Southwest boarding question

[momtwoboys]

Not sure whether I should ask here or the transportation board. SO here goes: we are due to fly out of BDL tomorrow am (7:40am) we have flown southwest numerous times and never had a problem....but this am I went to do the online check-in and I was issued an "A' boarding pass, my husband and two sons (one of which is Asperger's) got "b's"...how do I get it so we can all board together?? He will NOT understand why Mommy gets on the plane first and WITHOUT him???? They could not re-issue over the phone, I asked to be put in the "b's with the rest of my guys...but they said no. What do we do??

 

[momtwoboys]

Have any advice for boarding with a child on the Spectrum and Southwest?? Please???

 

[DisneyNut4Life]

When you get to the gate, just line up with your boys in the B group, you don't have to change your A to a B to do this.

 

[momtwoboys]

thanks!! I guess I will let them know at the desk near the gate when we get there. The guy on the phone said I could not change myself to a "b"????

 

[DisneyNut4Life]

You really don't even have to tell them at the gate.
Southwest will board any A boarding pass passenger with group B or C.
They will not board B's with A's.

My boyfriend flys all the time, even though I get him in the A boarding group, he is ALWAYS late and just lines up with B's or C's.

If you are more comfortable talking to them, go ahead. I have found most gate agents are so nice and really very helpful!!

Hope you have a great trip!

 

[ccgirl]

This happened to me except my 6 year old got the A and the rest got B's. We just all boarded with B. As a PP said, you can board after your letter not before. You don't have to tell them at the gates either. As long as you are not a B boarding with A's or a C boarding with B's you are all set. Have a great time!!!

 

[momtwoboys]

Thanks so much everyone!

 

[gchockeymom]

I'm going to start out by saying no flames my way please.... but last year we had 6 of us going to MCO and 3 of us had "A"s and 3 had "B"s. I went to the desk and asked if we could all board together with "B"s and he told me to board with the "A" ticket, all of us. There were a few people in line that questioned it but when I said that I was told by the agent to do this, they seemed to be fine with it. I'm not saying this will happen for you, just that it's what happended to us last year. And the youngest kids were 11... So I think it's who you deal with on the day of your flight as to what the rule is... Have a great trip..

 

[momtwoboys]

I will report back to let everyone know how it was handled! I just don't want my already anxious son to think that I am going without him, or his brother and dad!

 

[KPeveler]

When in doubt, just talk to them - SW has always been very helpful with my boarding needs.

 

[bookwormde]

If boarding together in the "b" group works for you and your child then yes you can do it that way. If you need preferetnial boarding due to you son's disability, you can get a disability preboard card(blue) at the customer service desk in the concourse and your family and your child can board first.

bookwormde

 

[KPeveler]

If boarding together in the "b" group works for you and your child then yes you can do it that way. If you need preferetnial boarding due to you son's disability, you can get a disability preboard card(blue) at the customer service desk in the concourse and your family and your child can board first.

bookwormde

"technically" the policy is that the person with a disability and one other can pre-board. this would mean splitting up the family, which may also be difficult for the OP's son.

I have heard however but sometimes the entire family is allowed to pre-board together necessitated by the disability.

It is always worth asking about.

 

[jmartinez1895]

SW has always been very good about allowing our family ( 2 adults and 3 kids) to preboard together. If you want to try, just tell the agent at the check desk and tell them abut your childs needs. If not then you will have no trouble getting on with B.

 

[bookwormde]

Splitting up a family (immeadiate) is a violation of ADA and FAA FARs if the family staying together is neccacerily to manage or meet the needs of the child.

I have never seen SW require a split.

bookwormde

 

[KPeveler]

Splitting up a family (immeadiate) is a violation of ADA and FAA FARs if the family staying together is neccacerily to manage or meet the needs of the child.

I have never seen SW require a split.

bookwormde

SW has asked my family to split, but it was 4 adults, only 1 was disabled (me). There were 5 wheelchairs that day (only one was personal - mine, the rest were elderly people in wcs, so no concern about loading them into the plane), so they were probly just trying to keep things from getting too crowded...

but if i had asked, they would have let us all board together.

 

[BillSears]

3 of us traveling together all with A boarding passes. My 25 year old daughter, her fiancee and me using a wheelchair. They let me and my daughter board but asked fiancee to board in the regular queue.

So SWA does split up groups sometimes.

 

[bookwormde]

For disabilites where only 1 person is needed to attend and splitting the family group does not have have a negative impact on the persons disability it is allowed.

bookwormde

 

[pnutallergymom]

I also had to split up on a SW flight last Feb. out of MHT. I had two children who required pre-boarding....one in a wheelchair who I needed to transfer into a car seat (age 2) and the other (5) with a peanut allergy. They would not let my DH and my other two children (7,6) board with us. Made for alot of juggling on my part.....but yes they did split us up regardless of how much difficulty it caused me to do it by myself. We are flying out of MHT again next Saturday with MAW and I am not going to be happy if once again I have to split up. Its the first day of NH school vacation week, so I am sure there are going to be alot of issues. Not looking forward to it.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I also had to split up on a SW flight last Feb. out of MHT. I had two children who required pre-boarding....one in a wheelchair who I needed to transfer into a car seat (age 2) and the other (5) with a peanut allergy. They would not let my DH and my other two children (7,6) board with us. Made for alot of juggling on my part.....but yes they did split us up regardless of how much difficulty it caused me to do it by myself. We are flying out of MHT again next Saturday with MAW and I am not going to be happy if once again I have to split up. Its the first day of NH school vacation week, so I am sure there are going to be alot of issues. Not looking forward to it.

I would just pass yourself off as 2 single parent families, each with 2 children (one who needs preboarding).

Or don't have your peanut allergic kid actually preboard. Instead, you board with your littlest one, and wipe down his seat and do what you you need to do, and reserve a seat (I'm assuming this is why you need preboarding for peanut allergies, plus to keep him/her near you) and have your DH bring him/her to you when you board.

 

[Schmeck]

If you have type A boarding passes, don't you pretty much get to sit all together anyways? How many people do they let on with A passes? I'm talking about the above situation - not the OP's, but the one with two children needing pre-boarding.