Originally Posted by toomanybooks

I would not be surprised if someone at WN had bent rules for him before. That's the problem with bending rules; people start to think of that as an entitlement or normal deal.

From the ABC story online:

"A Southwest representative called Watson after the incident, and informed him that A-list members' priority treatment doesn't apply to family members.

"I looked on their website and I didn't find any explicit rule," Watson said."

Must not have searched too hard. The Google search string

family boarding site:southwest.com

brings up the list of rules as link 1. #7 is the "explicit rule" he is looking for:

"An adult traveling with a child four years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the "A" group has boarded and before the "B" group begins boarding. However, those Customers holding an "A" boarding pass should still board with the "A" boarding group."

Admittedly, there is some of the normal WN T&C ambiguity there, where with that last sentence you could debate whether "those Customers" includes minor children, since children presumably cannot agree to T&Cs themselves. But if the GA or OA tells you to board after A, that's what you do.

And his kids are both older than 4 anyway. Case closed.

Searching the A-List benefits shows no exception to the above.