Travel with Children - Lufthansa-big kid pre-boarding!

So many airlines have done away with preboarding altogether, I was really shocked to see this on LH.

I'm not sure if it was because of the A380 or not. I've flown LH many times with my kids but have only done preboarding.

A nice gate agent told me. They line up the families and the wheelchairs go on first, followed by the small babies in one line, then those of us with school aged children who were in another line.

I basically stopped preboarding when my youngest was no longer in a stroller.

Any other airlines have this system? I wish it were standard. I was alone with three so it really helped.

My experience with LH is that if you don't ask, they won't get priority boarding. SK has no such thing, even when I was 33 wks pregnant and bringing a 13 months old. Swiss seems to always have that, and they are more than happy to let you do that if they forget to announce. For AF you ask then they will let you through.

QF on the 744 SYD-DFW did this recently

I was caught off guard. I was in J (Zone A) and got to the gate just as they started boarding with my two elementary school age kids

I did not expect a child boarding process as my experiance on AA (which I fly 98% of my segments on) has shown that those pre-boards for kids are long gone. Sure someone will say well they did it on flight abc but all in all, I don't see it much anyway.

I just hear the boarding part as I'm trying to make sure my kids have their carry on all lined up and together. I just start boarding as I presume they called J class first (there was not any F class on this flight). I realized as I give my ticket to the GA and my kids were already through into the jetway that this was parents who need to board early with their kids only and thats why I got a funny look from the GA. I sure didn't need to be in this line but since I was at that point i was going anyway as it would cause more delay to call my kids back, turn around and move everyone out of the way so I could be the next to board 1 minute later

I fly LH several times a month and have seen 'kids' wearing bras and eye makeup allowed to preboard with parents. They do generally make a call for it, but it isn't always over the loudspeaker or in multiple languages.

LH is one of the more generous carriers I have seen with this, although AC from Europe is rather generous too. I will give LH credit for often seeking out passengers who the STAFF feel may be in need and helping them preboard, even if the passenger didn't ask.

I'll be flying with LH with 3 small kids alone this Nov, let's see how helpful LH staffs are. The nicest one I have encountered is a Chinese crew a NZ flight from LHR to HKG. She offered a mum travelling alone with a baby to take her baby while she dines, and she helped her taking things up and down the overheard locker.

I don't expect this from any Western carriers.

I did that when working for U.S. companies!

I think also it depends on how full the flight is and when during the flight you needed help. Asian and ME companies usually have huge crews. This is a big help for both us the passengers and the crews themselves.

Usually the F/A's are busy during the meal service and can't hold babies. Solo parents with lap babies we offered after the meal service.

I'm just curious if this big kid boarding was standard on LH, used by any other company and/or specific to the A380.

I'm just curious if this big kid boarding was standard on LH, used by any other company and/or specific to the A380.

It isn't A380 specific on LH and I have seen it in Europe, Asia and North America with LH pretty much on every flight where I have happened to notice it.

As I mentioned above, AC does it as well (at least from Europe and HK) And I have seen it on various carriers in India as well, and on BD and bmibaby flights intra-Europe.

Honestly, I think that the 'no child boarding' is more a product of the US carriers but is part of the whole charging for checked baggage and oversize carry on issue that is unique to the US. LH can turn a full A319 or A320 in under 15 minutes in Germany. But if you watch, many passengers have one very small under seat carry on only, and the bin wars rarely happen. In the US everyone is competing to get on board as early as possible to win the bin war, and the elderly, those needing physcial assistance, and parents with children are the by products of that war.

The last few AC flights, they have been very clear to point out 'pre-school age' children as the criteria for pre-boarding - no more claiming your teens are kids and therefore should pre-board!

The last few AC flights, they have been very clear to point out 'pre-school age' children as the criteria for pre-boarding - no more claiming your teens are kids and therefore should pre-board!

Hmmmm.... I didn't hear that in LHR last week. (But I do agree that it should really be small children, not kids old enough to obtain a driver's permit in the US if they are the only 'child' with the parents)

In HK AC has also seemed to pull people out of the crowd who they think may need extra help. I was a little offended I must admit when I was once pulled - I didn't think that I looked that bad that day! :p

I do wonder if this is more common at non-North American stations because of the carry on bag situation I noted above.

Hmmmm.... I didn't hear that in LHR last week. (But I do agree that it should really be small children, not kids old enough to obtain a driver's permit in the US if they are the only 'child' with the parents)

In HK AC has also seemed to pull people out of the crowd who they think may need extra help. I was a little offended I must admit when I was once pulled - I didn't think that I looked that bad that day! :p

I do wonder if this is more common at non-North American stations because of the carry on bag situation I noted above.

It probably also has to do with the number of kids they see at the gate - two families, no big deal - every man and his dog with a child somewhere between 8 and 18, better specify!

I have to say, I really dislike AC boarding from LHR - put you in a really small room, with no escape once you are in, while they faff around, and everyone ends up crammed by the doors because the room is pretty small!

I have to say, I really dislike AC boarding from LHR - put you in a really small room, with no escape once you are in, while they faff around, and everyone ends up crammed by the doors because the room is pretty small!

Agree! Unless it is that very last gate which is sooooo far away, but is slightly nicer than the regular holding pen. And there isn't enough seating, so everyone is desperate to get on board when they finally do board.

I'm adding BA to the list, even if they do tend to get trashed here by some members.

I've flown them twice in the last month, and even big kids preboarded ahead of Club Europe and elites. (And BA has an advance seating policy which definitely favours children)

I thought that the advanced seating selection on BA was only for lap babies.

