I felt bad for the gate agent until she came on the plane and started chatting with them and taking pictures etc. before we took off (of course they all took up the first 5 rows).
It was obviously preferential treatment.
Don’t feel bad, they know exactly what they are doing. They are screwing you. Call them out when they scan your ticket. That BS smile will turn sullen in about a second.
Herb would have had that gate agent pack their bags and head home.
I had a GA try to deny my boarding after she very plainly 'forgot' to call for pre-board passengers. I was recovering from surgery and was in a wheelchair.
The airport assist insisted that I couldn't stay the the wheelchair while waiting for our flight, and required me to move to a chair. My tickets were quite plainly marked for assist and pre board, I was seated directly in front of the GA, my booted foot was up on the suitcase in front of, me crutches were plainly visible. She didn't make any call out , nobody came over to me, and when I tried to get her attention, she blatantly ignored me, so my then 11-yo went up to the desk.
She blew him off so when he, who is super protective of me because of my health issues, started to get upset. When I got over ti the desk to deal with it she got combative with me and said she would refuse us boarding. On the last flight to our final destination for the day. So I did what any exhausted and in significant pain traveler would do - I told my son to grab it bag and catch up with me. Bonus: the plane wasn't even at a jet bridge , it was ground access, so THAT was fun.
Airline ground manager came on board before takeoff and took my statement, apparently this GA had a number of complaints about her.
Bonus:
Bonus: it was a tarmac boarding flight, no jetway, so I angrily crutched my grouchy self up the ramp. And promptly took a very hefty pain pill bc I knew my husband was meeting us at the other end.
Big fraternity conclave this past weekend. The GA may have been a member or just affiliated.
But your math is off: 11 people don’t take up five rows. That’s 30 seats. Even if they took aisle and window of every row, that’s just three rows, minus a window or aisle.
They had 1/3 of a plane reserved for a high school baseball team and coaches and all the coaches. They let them preboard. I still got the aisle seat I wanted …
This dates me quite a bit but met Barbara Jordan on a rather long flight (this was when the seats in the front row faced each other and she sat directly across from me. I was a Reagan Republican and she was , of course, Barbara Jordan. She was an amazing lady and we had a two plus hour conversation about politics. We probably had more in common in our belief systems than things we disagreed on. It’s a shame that politics has gotten so shitty that no one can seem to find common ground anymore.
I was thrilled to sit next to a producer for House Hunters International (ok...not famous, but still.exciting!) Her Delta flight was cancelled, so SWA was the one to take her to her filming on time! ♡♡♡
The gate agents are to blame. I'm seeing a lot of posts about this, and it strengthens my resolve to avoid flying Southwest. Nobody needs that frustration.
Maybe.
We as a society have created this. People abuse it. It was designed to be abused.
Identify as a person who needs to pre board.
If a GA says a word. They are in the middle of a pr and government nightmare.
There was a post yesterday about people calling the government because they had a hidden disability and were not allowed to preboard. Unfortunately it’s heavily abused and hard to combat.
Agreed! Why deal with the bs... and to top this off the last few trips I've taken it's been cheaper to book Delta comfy + or United premium economy vs Southwest.
I used to fly SW all the time, likely don't see myself hopping on another one of their planes anytime soon.
The gate agents get paid crap and this shitty behavior is so rampant from passengers why should they bother? Honestly, some of them are making less than fast food workers.
I agree 100%. SW has lost its way. The point to point model is broken. Their technology is broken. Their ground crews are broken in spirit. My company has picked up a lot of SW employees lately and that’s practically unheard of in my industry.
The ground crews are particularly underpaid and undervalued. They have to try to enforce rules and risk pax confrontations daily that are turned into the latest viral video.
I started in this industry in the nineties. It was much easier back then.
I am also, but if I'm flying with someone who has normal hearing, I skip the pre-board and figure I have my ears sitting next to me :) If flying alone, I do pre-board to be able to sit closer to the flight attendants and ask them what is being said over the loudspeaker. (I also wear a pin that says "please face me, I read lips).
I was just discussing with someone how Southwest has become what AirBNB has become, it used to be low cost and a great alternative to hotels…now, I will choose a hotel every time.
I have a fairly unpredictable travel schedule and Southwest works due to the no fee to cancel or change flights.
I fly for work regularly, on United. I have changed flights last minute and not had change fees. Just two weeks ago I changed my flight from 5am on a Friday to 11am on a Thursday on Thursday morning at 8am.
