SWA boarding at MCO

[Pinnie]

For those of you flying SWA I will tell you that they are really cracking down on Preboarding at MCO!!!!

Yesterday the gate agent made numerous announcements that preboarding was for children 4 and under and only the parents could board. He also made it clear that no grandparents, aunts or uncles could preboard. Sure enough 2 families were "busted" at the gate. The gate agent asked the children their ages. Both familes were told to get in the right coral. (B and C).

Also at MCO the gate agent was checking to see if any large carryons still fit in the bin at the gate. There were a few that needed to be "checked"

I am so glad that they are cracking down on pre-boards. If families need to sit together, get to the airport early. The family with the C boarding passes did not get to sit together. Mom and one child were in the front and dad was in the middle and the older son was in the back (He looked to be about 11).

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[crazywig]

i for one am glad. i need to pre-board to install the carseat without holding up other passengers or worse, knocking them in the noggin with it while i walk down the aisle!

only the parents can board? i assume they mean the other children as well?

 

[Pinnie]

There was one family with one toddler and 3 other children that looked to be between the ages of 9 - 14. They only allowed ONE parent to board with the toddler. Parents with other small children were allowed, however.

The gate agent was very clear that ALL carseats had to be installed in a window seat and if they did NOT have a ticket for the child, they would have to be a "LAPCHILD" since all seats were sold.

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[crazywig]

interesting, thanks!

(btw: we always buy a seat for ds. safety first!)

 

[DemoBri1]

Originally posted by Pinnie
I am so glad that they are cracking down on pre-boards. If families need to sit together, get to the airport early. The family with the C boarding passes did not get to sit together. Mom and one child were in the front and dad was in the middle and the older son was in the back (He looked to be about 11).

Personally I think SWAs policy is stupid. Why would you have a policy in place that could split families up on the plane? Is it too much trouble to go to a reserved seat policy?

 

[Pinnie]

As to SWA's seating policy. it is ONE reason that SWA is the most profitable airline. SWA gets it's planes in and out quickly and efficiently. For instance, one day I was flying another airline and the gate attendant was assigning seats to standbys. Only problem was that the seats he was "assigning" already had bodies in them on the plane. This mishap caused us to get out of Atlanta late and then behind a bank of Delta jets that were in line. Needless to say, we got in very late. Had they had unassigned seating, the pax could have just grabbed an empty seat.

If you don't like SWAs seating policy, it is within your rights to chose another airline that has them. Some of us prefer flying cheaply and efficiently.

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[Lewisc]

Originally posted by DemoBri1
Personally I think SWAs policy is stupid. Why would you have a policy in place that could split families up on the plane? Is it too much trouble to go to a reserved seat policy?

The policy is to encourage people to get to the airport and to the gate early. Families that want to sit together make sure they get to the gate early. It allows SW to have such a quick turnaround. In some cases it allows them to run an extra flight a day.

Other airlines people who book early get their choice of seats. With SW the better seats go to the people who get to the airport early.

 

[CarolA]

Personally I have no problem with SW and for all the fussing I RARELY see kids sitting by themselves unless they are flying alone. Now a family may be split up 2, 2 or something like that, but if you read these boards you realize that even though you booked 11 months in advance and picked out the "perfect" seats on Delta, USAIR, etc. things change. How many times have we seen the "they changed our flight/seat" post?


I do like how SW asks the kid how old they are. I have seen them do that and the kids don't lie LOL!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by DemoBri1
Personally I think SWAs policy is stupid. Why would you have a policy in place that could split families up on the plane? Is it too much trouble to go to a reserved seat policy?

I think their policy is excellent. You can have reserved seating and if you are late making the reservation, you could face the same problem.

But, if you don't like the policy, you don't have to fly them.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Pinnie
As to SWA's seating policy. it is ONE reason that SWA is the most profitable airline. SWA gets it's planes in and out quickly and efficiently. For instance, one day I was flying another airline and the gate attendant was assigning seats to standbys. Only problem was that the seats he was "assigning" already had bodies in them on the plane. This mishap caused us to get out of Atlanta late and then behind a bank of Delta jets that were in line. Needless to say, we got in very late. Had they had unassigned seating, the pax could have just grabbed an empty seat.

If you don't like SWAs seating policy, it is within your rights to chose another airline that has them. Some of us prefer flying cheaply and efficiently.

pin

ITA!!!!

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

I dont mean to sound insensitive to the family that got split up, but I for one am ecstatic that SWA is cracking down on this. We have a 7 yr old and we stopped trying to preboard when she passed the age limit. I cannot remember how many times, I have seen families of 4,6,8 all trying to get on board with 1 infant. Also, how many times have you seen a kid who is obviously older than 4 being used as a preboard excuse. Talke advantage of it while you can and the kid is 4 or less. After that, get in line with the rest of us!!!

 

[mousey]

We flew out of MCO earlier in the week and the preboarding line was ridiculous. No lie their had to be at least 75-100 people who preboarded. Out of this group their was 1 wheelchair, probably about 5 men dressed in business suits, a few babies and 8 family members to carry them on, etc.... Lets put it this way, the A line had about 15 people, B and C even less. Everyone in the A line was complaining because not only were their people in that line that didn't belong, they were the most unprepared group I have ever seen. Boarding passes not out, oversized luggage that had to be checked in, etc. I love SW, but I have never witnessed the abuse that I did out of MCO. My husband overheard a women at the counter demanding to be preboarded and when the attendant asked why, she stated because I want a seat in the front of the plane. Needless to say, she was preboarded!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Mickey_Maniac
I dont mean to sound insensitive to the family that got split up, but I for one am ecstatic that SWA is cracking down on this. We have a 7 yr old and we stopped trying to preboard when she passed the age limit. I cannot remember how many times, I have seen families of 4,6,8 all trying to get on board with 1 infant. Also, how many times have you seen a kid who is obviously older than 4 being used as a preboard excuse. Talke advantage of it while you can and the kid is 4 or less. After that, get in line with the rest of us!!!

