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NOT pre-boarding people with young ones saves time
In an article in the St. Petersburg Times, writer Bridget Hall Grumet tells about her experience waiting with her pre-toddler to pre-board, only to not pre-board after all. The unnamed airline had dropped the practice unbeknown to her. (She later mentions an American Airlines and United flight, but they are not the ones Grumet initially described.)
We've posted in the past about airlines who have stopped pre-boarding families with infants and small children. Southwest, American, Delta and United no longer have pre-boarding, although Grumet says that if you ask gate attendants with American and Delta, they may let you board early if you have a small child. Grumet personally found that to be true on an American flight.
Although Grumet misses the perk of boarding early with a kid because it makes settling in on a plane that much easier, she does understand the airlines' latest practice. The idea behind not making allowances for people with small children and infants, and others who need assistance, is that when they get on the plane in one group, it creates a bottleneck.
If people who need extra help are randomly spread out during the boarding process, it saves 10 to 12 minutes. That may not sound like much, but as airlines struggle to get people to their destinations on time, 10 to12 minutes can jam up arrivals and departures for more than that one airplane.
My thought is that if I were traveling with a small child, I'd not be in any hurry to board. Spend less time on the airplane. The problem with that strategy is that with overhead bins becoming more packed as people avoid the cost of checking a bag, there won't be space in the bins. Then you'd be stuck searching out a bin rows from your seat. See Heather's post on how the trying to find bin space can look to a flight attendant.
Here's one of my solutions for combating the headache of traveling on a plane with a small child. When at all possible, take the train. Stay tuned tomorrow for my post on how train travel worked out for me. My six year-old got us on the train first.
Filed under: Business, Stories, Airlines, Transportation, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bruce Sep 7th 2008 7:06PM
Not necessarily true. We just got off a UAL flight yesterday and there was pre-boarding for small children/disabled/etc going out and coming back. Looked just like normal to me.
Brenda SFO Sep 8th 2008 12:46AM
For what it's worth, there was kiddie pre-boarding on my United Chicago/San Francisco flight this past week.
Gary Barnes Sep 7th 2008 10:50PM
I flew from San Diego to San Jose and back on Southwest in April earlier this year and they still had pre-boarding for people with young children. Same with a flight from San Diego to Denver and back on Southwest in July as well. Maybe it just depends on the airport?
Debbie Dubrow Sep 7th 2008 11:14PM
Whether preboarding is allowed seems to depend on the airline and on how much time they have to turn the plan around.
Our favorite pre-boarding trick is to send my husband ahead with the carseats while I wait with the kids. That gives him time to stow our bags & install the seats while the kids get a little exercise. I board with the kids just before takeoff.
I have more tips for boarding (and flying with kids in general) at
http://www.deliciousbaby.com/travel/family-travel-tips/making-travel-days-with-kids-work/air-travel-with-babies-toddlers-kids/
...and I agree... taking the train is wonderful when it works out. Often if you calculate the door-to-door time instead of just the travel time, it's actually faster to take the train. What we really love, though, is the fact that you don't have to go through a lot of stressful security and you are never separated from your bags.
Marilyn Terrell Sep 8th 2008 7:51AM
I agree with Debbie-- it's better to board last than board first when you're traveling with a baby. Why subject yourself to a minute more hassle than absolutely necessary? And I prefer train travel over air travel any day, with kids or without!
Steve Apr 21st 2009 3:13PM
Traveling by train would be nice but is simply not possible for most trips.... for example if you are flying cross country to introduce your baby to family and friends. In my case I find that pre-boarding is a huge help. Our infant girl is allergic to cow's milk so she is on breast milk exclusively AND my wife is on a restricted diet (no milk products, no wheat, no soy, no citrus) so that her breast milk does not contain the antigens that sent our girl to the hospital for 4 days on two separate occasions. To make things more complicated, our daughter will only drink from a bottle (who knows why). So on long flights we must bring on board the normal diaper bag with all the things all parents need such as changes of clothes for the unforeseen accidents etc, plus bottles of breast milk in a chilled container, a portable breast pump so my wife can make more bottles and relieve pressure, PLUS since my wife is on a restricted diet we have to bring her own food along (even if you order vegetarian you'd be surprised how many things have milk, wheat or soy products so we can't trust the airline food at this point). Maybe our case is atypical but it absolutely helps tremendously to pre-board and get ourselves and all of our bags situated in our overhead in one place. Boarding last would be a terrible option because it would be very likely that most spaces would be taken and our bags would be stored in overheads in multiple locations.
Jamie Rhein Apr 21st 2009 3:29PM
Steve, in your case, it seems like pre-boarding helps relieve anxiety, another part of travel. Plus, the logistics of how all will work out are more quickly handled, and you can breathe easier once you're settled in.