Gate pass?
 

My wife will be traveling with our 9 month old daughter in 2 weeks (ATL-RSW,
DL). This will be the first time one of us is traveling alone with the kid, so I wanted to make it easier by helping her get to the gate.

How would I go about getting a gate pass?

Ask at the check-in counter.

We used to do this, until we realizes that DH just about got strip searched at security every time he had a gate pass. I'm not kidding: SSSS and then some, off in a private booth.

It ended up taking so long to the gate pass holder through security that it was more a delay than a help. FWIW DH is a white male who always wears business casual, so it wasn't likely to be profiling.

Interesting. I'll keep the extra crotch wanding in mind when deciding on when to leave for the airport.

Rather than do that, how about the workaround--buy a fully refundable ticket for yourself (maybe on a flight leaving ~1 hr after their flight), get your bp, accompany them to the gate as any other pax, see them off, leave the sterile area and go to the ticket counter to request a refund ("They canceled the conference")?

You'd only be out a few hundred availability on your credit card for a few days.

I want to give you credit for cleverness but I can't recommend doing this for a number of reasons.

Refund aside, the flights might be in different parts of the airport, and you might not be able to go all the way to the gate with your wife and child anyway. You might be stopped at security and told to go to another part of the airport, where your flight is departing.

Also, imagine a delay, and you're being paged for your flight, which is leaving before your wife's... I can picture all sorts of awkwardness...

Security actually will be alerted if a last-minute ticket is purchased and the passenger has no bags. This is the "profile" you may find yourself in...

I've never had the luxury of a gate pass but I hope you're able to manage it. I would take the risk with security, in the name of your wife's convenience. I would venture to say that it's less likely than with a "fake" ticket.

If a gate-pass is possible, great! If not, rest assured, I've been able to manage alone with three children on 11 1/2 hour flights preceeded by a 2 hour bus ride alone and lived to tell the tale. For a short domestic hop like this, they'll both be fine!

Do you have a Crown Room Card? If so, you can get a pass. Go up, tell them you need a gate pass; present your CRC with ID and you'll get your gate pass. This also works with President's Club Card. Not sure what other clubs it works with. Regarding the fully refundable ticket; it works just fine. Go through security and then cancel it; then there is no issue with any delays. This is a last resort after a gate pass and CRC (or airline club) pass. I've never used it but know lots of folks (and FTers) who have without issue.

I advise on the fully refundable ticket idea - with these specifics -

buy it at least a few days before your trip to minimize ssss, etc..

buy it for a flight several hours, maybe even many hours, after your spouse's trip - that way, once airside, you can use your mobile device to cancel the boarding pass, or at least, call and cancel. Security won't care, people do standby/same day travel changes/have re-routes all the time.

try to do as much online/through the phone to minizme the hassle to the airline for this non-trip.

no big deal. Also, ATL has all flights going thrugh the same checkpoint.

It is an interesting idea.

However, I think I will just try the gate pass thing first. (Her flight is Saturday early AM, so it shouldn't be too crowded) If that turns out bad then I'll buy a refundable ticket when I go get her at the gate on the return flight.

Followup.....

Departure: Getting the pass was easy. Went up to the Airtran counter, made the request, showed the employee my ID and I was on my way in about a minute.

The person working the security line appeared a little confused, but he eventually let me through.

Arrival: Went up to the Airtran counter again and made my request. She didn't want to give one to me because it was not noted on the itinerary. I asked her how, in the future, could I get such a thing noted............she wouldn't/couldn't answer. Eventually she gave me the pass because I think she picked up on the fact that I wasn't going away. My father-in-law ran into the same issue at RSW. They only let him through beacause "it was getting late". Huh? I can't let you though during the day because its a security issue, but at night? Meh, have at it. Weird.

Lesson learned. Buy a refundable ticket. Don't put your flight and sanity in the hands of people and a system that just aren't very intelligent.

Congratulations on getting a gate-pass! I wish I could do the same but have never had that luxury. I had to make it on my own through large airports, including customs and international with three small children, crack of dawn, late at night, etc. Your lucky that Atlanta and this Florida airport are much more lenient with sercurity than where I fly out of! It must have made things much easier for her.

I'm sure that in the long run, that was waaaay less complicated than going through the whole palavah of getting a refundable ticket. In your shoes though, I would contact the airline and/or airports and tell them that both times getting the gate pass was not straight-forward. I think they just need to send a memo to their employees to clarify things.

Obviously, they do gate-passes but not very often. I think it's more than then the "intelligence" of those folks, who trust me, get thrown with about 10,000 rules to learn all at once in training... I had a good head for remembering remote details (saved us a few times) but a lot of people can't retain small unrelated facts (I'm great at family reunions, by the way, I know how every cousin, uncle, etc. is related...)

Gotta love first time parents of single babies. I can't imagine why one person can't handle one child on their own...

Am I missing something?

Apparently your memory.

The lone parent will have to manage 1) a baby, 2) a car seat, 3) a stroller, and 4) at least one bag containing the essential things that one cannot do without should checked luggage be lost. A little help getting to the gate is pretty reasonable in this circumstance. Maybe you grew two extra arms when you child was a toddler, but many of us haven't figured out how to summon that mutation.

It hasn't been that long, and I managed it with two children. They have car seats that pop right into strollers. The baby sits in the carseat which is in the stroller. This isn't rocket science, but I guess some women need to use the "poor me" card with their Husbands. Does that mean that wife can only fly if Hubby is available to cart things to the gate for her? The OP didn't mention whether they had actually bought a seat for the baby, so they may not be travelling with a car seat. I spend enough time in airports to see lots of Moms travelling with one or more baby/toddler/child. They seem to manage just fine.

What an inconsiderate lout this guy must be, eh kmkord?
Did you have to walk to school in the snow without shoes or a coat too?