then preach it. Don’t be a closeted anti-whatever. Get out from under the smug cloud and confront these folks. Good luck with that.
Back of the plane. Seriously? Would that work on a bus or on a subway? A certain class of people have to sit in a certain part of transportation? Seems to me that we got past that sometime in the 60s.
I don’t think parents traveling with kids should get extra entitlements. What they should get is extra COURTESIES. Last time I checked, a courtesy is something someone might provide you if they can, but it’s not a guarantee. I travel with my kids. We make a point of reviewing all the airline policies prior to leaving, we get to the airport early and we get in line like everyone else. We organize our carry-ons so they can be easily and quickly stowed and my kids sit where we tell them to sit. We all behave during the flight. If airline staff does something nice for us, that’s awesome, but we certainly don’t expect it.
It does drive me crazy when I see kids whose parents won’t set limits for them. I don’t hold it against the kids, but it does make me want to go up to their parents and smack them. Just a crazy fantasy, of course!
^^ Absolutely. Very well put, and good to know that there are more of us out there. It’s good to see a family with their act together.