zrs70

Disclosure - I post this as a gay activist...

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/35489643/...discrimination

Perhaps poor reporting, but 1,000,000 ANNUAL miles on WN?

rsteinmetz70112

Sounds like they didn't follow the rules for family boarding and got stopped

ursine1

Sounds like the Family Boarding rules were selectively enforced upon them and they feel it was because they are gay parents.

Not being there and witnessing what happened, it's impossible to know the truth.

Based on what we do know from the various reports, it's difficult to side with either the parents or the ops agent.

I do find Southwest's official statement to be trite and tone deaf, and consider that a mistake.

Peoriaman1

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/35489643/...discrimination

Some nasty posts in the comments section there...

bjk123

“This conversation in the boarding area had nothing to do with discrimination, we welcomed both parents to board the aircraft with their children,” the airline said in a statement. “The parents expressed disappointment that the Family Boarding policy was not applicable to another member of their group."

Sounds to me like the airline thinks the parents wanted to add another (presumably adult) person to their boarding group. And if that is the case I'd have to say it was the parents in the wrong.

wrp96

The story I saw on Facebook also said that Southwest forced their disabled mother in law to sit in an exit row and wouldn't let her move. It kind of felt like a throw everything at the airline complaint and see if something sticks.

I don't know that it was discrimination rather than just simple bad handling by the agent of confusion over what constitutes family boarding.

rsteinmetz70112

The article says one MIL was there. So 3 kids 2 parents and a MIL.

OzzyOzzie

Forced a disabled person to sit in an exit row

wrp96

Yeah, it was the kind of thing that made me go, "Wait? What? Southwest doesn't assign seats so how could they force her to sit in the exit row?" and unfortunately question the rest of their account.

ursine1

Thoughts:

The 83 year old mother in law was likely qualified to preboard, but if one parent accompanied her that would leave the other father to contend alone with three kids, two in strollers. So they decided to board all together during Family Boarding.

I've personally seen Family Boarding include multi-generational families, many times. I've also seen reports on social media of grandparents being stopped. The stated policy is (likely intentionally) vague -- it can be interpreted to mean one adult per family (almost never enforced), or one adult per child.

They had three children, and three adults. If they had presented as three sets of child/adult, would they have been challenged?

Ultimately, the problem stems from WN's vague policy and inconsistent policy enforcement.

ursine1

They were held by the Ops Agent and were the last people to board the plane. The FAs, knowing of the situation, tried to save seats for them. One of those seats -- the last remaining one on the plane per the family's report -- was in the exit row, and the FAs sat the 83-year old grandmother there. The family called her "frail," but there is no evidence that she was disabled. Presumably she was able to answer the exit row qualification question affirmatively, although it's possible she was never asked.

wrp96

Thanks for the additional info.

captaink

The family should be buying lotto tickets if the last remaining seat on the plane is an exit row seat.

Is there some clickbait article listing "10 reasons why you should NEVER sit in the exit row" making the rounds on facebook or something?

ursine1

I frequently see an exit row seat being one of the last taken. One possible reason is that an FA generally stands in that row during boarding, and many passengers (especially on "pleasure" routes, not savvy enough to realize they can ask the FA to move) just pass it by.

My favorite "win" is an exit row with an empty middle. On a non-full flight that happens more than one might expect.

joshua362

Well it depends on which seat in the exit row of left/starboard/pilot side of the plane.

There is absolutely nothing special about the aisle or middle seat next to the infinite legroom seat other than being closer to the exit!