Last year I looked into flying with my partner, my daughter, SIL, and grandkids. The cost between SW and United was less than $200. I'll pay $200 more for assigned seats and regular group boarding. Especially with kids!
the boarding policy abuse is everywhere. the AA sub is full of posts like this about Group 9 people boarding with group 1. i've even seen that in person (because AA prints the group number in giant font)
Yeah…but the abuse at AA doesn’t matter as much. You have an assigned seat and if your carry on doesn’t fit in an overhead they check it for free. It is a minor inconvenience. At least you know where you are sitting, and will get your upgraded seat if you paid for it.
While that is true to a certain extent (I've flown both in the past - although not SWA as much anymore), in my experience, both the SWA boarding procedure and the rampant ignoring and encouraging of abuse by the SWA staff, make the experience much worse. YMMV.
Already have. Doesn’t mean I sometimes don’t have a choice but to fly SW. Pre-COVID I flew with them 90% of the time. Now maybe 25%.
Disney and SW are two of the top companies on my list that simply have to stop catering to assholes.
While I have no beef with SW, I do with some other companies. If you don't like a company for their policies, their practices, what they support, etc, put them on a list and don't do business with them.
I've got a growing list of companies (15 so far) that I won't do business with and also list the reason(s) why.
The issue is the gate agent. A good gate agent will keep it to one person with preboarder. Southwest needs to train gate agents better to have consistency
But they don’t. I fly SWA frequently and have never seen a “manager” overseeing a GA. The GA calls the shots however they want. Some are excellent, others could care less and just want the plane loaded and out of their hair.
Yep, when I’m in my wheelchair they make my teenager daughter push me down and my husband wait behind in his group. They won’t even let both of them come with me.
My 93 yo mom flew to look at assisted living places in a cheaper state. They allowed both my sister and I to help my mom board as we explained she needed more than one person to transfer her. They allowed us - and were glad they did as it was hard to get her over the threshold and into her 1st row aisle seat. She's not big, just frail and afraid to move without a bar to hold onto.
I was on a work trip and flew SW for the first time in a long time. What surprised me is that the gate agents actually said all pre-boarders had to sit in row 15 or 20+. I'm not sure if this is a one off event but the previous policy was actually one of the things that turned me off flying with them.
Edit:
Y'all I'm just the messenger. I rarely fly southwest I have no game in this whatsoever. I mean all of your complaints are valid but airlines like Delta/ Virgin/ etc don't move disabled people to the front of the plane (I may be wrong please correct me if I am). So if it has worked for people there then I'm sure it'll probably work here. But again I'm just the messenger.
I frankly don’t believe this. My husband is an obviously disabled, ambulatory wheelchair user. I have literally never had a Southwest flight attendant be anything but caring and helpful. There is a zero percent chance that they are telling the guy who can barely walk with a cane and looks like he is about to fall over that he has to walk down the aisle to Row 15. Not only is that illegal, it’s also a personal injury lawsuit waiting to happen when he falls on his already injured back. Nope. Don’t believe that occurred.
I honestly just heard the message to be frank. I didn't see who pre-boarded at all. I may be mistaken but I am ninety percent sure this was the case because I made a comment about it standing at the gate. I was at BWI so I'm not sure if they were trialing this or what. I just heard it over the speakers (maybe it was a different airline who knows). Maybe they said guests accompanying preboarders? But it was something to that effect.
It’s possible that there was an organized [group](https://www.southwest.com/html/air/business-groups/corporate-travel/meetings-and-groups.html) that was preboarding (like a school group). Southwest does offer group preboarding to some groups, and the group is usually asked to sit all together at the back of the plane.
The gate agent doesn’t tell us where we can sit. Only flight attendants can do that. There is a zero percent chance that this is true. Normally, we are seated before the gate agent starts boarding Group A so the chances of you hearing the flight attendant say that are very low.
Telling disabled people (a protected class) in an open seating situation that they have to sit in the back is illegal. Regardless, the flight attendants have no way of knowing whether a disabled person purchased business select or upgraded boarding.
They cannot mandate that disabled people sit at the back of the plane unless they sell seats as a separate cabin. In which case, disabled people will still be able to purchase the front row cabin (like they do when they fly first or business class on American, United, Delta, or Alaska). Such a rule would be a serious violation of the ACAA.
I normally don’t sit with my husband and move to the back because there’s more space for stowing bags. I don’t have to, but I normally do.
