doc2b1030

Ive heard GA's at UA announce "pre-boarding" for parents with young children ONLY on transcontinental flights. Domestic, they seem to be pretty tough about boarding by GS/First Class-->1P/*AG-->2P/*AS-->seating area 1/2/3 etc. I always thought this was exclusive to UAL, but as a *AG never had such a problem with it, even when flying Y...one of us usually gets on early (i.e. before they call the seating areas) and gets all the stuff situated, and the other follows with kid in tow later on.

I know Spirit lets families with kids board first, I flew them in the summer and was quite impressed.

Lufthansa has pre-boarding for parents with kids. IIRC, pre-boarding for families or those needing special assistance precedes First and Business class boarding. And I was blown away with their child-friendliness.

I was shocked flying Jetblue for the first time in years a couple weeks back, to hear the GA flat-out refuse to allow a mom traveling ALONE with two children pre-board (she was in seating area 3) on a red-eye flight, but was totally fine allowing a woman whose "dog gets cranky and nippy" to pre-board.


I would not leave an airline over their "no pre-boarding" policy if you live in the US. it seems to me that there are very few airlines that extend extra courtesies to those with kids nowadays, so you might be hard pressed to find an airline to meet your needs in this regard.

yukira

I pretty much only fly Alaska Airlines which for my route these days means Horizon. Horizon seems to always allow preboarding for small children. I have noticed since it is only the last two years I haven't availed myself of this. I'm not sure though if AS does the same as the Horizon planes I fly on are pretty small and don't really have different classes.

Buffaloflyer

US Airways boards them before F pax and even includes the vague "and anyone else who needs a little bit of extra time boarding."

sbagdon

DL (err, NW) hasn't for a while. DTW-MCO flights are always funny.. "no pre-boarding, as everyone's a kid, so pre-boarding is boarding".

When traveling with another adult, one adult boards first to claim overhead space and initiate setup, and the other adult boards last with kid(s).

If traveling alone, adult and kid(s) board last.

Then again, I can board faster with a childseat and child faster then most Elite can board by themselves (including securing the child seat), so it's a skewed statistics.

Finite Elephant

In my experience, UA and AA do not pre-board for domestic. I haven't flown either long-haul recently.

KE and OZ do pre-board. KE gave my 3 yo son a little drawstring backpack with a stickerbook and airplane-shaped doodlepro on boarding.

ArizonaRoadWarrior

Most of the Asia-based airlines (Asiana, Cathay Pacific, Singapore, etc.) treat children as royalty.

We took a vacation when our son was 17-month old traveling to Europe than to Asia.

As we entered the gate area for our flight on Lufthansa (LH) at LAX, the gate agent came to greet us at the edge of hallway\gate area, took our stroller (it was gate checked) and car seat (my son had his own seat) and walk us through the masses to the front of the doors of the jetway and we were first to board. We were flying FC but we didn't say anything to the gate agent nor show him our tickets until we boarded. Unless one of the LH employees in the LH First Class lounge called down to the gate stating that we were on our way to the gate, I am assuming this is how LH treats passengers with young children.

On our flights on Cathay Pacific, the FAs help us our carry-on luggage and came by every 15 minutes to see if we need anything. They gave out a backpack with goodies and a Disney DVD. Also, they gave us a bag with a diaper, cans of baby food and drinks...our son was too old for this stuff but it was a nice thought.

On our flights on Asiana, they carried our carry-on luggage (car seat, three roller boards, two hand bags and one back-pack) from the jetway to the plane then to the overhead as well as from the plane to the top of the jetway\gate. The FAs came by on a regular basis asking if we need anything as well as to hold and play with our son. They gave my son an airplane.

On our flight back to PHX from LAX on US Airways(US), the FAs and/or gate agent didn't assist us, didn't left a finger and etc. We did pre-board but at the time, pre-boarding was for FC (which we were), passengers needing extra time and passengers traveling with children under the age of 5.

I can't tell you how many times that I have been sitting\standing\etc. at the gate in PHX and hear the US FAs departing from the flights from Orlando (MCO) or going to work a flight to MCO complaining about kids, stating that they hate kids and etc.

ArizonaRoadWarrior

Given the number of trips that we have taken with my son, I can put in his car seat under 15 seconds.

ArizonaRoadWarrior

You will gate check the stroller...they will give you a tag to put on your storller and you will leave it at the end of the jetway. My experiences with European and Asia-based airlines, they will put your stroller in a plastic bag with a sticker that looks similar to the sticker that they use with checked-luggage.

We don't select the bulkhead seats in coach or first class because we like to put our stuff under the seat in front of us which makes it easy to grab toys from our son's backpack and etc.

The one advantage of sitting in the bulkhead row if your child is a 'kicker'...at least another passenger won't be disturbed.

ArizonaRoadWarrior

On the other hand, my son loves to fly...he can't wait to get on the plane.

blue3715

We fly Continental with our 3 young kids (8,6,2) to Vegas every year from EWR. They board FC, then elites, then people who need time (kids), then the rest of the plane.

My issues is usually 30% of the plane are elites, so we are standing inthe walkway when the rest of the plane boards.

Fortunately we have it down to a science for the car seats, and my older kids don't see any extra seating system. It was very hard 4 years ago with both kids in car seats.

Sometimes we are told to go ahead and pre-board with FC, as we stand right up in front.

codex57

Southwest used to, but doesn't anymore.

JetBlue does not if I recall correctly.

For the life of me, I can't remember United even tho that was the most recent, but I guess that was answered already.

sweil

We had a bad experience with UA last week. Two kids, ages 2 and 6 months (lap). Five legs: BOS->LAX, LAX->SFO, SFO->ANC, YVR->SFO, SFO->BOS. No pre-boarding (I asked at each leg) meant that we held up the queue of passengers each time. I have no status on UA; I typically fly other airlines. Although we did our best to get out of the way (and boarded pretty quickly, I felt no guilt slowing things down. The GAs were consistently empathetic but not helpful.

When I complained to UA, they indicated that their Elite members don't like it, so they dropped it. As a frequently business traveler, that strikes me as mean-spirited. We typically fly JetBlue and Delta, and both typically allow and announce pre-boarding in my experience.

UA gave us vouchers by way of apology.

Italy98

A clear example of no continuity in communicating to the GAs what is the real (DL) policy. The GAs on my GNV -ATL - BNA - ATL - EZE flights last week did pre-board families traveling with small children.

6rugrats

UA hands out vouchers like candy at Halloween.

I think a lot of families totally abused preboarding. I can't count the number of times I watched entire family groups (and we are talking mom, dad, several kids, grandma, etc.) take advantage of it. IMO, they spoiled it for themselves. If you are concerned, have you considered just boarding last? That way, you aren't blocking the aisles or getting in anyone's way.

If you want to board earlier on UA and you have no status, choose a window seat and you'll be in an earlier boarding group.

sharktums

^I totally agree with the point that people take advantage of it.

We're GM on Delta and have a three year old that travels with us, we don't even bother with preboarding. On one of our last flights (can't remember if it was RIC or ATL) but this woman tried to 'preboard' with her son who couldn't have been a day under eight years old!!! The Delta employee nicely told her that preboarding wasn't designed for them and the woman went off like a lunatic.

I gave a kudos to the staff member for enforcing the rules and had a slight chuckle when I saw the woman with the kid coming down the aisle perfectly fine halfway through boarding.

I have no problem with preboarding for those who need it, but once people start taking advantage of it or employees don't enforce rules it just gets out of control.