SWA preboarding show!

[Gary M]

In order to preboard, I wouldn't think you would qualify for exit row seats. You must be at least 15 yrs. old to sit in the exit rows. If you are preboarding with a small child, I would assume you plan on sitting with that child and could not sit in exit rows. If you need extra time to board, I would think that you may not be physically able to handle the exit row responsibilities.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

donaldbuzzandminnie...

In this instance being discussed the flight was on United so it was a scenario where passengers had assigned seats but the airline screwed up the seat assignments of the family with the 5 year old.

I was actually referring to the general issue of traveling with children on SW. Guess I should have made that clear.

 

[15MinutesFromWDW]

I don't care what the price is -- I will absolutely NEVER fly SWA again.

I flew SWA from MCO to St. Louis on Halloween 2003. I got to the airport very early, because I had to park in the long term lot. I went straight through to the gate, but stopped, stunned, at the "hub" to the SWA gates, just past the shuttle train exit. The SWA employees had decided to decorate for Halloween. (Something I have a fairly low opinion of, since I've always believed it to be a children's holiday.) Stupid, but fine. Except they decided that the opening decoration should be a FAKE GRAVEYARD. In an airport. In October. With real clumps of dirt, and tombstones.

I have to back up a minute, and explain that I was on vacation in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. I was there for all of it, every last minute, every siren, every bit of debris. Like millions of other people, I'm still very effected by it. Entering an airport is very traumatic for me, and often causes panic attacks (even if I'm just there to pick someone up).

Needless to say, a GRAVEYARD wasn't the best site for my nerves at that point. I finally was able to walk past it, and then had to stop again. Just two gates in, right at an empty gate's boarding door, were more fake tombstones, including one that said in large, bold print, "REST IN PIECES". I was SICKENED. I couldn't even move. Several SWA employees shoved right past me, while other passengers stopped to see if I was okay. (Every passenger who stopped was MORTIFIED when I pointed to the tombstone.)

I was very shaken, but also very, very angry. I went to a nearby SWA counter to complain, and was told off by three slack-jawed, gum-popping idiots -- apparently they had been part of the decorating crew. They actually could NOT understand why their airport graveyard would offend anybody, and when I finally said, "Do you not know what happened on September 11?", they literally said to me, "Oh, who cares!" I had to speak to FOUR managers before I found one who understood why, exactly, that was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

By that time (still 45 minutes before boarding) I was having a full panic attack. I have heart problems, and had just gotten out of the hospital before that, so I was well and truly ill at that point, and barely able to walk or talk. I caught the one manager with a brain when she walked past me, and explained what was happening, and begged for a pre-boarding pass. Every other airline I've flown since Sept. 11 has given me a pre-boarding pass as soon as I explain the situation, and usually takes great care of me in-flight, too. SWA, however, told me THEY DON'T DO PRE-BOARDING!!

Of course, boarding time came, and they pre-boarded a thousand people with kids (mostly teenagers!), and left me, a shaking, shivering, ball of sick, sitting there until the end. I was one of the last people called to board the plane!! OTHER PASSENGERS HAD TO WALK ME TO THE PLANE, while SWA employees stood by looking daggers at us!!

I was so incredibly ill by the time I got to St. Louis that my mother wanted to take me straight to the ER. (I talked her out of it. After all of that, I wanted to get where I was going and be done with it.)

I will never, NEVER fly SWA again in my life!!!!!

 

[robinb]

I don't care what the price is -- I will absolutely NEVER fly SWA again.

Wow. I don't know where to start.

I agree with you that decorating an airport as a graveyard is totally inappropriate. 9/11 aside, there are too many nervous passengers flying on any one day and scaring the heck out them just doesn't make any sense. There was also no excuse for them to not take care of you once you started having your panic attack. Unfortunately, by that time you were probably labeled a "PITA" by the gate crew who is used to holding all the cards when it comes to pax. Is it right? No. Is it a fact of flying life? Yes.

As for your 9/11 experience. I am very sorry you were there during that tragic time. What you have to understand is that the vast majority of people were not there. Yes, we saw it on TV but we were not there to have the minute-by-minute events burned into our memories. In many ways we have moved on and we just don't think and react to everything in a 9/11 context like we did that first year. It sounds like you were experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). If you have not been treated for PTSD, I don't think it's too late.

{{hugs}} I hope flying is easier for you now.

 

[seashoreCM]

Five yer olds are not inherently afraid of sitting between two strangers. Rather two strangers they actually sat between made them afraid.

It is your the parent's responsibility to make sure your child does not become so afraid. Your meticulous adherence to this duty will more likely than not, within an hour, result in you or your child being reseated so as to be together.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

To the poster who had a panic attack - wow. I think you should not fly Southwest again. They are known for being fun-loving and there is a Halloween Decorating Contest every with all their cities participating. The winning city gets some pretty cool prizes. Using real dirt is kinda clever, in my opinion.

Sorry, I do not see a connection between 9/11 and a graveyard. When I go to the Haunted Mansion at Disney, I laugh at the funny tombstones.

And I fail to see how you being ill has anything to do with Southwest.

 

[phillybeth]

Five yer olds are not inherently afraid of sitting between two strangers. Rather two strangers they actually sat between made them afraid.

It is your the parent's responsibility to make sure your child does not become so afraid. Your meticulous adherence to this duty will more likely than not, within an hour, result in you or your child being reseated so as to be together.

I would WANT a five-year-old to be afraid to sit between two strangers with no parent in sight. Sick things can happen in a very short period of time. And it is not a stranger's responsibility to care for a child.

 

[15MinutesFromWDW]

It wasn't just that it was tombstones. It was an entire fake graveyard in an AIRPORT that was shocking. I think anybody agrees that the "Rest In Pieces" tombstone right next to a boarding door was just plain thoughtless and sick. (I think we can all see how that one is inappropriate in the context of Sept. 11.)

It's hard to describe, but SWA's employees were actually directly responsible for my panic attack. It wasn't the graveyard that started it, but having SWA employees get in my face, and yell "Who cares?" and all that nonsense. It was just an all-around astoundingly badly handled experience. (There were a thousand little things they could have done differently that would have changed my opinion.)

And to the sweet poster who mention PTSD -- I was actually diagnosed with it, and did get some counseling as soon as I got home. (Unfortunately, the only counselor that offered reduced prices was -- get this -- right next to the airport! Every two minutes another low-flying jumbo jet would take off and fly right over her office. Not the most comforting situation, lol.) I actually have an easier time flying now than most of my family. After that flight home, anything seems pretty tame, you know?

 

[robinb]

I would WANT a five-year-old to be afraid to sit between two strangers with no parent in sight. Sick things can happen in a very short period of time. And it is not a stranger's responsibility to care for a child.

I think seashoreCM was being factious.

 

[phillybeth]

I think seashoreCM was being factious.

I understand that. I still think it is bad advice, even facetiously. Too many bad things can happen to even joke about something like that.