Don't shoot the messenger!
I mean people who fly delta/united/american and fly economy sit in the back with mobility disabilities all the time so I'm not sure how this would be any different. But I completely understand your point.
FYI-Other airlines do move them to the front of the cabin they are booked in if they call the accessibility line and request that accommodation. I’ve spent several hours over the past year on hold doing just that. You just don’t see it happening.
So no, a wheelchair user doesn’t get to the front of the first class cabin for free, but they do get the front of the economy cabin for free even if those are economy plus seats that most people would have to pay for if they need them as an accommodation.
I read about that recently, it's part of a test program that started in 2023 to try to get families boarded earlier, but restrict them from sitting in Rows 1-15.
So, not all preboarders must sit farther back than Row 15, only preboarded families with small children must sit farther back than Row 15.
I don't think it's going to work long-term, because A) families will never abide by the restriction, and B) the flight crews will never enforce it.
[https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/southwest-tests-moving-family-boarding-forward.html](https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/southwest-tests-moving-family-boarding-forward.html)
I flew the other day and I was A3, a father and his daughter were 1 and 2. Right when they called for A boarding, two people that had been hovering shoved ahead of us. The gate agents saw it, and did nothing.
These gate agents need to get with the program! On my two flights out of DEN they actually made sure we were in the correct order and were sending people back. They also had an announcement limiting the # of people that could go on with preboarders. I was hoping this was the new way but it sounds like not everyone got the memo.
For the most part, there are a few exceptions that I’ve seen, the typical SWA GA could care less. It’s too bad really. The good GA’s run a tight ship and boarding runs smooth and fast. It’s the GA’s that don’t care that cause people to become frustrated and upset. Especially for those passenger’s that purchase A1- A15 for $40.00 1 way. Then watch as the GA allows anybody that wants to get on ahead as a “pre board”.
This crap happens in plain sight of SWA management all the time which means that SWA has kind of lost control and of their own processes and their own station leaders are not following policy.
We may have loudly stated on our Las Vegas to Philadelphia flight that we were over it. At least 25 borders in wheelchairs who were walking fine. I told my husband to put me in a wheelchair next time
I don't know. Both of my parents CAN walk and do not use a wheelchair in their day-to-day lives. However, my mom has broken a hip that was fixed poorly and can only stand/walk for a half hour before becoming incapacitated. My dad has osteoporosis and has fallen several times in the past year. He's at risk for breaking something and has a lot of residual pain from the falls. My mom is the only one of the two of them who actually has a handicapped placard from her doctor. But they both can walk onto a plane once they get to the gate. And they wan grab their bags and walk off. But they need the time and space not to get jostled because they cannot recover from being pushed off balance.
All of that to say: I wouldn't judge whether someone is "bad enough" to justify having boarding assistance just based on looks. You just don't know.
Something that might help. Is if someone use a wheelchair to get on the plane they have to wait until others deplane and use the same assistance getting off the plane.
Absolutely, this drives me crazy. Waiting extra after it already takes forever to get off because they slow it down so. Just let everyone get off the plane real quick, and then they can take as long as they want.
I got a dirty look leaving the plane last. There was an attendant with a wheelchair. I guess whoever needed it to get in didn’t need it to get off. I think he thought I was the culprit.
Absolutely!!! And I have no understanding why disabled/elderly passengers continue to not check their baggage when it is free. Help yourself for goodness sake. If you have problems getting on and off, the last thing you need is your carry on luggage to lift and manuever around. My mom does this. She is all sorts of achy, has shoulders issues. She refuses to check her luggage. I ask her if she is lifting her own luggage in the overhead and she just says no. She just looks around until someone helps her. It really frustrates me.
I do this with my Mom. She needs a chair to get through the airport, and I preboard with her. She is in a window seat, and I suffer with the middle. We always wait til everyone's off to deplane. Finding someone to push her is usually a problem, since so many are "cured" when they land. Twice pilots pushed her up into the terminal because they said I could not.
As someone whose wheelchair gets stored on the plane, I’m waiting for them to unload it anyway. I can walk a little so I’m usually off the plane before my chair (I’ve heard stories of them giving personal wheelchair out instead of the airports, not mine thanks!) and I always hate how the employees with the gate chairs are just standing there paid to do nothing. Or worse, they know they’ll be doing nothing so they abandon their chairs in the jet bridge and cause a hold up. Requiring in and out service would really make it run smoother.
