SW boarding rules....

[mickey12810]

should apply to all!!!!!!!!!! We were preboarding in MCO last night. My mom is going through chemo for lung cancer and cannot walk or stand for any length of time so she is in a wheelchair ( her own). There were 2 other parties in front of us with chairs from the airport. One was a man and his wife and it seemed that he had a hard time walking. The next family they allowed all four of them to preboard. I asked the airline employee why the rules apply to some and not all as far as only 2 people preboarding, because my husband was in the C line and he admitted that he should not have let them go. So we arrive in PVD. The man that seemed to have a hard time walking practically ran off the plane! And the other party of four just seemed to blend in with the crowd and did not need a chair in PVD. People like that really make me mad My mom would have loved to have been able to walk off that plane by herself! Of course my husband keeps telling me to let it go and I know I should but the gall of some people! I think the only people who should preboard with wheelchairs are those who have their own and the elderly! JMHO

The other thing that I cannot understand is when people preboard with children under 4, why do they allow their whole group to preboard and not just a parent and the 4 year old. Because I don't think they will have a problem with the seat next to the 4 year old to be taken before all the family arrives on the plane.

 

[Gary M]

I have seen people on this board say what you described doesn't happen on SWA. I have seen the same situation with SWA out of IND as you describe. Maybe some airports enforce the rules better than others. I would assume SWA would have trouble with "the fakers" because a disability is sometimes hard to tell. The extended family and friends boarding with junior can be enforced. The couple of flights to MCO from IND that I took on SWA I felt as lonely as the Maytag Repairman waiting in the A, B and C corral area. Most of the plane pre-boarded.

Some people love the cattle call, but I don't and will fly SWA as a last resort. It's good that we have the choices.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Does anyone watch Airline on A & E? There was a guy on there who has used pretty much every disability he can think of to pre-board. The show I saw him on, which was just aired again the other night, he said that he had advanced cataracts and couldn't see very well. He had on dark sunglasses that he turned upside down and put on. When the gate agent handed him back his boarding papers, he acted like he couldn't see and was reaching way off from where the agent had them.

He thought it was hysterical that he keeps getting away with this! He said that he does it every time he flies and it has worked every time!

I never flew on Southwest. Our trip this week will be our first. I'm not sure how I'm going to like not having assigned seats.

mickey...I hope everything turns out ok for your mom and she has a full recovery.

 

[tmt martins]

Well at MCO on our return flight a few weeks ago a lady with 2 kids almost as tall as my DD12 stated she was 4 and wanted to preboard so they let her .

My biggest problem ( and yes I brought it up with both Gate and On-board) is she had a big purse ,a tote bag , 4 large shopping bags ,4 year old had roller and 2 big shopping bags, and the older child had a backpack , a purse, and 3 big shopping bags.

I said something to the gate CSR as he was commenting to another passenger about the girl looking older then 4 and he just shruged it off.

Then we get to our seats I put a tote with just a small item (shirt) in the overhead and DW's small Carry-on bag . The FA comes and ask if I could put the tote under one of the seats as it's going to be a full plane. I explain that we all have backpacks that fit under the seats and that they have things we need during the flight so it's safer for them not to be stored.

She said a bit smartly OK so then I said why are you not holding those ( they were still fighting with all the bags into storage) to the 1 small and 1 carry-on items . She then said thats not my area but will be addressed if I need space.

So because they decide not to uphold their own policies the poor sap with a C BP ends up haveing to check their carry-ons .

I also know of able bodied people to do the wheelchair thing at WDW to bypass the lines and get preferred seating as well.It makes it bad and not very understanding by us for those who really do need it.

I just think it shows a bad example for the kids when they are taught to decieve by their parents actions.

 

[helenk]

We saw something similar in PHL. My husband and I were flying to Ft Lauderdale with SW. There were two couples that came to the gate while we were waiting. They were travelling together and one of the men was in a wheel chair. He and his group were given the priority boarding passes. Shortly after the group wheeled the gentleman a bit of a way from the gate so the personnel could not see him and he got out of the wheel chair and they all proceed to walk to the bar. They of course pre-boarded, when we got to Ft Lauderdale, they all walked through the airport at a brisk pace without a care in the world.
.
It upsets me because people like this will eventually cause the airlines to discontinue the practice and it will be hard on the people who really need it.

 

[Scratch42]

To those people who deceive..............

"What goes around comes around!"