I don't have a problem with families (parents, child under 5 and the sibs) preboarding. Never have, but, I do have a problem with the entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, brand new friends etc.) boarding. They can save the seats if they are split up, so, might as well let them preboard. I am, however, right with you on the kid over the preboarding age being used as a "go directly to go" pawn.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by mousey
We flew out of MCO earlier in the week and the preboarding line was ridiculous. No lie their had to be at least 75-100 people who preboarded. Out of this group their was 1 wheelchair, probably about 5 men dressed in business suits, a few babies and 8 family members to carry them on, etc.... Lets put it this way, the A line had about 15 people, B and C even less. Everyone in the A line was complaining because not only were their people in that line that didn't belong, they were the most unprepared group I have ever seen. Boarding passes not out, oversized luggage that had to be checked in, etc. I love SW, but I have never witnessed the abuse that I did out of MCO. My husband overheard a women at the counter demanding to be preboarded and when the attendant asked why, she stated because I want a seat in the front of the plane. Needless to say, she was preboarded!

This is when you write to SWA and express these thoughts. Nothing will change if they don't know about it. That is simply not right. I feel for the gate agents, they have to maintain that air of friendliness even if they want to wring the customers neck.
I figure I would last about ahhhhhh 2.5 minutes. There would be a body count.

 

[Mickey_Maniac]

Originally posted by GAIL HAYDEN
I figure I would last about ahhhhhh 2.5 minutes. There would be a body count.

LOL!!! I would pay admission to see that!!!

 

[dcfromva]

The seat grab is probably the one thing that I don't like about SWA.
I am always stressed out about it. Our objective whenever we travel anywhere is that we sit together (all 3 of us is preferred, but at least two of us).
Some coping skills: We always try to get there early. Now that they have it, we will always use on-line check in. (We even purchased a printer to take on the road with us so we can do the on-line check in when we are away from home).
I try to take deep breaths and think about this: The type of passengers going to/from MCO are a little different than your average mix. There is a higher percentage of famlies. Families like to sit together. Generally, they don't leave the center seat vacant like you would find for business travelers. Also, I don't see as many carry ons like I see for folks going away for a weekend trip. What I've observed, families seem to have smaller carryons. I figure they must have checked baggage to go with the longer trip and they don't want to weigh themselves down carrying lots of extra stuff (especially with having to keep track of the kids!) Of course, there are exceptions to this.

Our most recent trip--we weren't able to do on-line check in (operator error ) for our outbound leg. We got "B" group boarding passes when we arrived at the airport (not quite 2 hours early). I don't generally pay attention to the pre-boards but this trip we noticed that there seemed to be the normal number of people in the "A" group and maybe 15-20 people in each of the "B" and "C" goups.... And lots of pre-boarders. So, I was a little anxious about the situation. When it was our turn, we did get to sit together so, I had nothing to worry about.

I don't know if SWA will ever change their boarding policy. It does seem to bring the worst out in some folks. Others, it seems to bring the best out. I've seen some really gracious people in line-up. (I think of it as grace under "fire" ).

-DC :ears:

 

[dznyntnh]

MCO seems to be the only place that SWA has cracked down on pre-boarding abuses. In october, they were very specific about who could get on and removed about half the people from the line.

They need to get on the ball at other airports. I have been to some where they pre-board so many people that there are only 'A' passes left to go on. I have seen entire families, as well as enitre little league baseball team (12-14 year olds). This kind of defeats the purpose of getting to the airport early.

I have written to SWA everytime I see extreme abuses, because the only way it gets changed is if we let them know.

I used to choose SWA for the price, but lately their's are going up and some of the competitors in our area are coming down. If I can get the same flight for same cost and reserve my seat, that's the airline I'm flying.

 

[inkkognito]

I'm with you, dznyntnh
We fly to Orlando from Chicago twice a month, and I keep a close eye on the SW fares. Despite the fact that I'd hate not having a pre-assigned seat, I could live with it if the price were right. It couldn't be any worse than the seats we got flying standby once...we got to the airport early, so we tried to get on an earlier plane (we were flying ATA). They were able to get us on there, but hubby and I were separated and put into middle seats. Certainly not the ideal, but well worth it to get to Orlando a couple hours earlier!
But amazingly, I have never been able to beat ATA's prices on SW. Our arrangements generally aren't flexible, and their prices are not good for the times we want to fly. If I can ever snare a good deal, I'll try them, but if it's the same, or maybe even $10 or $20 per person more, I'll go for the reserved seat.
And believe me, preboard abuses aren't limited to SW. I see liberal interpretations of age every time we fly ATA from Orlando. At least it doesn't really affect me, since I already have my seat.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[mousey]

I bet if they made those preboarders go to the back of the plane, you wouldn't see as much abuse. I don't mean wheelchair or people who have trouble ambulating, I mean the extended families, baseball teams, etc....

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by mousey
I bet if they made those preboarders go to the back of the plane, you wouldn't see as much abuse. I don't mean wheelchair or people who have trouble ambulating, I mean the extended families, baseball teams, etc....

That is a WONDERFUL idea!!!!