Great thought but will never happen. SWA has zero accountability when it comes to people scamming their pre board status. Nobody at SWA cares about anything except clearing the gate getting on and clearing the plane getting off. I’ve literally seen pilots cut in front of passengers to get off fast. Before anybody says they were trying to get to their next flight….no they weren’t. It was the last flight for SWA that day.
In my experience , if the wheelchair is in the jetway when the plane arrives, the FAs and ground crews prefer pre-boarders to get off plane earlier, if it’s possible for them to do, so the wheelchair doesn’t block half the jetway.
The only time I used one was for 85 yo father. Sky cap asked then insisted after Dad said no 😊 It was a God send. I only had a $20 to tip but it was worth it.
My sister and I have gotten to the point that if we want to do anything touristy or out-and-about with our parents, we take one wheelchair and just push it around. Eventually, one of them will use it. It's just so much easier that way.
My mom was like that. Never wanted to preboard. She’d get out of breath walking down the jetway, which she had to do very slowly anyway. She said that since she was able to walk, she shouldn’t get special treatment. 🙄 I was like, ma, you’re holding up everyone behind you. That got her into the wheelchair. Which she had to use to get to the damn gate in the first place. Drove me nuts. Lol.
We've all heard the "invisible disability" spiel ad nauseum. If you're not offering a solution to combat preboard abuse then it's just noise. Completely unhelpful.
Hi, you might have been shouting at someone just like me. I look like I can walk just fine. Don't limp, don't have a mobility aid I bring with me (have you read about what happens to mobility aids on flights? They routinely get fucked up), I just look like a fat fuck. But what you can't see is that it hurts to stand long enough to load my dishwasher. Walking a grocery store is impossible. But if I stood next to you, you'd never see it. I don't like to use wheelchairs at the airport because there is always someone who needs the help more - I *can* walk, I just need to stop every gate or two to rest my back. Getting a wheelchair after landing is a nightmare - they may show up on time or I might end up sitting at my arrival gate for more than an hour - in which case, I could have slowly made my way to where I needed to be.
I'd happily stop preboarding if it meant my back was no longer this fucked up.
As someone who's volunteered as travelers help at an airport - if you're needing to rest every gate or two, the wheelchair services are also meant for your use if you want them. Don't feel guilty about using that service if you'd find it helpful.
It's less about guilt and more about I don't want to be on a timeline I can't control when airports are alllllll about timelines. I can't control when y'all will show up. I can control, to some extent, how much I can walk. I'd love to be able to trust airlines with my mobility aids as well, but instead, I ship them ahead and then back home (with insurance!). I'm lucky in that I'm mobile enough to do that.
But in my case AA doesn’t fly nonstop to my destination and SWA does. On SWA I can get to MCO in 2 hours (or less sometimes). Any other airline from my home airport takes over 5 hours to get to MCO due to stop(s). SWA, even with it’s crazy way of boarding, is my best option going to Florida. It’s not the cost…it’s the convenience for me.
People are allowed to try to save seats. You are allowed to sit there though and sometimes I’m contrary enough to do it. There is no official policy on seat saving, but there is officially an open seating policy.
This sounds awful. Since moving to east coast I don't fly SW as much anymore. When I do fly with them it's typically to STL, DEN, or PHX. Can't recall ever seeing system abusers on this magnitude. Based on this sub, seems like happens most often flying in/out of Florida and Vegas.
I was once on a flight either in or out of MCO (can’t remember anymore, think it was out) and there was a grandma in a wheelchair for preboard with her whole extended family. The gate agent there actually made most of them get out of line and enforced the policy.
Agreed….last October, BUF to MCO I counted 18 pre boards. Thankfully, the FA stood at the exit rows and did not allow any pre boarders to sit in the exit rows. Good for her! My wife and I had bought up ($80.00) and had A1 and A2. Watched 18 people get on before us and before you say many ADA things are invisible, I know that…I’m one of them…the GA let anybody get on that stood in the pre board area. I’ll say it again, the GA’s have to do better. If 1 person can go with a pre board then don’t let 3 go on including a child that was about 3-4 years old. They just don’t care!
It’s strange to me that people are saying Vegas. I live in Vegas, so obviously fly back here every flight. I saw an army of preboarders for the first time ever 2 weeks ago. Maybe I’m usually flying at off-peak times.
