hobo13

I don't say this often....... but I agree.

And I even have a kiddo!

Seems to me this is just another thing for a few 'focus-on-the-family' bloggers to complain about, especially cause they want to be able to pin this on PMUA.

I'll take the opposing view. On longhaul international, we wait to board until about the middle of the pack. With the COdbaUA boarding of planes about an hour before departure, that's another HOUR that I need to keep Hobo Jr. entertained! And yes, he travels with us everywhere and is a Plat, so technically he could stumble on at his leisure!

dmurphynj

... and if you read the article, pmCO allowed families to board early; pmUA did not.

Sounds like they adopted (gasp!) a pmUA policy!

So there ya go, pmUA loyalists. It's not all CO policies these days.

tarheelnj

That one's been around for many years. I remember a long time ago when I was flying to South Florida often, I made a late SDC and ended up in the last row of a flight to PBI. As I walked off the plane (last), I noticed about 6 wheelchairs waiting for passengers who had clearly ridden on (to board first), but walked off (to avoid disembarking last).

Denvercccc

PMUA also allowed passengers with small children to board before their zone. It was after GS and F.

TimF1975

Priority boarding hardly seems necessary anymore with the length of time they give for boarding now. My planes are almost always filled with 15 minutes to go, even more with the time they give on 757s. There's plenty of time for families to board leisurely once the plane is filled. Would mean less time stuck in the tin can for the little ones...

fieldeng

Priority boarding is more about Overhead space than anything else these days.

Interesting viewpoint. I certainly understand where you are coming from. Then again with Ipads and video games these days, one would think he would be entertained until he had to turn his stuff off.

hobo13

And therein lies the issue. Even some adults have trouble with this.... :-)

I'd like to say we don't give him that stuff because we don't want to overstimulate our kids, but mostly he's just too young for it yet!

COEWR2587

I can see where you're coming from. I too think if your biggest problem of the day is you have to end up checking a bag in a plane and not carry it on, life is pretty decent for you. There are lots of other ppl in the world with bigger issues than overhead bin space.

subspacetom

I'll split the difference. Our scheme was that I would board early to set up the car seat/bucket for our then-infant, plus carry-ons (only personal bags, no luggage - who has that many hands available with a baby+car seat+stroller?), while the Mrs would wait until the last minute to board with Jr. for the very reason you cite.

Not having to trudge slowly in line to board while holding all of that, nor feeling rushed to set everything up was a definite relief. As babies tend to pick up on parental stress, this may also have helped with ensuring a quieter flight for all.

My take on the policy change is that I could go either way.

hobo13

Yes, Mrs. Hobo13 and I have done similar strategies. In fact, we have strategies for every situation imaginable..... ranging from N / 3 UG's cleared, to type of plane, to length of flight.

Amazing that we were able to figure all this stuff out ON OUR OWN before the advent of focus-on-the-family blogs, eh?

exerda

Actually, if your bag gets tagged on a mainline aircraft, you don't get it back when you get off the plane; you get it back at baggage claim. And there is no way in heck I am gate checking a bag with $7k in camera gear in it, much less sending it to baggage claim...

I value early boarding as a benefit even when I'm not traveling with that extra bag of gear; for me, getting settled onboard is one bit less stress and hectic rushing around to deal with.

bob_the_d

for me it would depend. on a personal trip where i have the luxury of time it's fine, i don't care either way. i usually tag so i don't have to deal with it.

i have had my bag be forced to be tagged once in SFO as i was connecting to an international flight... with a 30 minute connection time. i was less than thrilled with that prospect, especially as i had to run across the terminal and barely made my flight and was completely out of breath. it was one of those smaller-ish bags that i didn't really feel the need to check... but i wish i had that time anyway (seriously, i don't know if this is a PMUA thing, but a lot of the connections for asia trips from the east via SFO that i see seem to have 30-45 minute connections which i think is incredibly stupid and annoying as a customer).

but the big one for me is business travel. no amount of pre-planning gets you around those occasions when customers/clients only have certain time windows open and it forces you to hop multiple cities in one day with immediate meetings and not having to wait for your bag for 10-15 minutes is crucial in a tight schedule. i've definitely had those situations as well.

FlyHigh23

Agreed, I too would not want to pick it up at baggage claim, but for the times I've had to tag it (and granted it has been maybe a handful) I've either asked them to store it in the cabin/have it waiting for me at the exit door and it's never been an issue. I concede that I generally don't carry any expensive equipment in my overhead bag, so I can see you point there. Priority boarding is definitely valuable if it prevents me from going to baggage claim (under a tight schedule), but fortunately I haven't had to deal with that issue.

uastarflyer

Exactly. UNITED did not have this policy. This isn't a change.

GUWonder

United did have a policy/practice of pre-/early-boarding for families with young children, but then dropped it in large part quite some time ago. COdbaUA continued to have this policy/practice for some period of time before now (i.e. this year) dropping it in large part too.

Personally, I'd rather that families with young children be continued to be granted the opportunity for pre-/early-boarding as it seems to convenience me in some of the ways suggested by AAExPlat even as I'm entitled to first/business class and/or 1k boarding.