I recently went on a AA flight to NYC. There was a woman who definately had no problem walking around the airport while we were all waiting for our delayed flights. Noticed that once they started boarding, there she was sitting in a wheelchair. Isn't it policy that if you need assistance that you also have to wait until everybody leaves the plane, then they will assist you? Not her, she flew like a "Bat out of Hell!" to be first off that plane! No Wheelchair required!

mickey12810 ~ Prayers and Pixie dust for your mom.

j

 

[SueM in MN]

As far as the wheelchair pre-boarding, the airlines are kind of stuck there. If someone identifies themselves as a person with a disability who needs extra time boarding, they can't ask a lot of questions.
We have to preboard because youngest DD can't wallk and I have to partially take apart her wheelchair before gate checking it. Even though we request preboarding, sometimes the gate agent forgets about it and then we end up having to hold up a line because they didn't let us preboard.
I have not seen a lot of people using wheelchairs and pre-boarding when we fly, but I can see there would be a lot more 'incentive' for someone without a disability to try it on SW because of the way seats are selected.

I also know of able bodied people to do the wheelchair thing at WDW to bypass the lines and get preferred seating as well.It makes it bad and not very understanding by us for those who really do need it.

I just think it shows a bad example for the kids when they are taught to decieve by their parents actions.

I just wanted to mention that most of the lines at WDW are Mainstream Access, which means they are wheelchair accessible and people using wheelchairs/ECVs wait in the same lines with everyone else.
And for most of the shows, the wheelchair seating is in the back row. In many cases, there are wheelchair parking spots with scattered seats too sit here and there. So, if someone is using a wheelchair because they think it will get them some "perks", in most cases, they will be pushing the wheelchair thru the same lines as everyone else and having to sit in the back with only one member of their party.
Thosee rental wheelchairs are also 'tanks' to push around. They weigh approximately 50 pounds, empty.

 

[ducklite]

I don't think you should automatically exclude anyone not in their own wheelchair. On a recent flight I saw a poor guy who had obviously broken his leg while on vacation--they wheeled him in an airport chair down to the end of the jetway and then he used his crutches--which he wasn't very steady on--to board. So because it's not his chair you're saying that he shouldn't be able to preboard?

Anne

 

[mickey12810]

I don't think you should automatically exclude anyone not in their own wheelchair. On a recent flight I saw a poor guy who had obviously broken his leg while on vacation--they wheeled him in an airport chair down to the end of the jetway and then he used his crutches--which he wasn't very steady on--to board. So because it's not his chair you're saying that he shouldn't be able to preboard?

Anne

No this is an obvious disability. It is just very frustrating to see people do this and I feel that if you use a wheelchair to get on then you should be made to wait until everyone leaves the plane and be helped again off the plane in that wheelchair! The flight attendants see who comes on with a wheelchair and should make a mental note to approach those passengers just before landing and tell them that they will be happy to assist them off the plane!

 

[gigi1313]

we are pre-boarders... but to look at us, you'd see nothing "wrong" and my kids are obviously over 5yo... my son has peanut allergies and the airlines actually suggest that we pre-board so i can sanitize the area my son will be sitting in/touching/etc... we receive our fair share of glares but manage to either explain or ignore...

 

[SueM in MN]

No this is an obvious disability. It is just very frustrating to see people do this and I feel that if you use a wheelchair to get on then you should be made to wait until everyone leaves the plane and be helped again off the plane in that wheelchair! The flight attendants see who comes on with a wheelchair and should make a mental note to approach those passengers just before landing and tell them that they will be happy to assist them off the plane!

If you have your own wheelchair and gate checked it, you really don't have a choice. You have to wait for it to arrive back at the gate (which sometimes means we are still on until the cleaning crew comes).
There have also been times when the staff have notified us that our DD's wheelchair had arrived at the gate and I went out to get it ready for her - only to find it almost buried in strollers.

If you have ordered a wheelchair or a courtesy cart from the airline, you may also have to wait for it to arrive.

I would not like it if the airline detemined that anyone with a wheelchair had to wait until everyone else was off before they could leave the plane. Sometimes people need to get off quickly because they have a tight connection. Some of those people may have a wheelchair, but checked it to their final destination. Some of them might have a wheelchair or cart ordered to meet them at the counter.
On one flight, we had put DD's wheelchair into an on-board closet and we were planning to get off quickly because we had a tight connection. I got the wheelchair ready off to the side out of any traffic and we waited for the first rush of people and then tried to get off when no one was coming.
Even though the wheelchair was set to go, DH was ready to carry DD off and there was a lull in the people getting off the plane - the FA would not let us get off because it was their policy that everyone had to be off the plane before anyone with a wheelchair got off. So, we had to sit there and wait until every single person got off the plane. Even though there were times that no one was coming up the aisle for more than 2 minutes at a time, we were not allowed off. DD was pretty little then and carrying her off would not have been much different than any parent carrying a 4 year old off (and we saw some of those while we were waiting). But, their rule was their rule and so we had to wait. We ended up getting on our next plane during the final boarding process.