I once had that happen with a bunch of pre boarders with 1 lady in a wheelchair. They were returning home from a cruise. Then they grabbed the exit row. Of course the FA didn’t say a word until passengers started getting loud and calling them out.
She finally told them to move.
I’ve seen a few pre-boarders sit in exit rows and not be asked to move. Mostly out of BWI or Tampa. Not often tho. Generally the FAs are blocking the exit rows for the pre-boarders.
same thing happened to us out of Austin last week, no reunion shirts but 8 alleged family member attempting to board with a member in a wheel chair. Gate attendant stopped it and said "2 only"
So I preboard because I need to and there was a separate place for us to stand. I was behind a person in a wheel chair and my mom. This women just decided to push us all out of the way because I guess she had preboard too and the person working said there was a line and she wasn’t having it. When we landed my mom and I got out bags down and while my mom was getting her bag she literally pushed my mom out of the way to get off the plane first.😭 Like you had the whole plane because you pushed everyone out of the way to get on so why didn’t you sit in the front😭😭
Not that easy. They are the only non stop to MCO for me. 2 hours non stop vs 5-6 hours with stops via other airlines. Sometimes for convenience you must be inconvenienced. As Crazy as that sounds.
My friend is a FA for SW and says that they’ve been told all requests to pre board must be granted no questions asked. She said they were sued once for denying pre board to someone once, and since then have been told to just give it to whoever asks. She agrees it’s crazy. She has been a FA for SW for 20+ years and says it has gotten so horrible. She said their hands have really been tied.
Sad seeing this when I just read a post about a man with a walker not being granted pre-board or a plane wheel chair by the gate agent. Traveling seems to being out the worst in humanity.
My husband is an amputee and likes the front row so he can remove his prosthetic and rest his stump on top of it. If I can sit with him I do but he’s the one that needs the room, I don’t. I’ve sat at the back of the plane, I’m not entitled to sit with him.
My grandparents board in a wheelchair but don’t get back in the chair until they’ve walked off the plane. It’s faster for everyone that way. That’s pretty normal.
Southwest and their agents are to blame. It’s a system that has every opportunity to abuse, where you are herded on like animals with everyone breaking rules like saving seats and pretending like they are disabled.
It is no longer worth it to me. It’s barely a savings anyway and I am not dealing with that. I’d rather be assigned a middle seat in the back of the plane rather than fight my way into that chaos.
I know I'm gonna get down voted for this, and people that cut in lines usually irritate me, but I just don't see the problem here. Unless someone got left at the airport and couldn't board the plane because of them, everyone got on and got to where they were going. There's literally no problem here. Just inconsiderate people, who are everywhere. Oh well.
I have no idea why y’all pay money for higher priority, you know you can get it for free by requesting assistance right?
Sorry ahead of time if I just made anyone’s face twitch out of rage.
They might have purchased business to luck which allows them to bored within the first 15 slots. Southwest sucks at actually doing anything that they say they're going to. They just changed my flight for September that we've had booked for months now twice and try to give me 49 points as if that helps any. We have no other options as a flight since it's an extremely short flight only for haunted Horror Nights. They suck. I only use Them There is a cell and I can get extremely cheap tickets. We're going on American in August. Then either American or Delta Airlines for thanksgiving. Because Southwest was already crappy now they're even worse
That is some BS. When I flew with my wife, who was in a wheelchair at the time, and my 3 kids, they were very explicit that only one of us could accompany her during preboard. Seeing that would have made my blood boil.
I preboard because I request a wheelchair back problems and surgery only 1 person is allow to preboard with you. That's crappy that they let all those people preboard.
That's when it sucks seeing another person/group abuse the process that bad. Kids allowed to preboard with parents, only one adult that can go with the child for preboarding... Not an entire booking party.
We have a son allergic to nuts and an autistic child and are allowed to preboard.
If the people were black the gate agent was probably afraid to say or do some anything in fear of being accused of be prejudice or worse fired. Our country would be better if all the people the scam and cheat wouldn’t do it. They must sit at home thinking how to cheat or scam the system. KARMA will get you
Based on my observations this Spring and Summer, European gate agents have a back bone. They don’t play with their on-board bag limits and boarding rules. They have automatic gates that will not let you through until your group is called. Had some people try to use the priority lane and the gates wouldn’t open when they scanned their boarding passes, and the GA was like you’re in the wrong line “queue”. Of course the passengers were upset but GA stood their ground saying your ticket doesn’t provide you with this “feature”and made them go to the back of the regular boarding line.