No, BA seating tends to be (not including their top tier elites)
- free seating if travelling with infant from time of booking (note does not state lap child only)
- free seating if disabled from time of booking
- 3 days in advance of flight for UMs
- 3 days in advance for groups of 9 or more
- 3 days in advance of flight if travelling with children 2-11 years
- at time of check in for all others

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/mmbseatingpolicy/public/en_gb

There are variables to this, but generally those with infants and disabilities come first, then those with children, and the remaining seats are allocated to the rest of the travellers ie those with teens or adults.

That is why many chose to no longer fly BA - they actually are more generous towards families with children than towards adults or individual travellers. They did introduce pay for seating after that policy changed, but it isn't very favourable and is more costly than many other carriers.

It is also one reason why I don't understand some of the BA rants here; families with children seem to get treated rather well by BA in my experience. And the 'big kid' boarding I noted included a mother with her 'children' who were actually one child of university age and one child of American driving age. I am in no way a BA apologist, and am in fact one of those travellers driven away from BA (unless flying in Club Europe and even then I am low down the list) but again, I think that they are quite generous to families.

(They also have a 'feed kids first' policy which helps parents to feed their kids first, and then eat their own meal afterwards)

I did that when working for U.S. companies!

I think also it depends on how full the flight is and when during the flight you needed help. Asian and ME companies usually have huge crews. This is a big help for both us the passengers and the crews themselves.

Usually the F/A's are busy during the meal service and can't hold babies. Solo parents with lap babies we offered after the meal service.



I guess all the nice crews are gone now. We are always on fully booked flights - TATL, IC flights. During meal service, when FAs approach our seats and saw all kids/infants, they first sigh (because not all the tables are folded down because we don't want the kids to touch the hot food and burn their hands), and then put all the food as fast as they can down and go away asap. Really the only time I was ask was on NZ, one of the nice British crew offered me to have the breakfast before the others.

I know it's hard to serve so many people food at the same time, and I think most airlines have cut number of crews. To me I think they are not as service minded as the crew in the old days - my mum said she got tons of help when she was travelling with us.

I saw tons of babies flying nowadays and I rarely see help being offered. I'm not saying it's their duty to do so, but it's nice to help people.

I think that you answered your own question.

I don't think that it has anything at all to do with being 'nice'. Loads are higher, aircraft carry more passengers, crew to passenger ratios have changed, more families with small children are travelling than in past.

Those are the realities which you yourself posted.

Again, I think that the BA service where kids get meals before adults makes sense (and is one reason why I don't understand the BA bashing here). But to expect FAs to hold children or do frankly do much out of the ordinary these days when most passengers feel that they have a need too is I think unrealistic.

It is unfortunate, but it is the situation most carriers face these days, I suspect.

no such experiences...

VS offer pre boarding for those with children under 5, children's meals before adults etc

I remember flying home LAX-LHR and my daughter (15 months at the time) was taking antibiotics, i was having real problems getting her to take it and one of the cabin crew kindly held her while i got it into her

In our experience SK and KF always preboard families with kids. This is out of HEL and CPH.

Older kids too?

LH does a three-part pre-boarding. First, handicapped and UM passengers, families with small babies and toddlers and then big, school aged children. I had never seen this before. Figured I had to battle it out with the crowds. It's not entirely necessary with children who walk on their own, to be honest, just nice.

As a Flight Attendant, I loved pre-boarding. I could see who my perhaps-high needs passengers were right away. Bummer for those working now that most U.S. airlines have done away with even small children pre-boarding.

I remember fondly the flight attendant for NW who took my 9-month-old son on a flight from HNL to MSP. It was an overnight and he was fussy. She told me that if I didn't mind she'd like to show him off to the other FAs in the galley and I could get some rest. I didn't mean to fall asleep, but 75 minutes of sleep later I go to the galley, and he is playing up a storm with the FAs. I apologized, and they were all so lovely to me - oh, it's a slow time of the flight, it's no worry, we remember how hard it is to get rest with a baby, we love playing with cute babies, he was no trouble, etc. It was such an unexpected kindness.

That's great. I used to do this except one time-turbulence hit! It was a little tricky getting the scared toddler back to her mom. Don't let them take your child out of the zone where you're seated. She was so cute, I was showing her off to the business class F/A's lol!

After a few more BA flights since I last posted, they definitely seem to make an effort to preboard families AND to go and seek out families in the gate area. (And not just babies and toddlers, but tweens and teens seem to be welcomed on board early even if not travelling with younger children)

Again, BA seems very family friendly; seat assignments on BA suck for anyone who isn't top tier or flying true F, but they suck a lot less for families, it would appear. BA treats them better than anyone other than top tier or true F flyers.

This week on an intra Europe LH A321 offered family preboarding along with premium passengers, as is pretty commonplace for LH.

It was interesting to see how entitled some people are, however. The GA actually went into the gate area and pulled out families as they often do, including an American family with two children appearing to be tween and teen, and a very big kid in stroller. Dad was livid that premium passengers had begun to board and kept saying 'it's not fair, it's not fair' He was so intent on pushing past us that at one point he tripped and ended up in the stroller almost sitting on his child.

Rather ironic as very few US carriers would have offered him this chance to preboard, and I can think of no US carrier which would have given ALL his 'children' a packet of gummi bears, packet of stickers, and activity pack along with the preboarding on a 60 minute flight, as well as complimetary beverage and snack service with savoury and Milka bar.