dabeags

I am about to hit companion pass and will likely be bringing my 18 month old with me on a few trips as my companion. If it is just he and I, and he has his own seat/number, will I catch flak for carrying him and boarding at my position instead of waiting for family boarding?

ursine1

Maybe.


It completely depends on the OPs agent and whether they enforce the rule as written or use a more common-sense approach.



Hope for the latter but be prepared for the former.



Good luck.

PAX62

Technically...yes. Practically...doubt it.

My take...as long as you are carrying the child you likely won't get any flack as he just as easily qualifies as a lap child that can board whenever with parent.

Becca1007

No one ever seemed to care when I did this with my tiny human.

ursine1

If there's a purchased seat then there's a boarding pass with an assigned position.



I've heard stories of rule enforcement.


One hopes they are the exception.

ave1024

Is it that big of a deal to just board between the A and B group and not try to break the rules? If you want to board together buy two EBCIs.

I have a three year old and I would never try to do this.

jacobguo

18 month is old enough to board on his own. Let him stay in line and board himself.

justhere

How do you buy EBCI if you are A or A+ as the OP appears to be? And because he can't buy EBCI even if he wanted to, that means that someone who is not A/A+ could buy EBCI and could be ahead of the OP. So OP gets punished for being too good of a customer. Rules are meant to be broken. Especially when it particularly annoys people who get too hung up on illogical rules.

Presuming that you and your 3yo sit together in aisle/middle or middle/window, your suggesting that at most 44 people have been in some way hurt by someone boarding with their kid. I would bet that most or all of those 44 don't want a middle seat. If they do it's probably because they are with a companion or companions and want 2 or 3 seats together. The 3 seats aren't a factor but the 2 could be however barring a ton of through passengers, they'll be plenty of open pairs of seats.

ursine1

And there it is.

toomanybooks

jeffandnicole

At least 3 ways to do this:

1) Check both you and him in. Board at the point of the earlier boarding number.
2) Check both you and him in. Board at the point of the later boarding number
3) Sit during family seating between A and B.

If you check in you and your child, and you get A27 and he gets A47, line up at A47 (Option 2). If you get A27 and he gets B47, sit after A60 (Option 3). Either way, you'll both get good seating opportunities without anyone trying to make Option 1 an issue.

dabeags

Ok, that is pretty much how I figured it would be. I'll just board with him at my A position and if I catch flak will give the gate agent an incredulous look and board with families between A/B. It also irks me that companions on the same reservation as an A+ don't get sequential boarding numbers, so this is a bit of a chance for me to stick it to the man.

Practically, EBCI is generally obsolete when you can utilize family boarding.

And it isn't a huge deal, just a policy I would find silly. I generally fly business select fares, so being able to have my 18 month old board with me and sit in the first few rows means we will be off the plane ASAP, which is good for everyone on the plane. Often when I book an Anytime T-24 and board between A/B, I have to go at least 13 or 14 rows back to find an open aisle/window seat. I also like to be on and seated with him early as it allows my row mate to self select sitting with a toddler. That way I don't wind up with some fussy non parent unhappy with my Toddler's madness.

joshua362

I would hope common sense applies and you would have no issues. Otherwise I would board as a lap baby then give the BP to a FA once on board and say "sorry, I forgot"

Kevin AA

If you buy a ticket but don't scan it, pretending you have a lap child, you will cause problems for the staff because the head count will be off. That's being selfish.

Skip the ticket entirely and board at your position yourself with a lap child... or board at the higher number or during family boarding, whichever is sooner.

dabeags

I'm fairly certain that the lap infant has a boarding pass that needs to be scanned or manually entered by the agent, so trying to pass him off as a lap infant is a no go. And yes, I think for most gate agents, common sense will win out and there will be no issue.