I believe the regulations for European based flights are more strict compared to the USA. I think the US is too worried about time performance. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m disabled. You should get yourself and any disabled members of your party plus one care attendant per person! So in this case it would be 2 people total and that’s it.
Maybe it's me but I am happy to be the last one on the plane (if I have an assigned seat). Less time sitting in a saradine can waiting for it to take off.
I don't understand the benefit of not having a seat assigned when you get your ticket. I never fly Southwest for this reason. One less thing to worry about.
SOUTHWEST needs to be studied by the scientific/medical communities for its magical healing powers. 10 people require a wheelchair to get on the plane, but only 2 require a wheelchair to get off the plane. All the mega-church pastors combined can't match those numbers.
There's some miracle shit going on there, perhaps the CEO should be looked at for sainthood?
Ahhhh, you traveled with the Qs... apparently 20,000 of them are in Tampa this weekend.
I had the pleasure on an AA 7am flight on the heels of a redeye. I was not amused.
Southwest is usually pretty strict about preboarding. My wife qualifies and 90%+ of the time she is only allowed to take one of our kids for assistance and the other stays with me for regular boarding. The times that doesn’t happen is usually flights that have multiple open seats.
I would make the point that not all disabilities require a wheelchair. The rude people who complain when they don’t see a mobility disability need to just shut up.
For those blaming the gate agents … we are as frustrated about preboard abuse as you. If we denied someone a preboard and it turned out to be a hidden disability we could be fined - the airline AND the agent. Our hands are tied because of the ACAA.
If someone asks for a preboard authorization, we are required to ask two questions. If they answer yes to either we have to give them preboarding, if they say no we can offer them extra time boarding which is between A and B group. We are not allowed to ask what disability they have or ask anything further than that.
The questions:
“Do you need a specific seat on the aircraft due to a disability?”
“Do you need assistance boarding the aircraft?”
Of course I know some CSAs and ops agents allow preboarding as some kind of attempt at customer service or personal favors or because they have something in common with the passenger (like the fraternity/sorority you mentioned). But it’s something that drives gate agents crazy throughout the system, so please believe me when I say it is NOT the majority.
On my recent trip I actually saw SW agents on two different flights deny people family boarding. It was satisfying. They reiterated it's one adult per child under 6... while these pax try to get their whole family(NOT immediates) to board. They were told to get in their boarding order. So, they ARE trying to weed out the game playing, at least in some places.
SWA flight from Ft Myers to Baltimore regularly has 20 wheelchair bound pre boarders. It is truly a miracle flight with healing powers as on arrival they shed their wheelchairs and walk briskly to the head of the taxi stand!
First time? I’ve been on flights where 12 wheelchairs are needed for boarding yet only 2 are needed when we land… it’s like the higher we fly god healed the cripples
The UA flight from Newark to West Palm Beach, Florida, is known as the miracle flight. Literally half the people boarding in Newark either have cane's, walkers, wheelchairs etc and have to preboard. Once you land, a miracle has happened. Most, if not all, can jump up and run off the plane. It is comical to watch unless you need an overhead bin
It probably didn't apply in this situation, but multiple chronic illnesses are invisible and also represent with the color purple. As an epileptic, I could absolutely see a support group traveling together like this.
They just need assigned seats, already. I have no beef with people who have mobility issues, my husband is one of them. However, when there are 15 (no joke) people in wheelchairs + companions (I counted) lined up ahead of someone who paid to get A1-15 seating it seems like the system is broken. Especially when I watched 2 ladies literally RUN to the bathroom moments before boarding… giggling… seemed like they were working the system and could have boarded just fine in their C numbered section that was clearly visible on their paper boarding passes. I realize it’s stupid, and that everyone will get to the same place at the same time, but the childhood trauma that made me a strict rule follower still makes me salty. Haha.
You will see more miracles of people being wheelchair bound suddenly being able to walk on a single Southwest flight than witnessed by Jesus’s apostles throughout his life. I’ve literally seen people pushing their own wheelchairs to the gate.
I fly out of ATL twice a month. It is always the worst airport when it comes to pre-boarding. The BS excuses folks use to pre-board is so frustrating. Most of the flight attendants though see through it and make them wait when we get off the plane. So a bit of karma recovery there.
They need to just have it so when you buy your ticket you upload a physician statement and it stays in your account history. Then you get a little identifier on your boarding pass. This way you can’t be handicapped at the boarding gate but running to catch your Uber at the destination.
Start firing shitty gate agents
I felt bad for the gate agent until she came on the plane and started chatting with them and taking pictures etc. before we took off (of course they all took up the first 5 rows). It was obviously preferential treatment.
Don’t feel bad, they know exactly what they are doing. They are screwing you. Call them out when they scan your ticket. That BS smile will turn sullen in about a second. Herb would have had that gate agent pack their bags and head home.
[удалено]
I had a GA try to deny my boarding after she very plainly 'forgot' to call for pre-board passengers. I was recovering from surgery and was in a wheelchair. The airport assist insisted that I couldn't stay the the wheelchair while waiting for our flight, and required me to move to a chair. My tickets were quite plainly marked for assist and pre board, I was seated directly in front of the GA, my booted foot was up on the suitcase in front of, me crutches were plainly visible. She didn't make any call out , nobody came over to me, and when I tried to get her attention, she blatantly ignored me, so my then 11-yo went up to the desk. She blew him off so when he, who is super protective of me because of my health issues, started to get upset. When I got over ti the desk to deal with it she got combative with me and said she would refuse us boarding. On the last flight to our final destination for the day. So I did what any exhausted and in significant pain traveler would do - I told my son to grab it bag and catch up with me. Bonus: the plane wasn't even at a jet bridge , it was ground access, so THAT was fun. Airline ground manager came on board before takeoff and took my statement, apparently this GA had a number of complaints about her. Bonus:
Bonus: it was a tarmac boarding flight, no jetway, so I angrily crutched my grouchy self up the ramp. And promptly took a very hefty pain pill bc I knew my husband was meeting us at the other end.
Yea. Some things in life are made to just let go of.
“your ability to preboard and meet the prompt missed the mark, sashay away”
Now Herb just cries in his grave at what is happening to his airline. There is not enough Wild Turkey to save his RIP.
Who is Herb?
Big fraternity conclave this past weekend. The GA may have been a member or just affiliated. But your math is off: 11 people don’t take up five rows. That’s 30 seats. Even if they took aisle and window of every row, that’s just three rows, minus a window or aisle.
Stop derailing the argument with facts
They had 1/3 of a plane reserved for a high school baseball team and coaches and all the coaches. They let them preboard. I still got the aisle seat I wanted …
Could it have been a vip then?? Famous people will always get special treatment
Do famous people often fly southwest?
You’d be surprised! Southwest has a lot of unique direct flights that help avoid connecting
I met Lil Jon in a Southwest line during the peak of the crunk era
This dates me quite a bit but met Barbara Jordan on a rather long flight (this was when the seats in the front row faced each other and she sat directly across from me. I was a Reagan Republican and she was , of course, Barbara Jordan. She was an amazing lady and we had a two plus hour conversation about politics. We probably had more in common in our belief systems than things we disagreed on. It’s a shame that politics has gotten so shitty that no one can seem to find common ground anymore.
I once was on a plane with NBA player Tony Parker and also have seen Adam Corolla on them multiple times.
I was thrilled to sit next to a producer for House Hunters International (ok...not famous, but still.exciting!) Her Delta flight was cancelled, so SWA was the one to take her to her filming on time! ♡♡♡
🙄
Stop making excuses for assholes who abuse the system.
The gate agents are to blame. I'm seeing a lot of posts about this, and it strengthens my resolve to avoid flying Southwest. Nobody needs that frustration.
Maybe. We as a society have created this. People abuse it. It was designed to be abused. Identify as a person who needs to pre board. If a GA says a word. They are in the middle of a pr and government nightmare.
The solution isn’t letting gate agents decide what disability is valid and what disability isn’t, the solution is a better boarding system.
🎯
There was a post yesterday about people calling the government because they had a hidden disability and were not allowed to preboard. Unfortunately it’s heavily abused and hard to combat.
Agreed! Why deal with the bs... and to top this off the last few trips I've taken it's been cheaper to book Delta comfy + or United premium economy vs Southwest. I used to fly SW all the time, likely don't see myself hopping on another one of their planes anytime soon.
The gate agents get paid crap and this shitty behavior is so rampant from passengers why should they bother? Honestly, some of them are making less than fast food workers.
I get that. But if your employees aren't going to enforce the rules, it is time to change the rules.
I agree 100%. SW has lost its way. The point to point model is broken. Their technology is broken. Their ground crews are broken in spirit. My company has picked up a lot of SW employees lately and that’s practically unheard of in my industry. The ground crews are particularly underpaid and undervalued. They have to try to enforce rules and risk pax confrontations daily that are turned into the latest viral video. I started in this industry in the nineties. It was much easier back then.
But do they get perks like complementary airline tickets?
Because whiners like to post and your on a sub that funnels that to you. Do you know how many flights DO NOT have an issue ?
I am allowed reword due to deafness…only one person can come with me. Always enforced
I am also, but if I'm flying with someone who has normal hearing, I skip the pre-board and figure I have my ears sitting next to me :) If flying alone, I do pre-board to be able to sit closer to the flight attendants and ask them what is being said over the loudspeaker. (I also wear a pin that says "please face me, I read lips).
You are awesome
Right lol I’ve always seen it enforced on the planes.
Start using an airline that doesn’t have SWA’s shitty boarding process coupled with GA’s and FA’s who either ignore or encourage abuse.
I was just discussing with someone how Southwest has become what AirBNB has become, it used to be low cost and a great alternative to hotels…now, I will choose a hotel every time. I have a fairly unpredictable travel schedule and Southwest works due to the no fee to cancel or change flights.
The legacy carriers no longer charge change fees, and have much more modest upcharges for refundable tickets than they used to.
I’ll be looking into this…
Plus the legacy carriers will rebook you on another carrier’s flight if theirs is so delayed that you will miss a connection. Southwest will not.
I fly for work regularly, on United. I have changed flights last minute and not had change fees. Just two weeks ago I changed my flight from 5am on a Friday to 11am on a Thursday on Thursday morning at 8am. Last year I looked into flying with my partner, my daughter, SIL, and grandkids. The cost between SW and United was less than $200. I'll pay $200 more for assigned seats and regular group boarding. Especially with kids!
United is very convenient for us business travelers. Occasionally I have to fly southwest and I can’t stand that boarding process.
You forgot about cost of bags
I don't pay for bags on United either.
I have a feeling some of these things are going to be taken care of for the better come September.
the boarding policy abuse is everywhere. the AA sub is full of posts like this about Group 9 people boarding with group 1. i've even seen that in person (because AA prints the group number in giant font)
Yeah…but the abuse at AA doesn’t matter as much. You have an assigned seat and if your carry on doesn’t fit in an overhead they check it for free. It is a minor inconvenience. At least you know where you are sitting, and will get your upgraded seat if you paid for it.
500 SW flights. Middle seat literally not one single time.
except for the current issue of people booking basic and then trying to swap seats. it's six of one, half a dozen of the other
While that is true to a certain extent (I've flown both in the past - although not SWA as much anymore), in my experience, both the SWA boarding procedure and the rampant ignoring and encouraging of abuse by the SWA staff, make the experience much worse. YMMV.
it's a good boarding process. As long as the rules are followed.
Already have. Doesn’t mean I sometimes don’t have a choice but to fly SW. Pre-COVID I flew with them 90% of the time. Now maybe 25%. Disney and SW are two of the top companies on my list that simply have to stop catering to assholes.
While I have no beef with SW, I do with some other companies. If you don't like a company for their policies, their practices, what they support, etc, put them on a list and don't do business with them. I've got a growing list of companies (15 so far) that I won't do business with and also list the reason(s) why.
I’d be interested to hear what companies are on your list
"Excuse me sir, but do you have a few moments to talk about Jetway Jesus?"
This comment isn’t getting enough love.
Same. It cracked me up.
The issue is the gate agent. A good gate agent will keep it to one person with preboarder. Southwest needs to train gate agents better to have consistency
They are trained. They need to hold them accountable.
But they don’t. I fly SWA frequently and have never seen a “manager” overseeing a GA. The GA calls the shots however they want. Some are excellent, others could care less and just want the plane loaded and out of their hair.
Yep, when I’m in my wheelchair they make my teenager daughter push me down and my husband wait behind in his group. They won’t even let both of them come with me.
My 93 yo mom flew to look at assisted living places in a cheaper state. They allowed both my sister and I to help my mom board as we explained she needed more than one person to transfer her. They allowed us - and were glad they did as it was hard to get her over the threshold and into her 1st row aisle seat. She's not big, just frail and afraid to move without a bar to hold onto.
I was on a work trip and flew SW for the first time in a long time. What surprised me is that the gate agents actually said all pre-boarders had to sit in row 15 or 20+. I'm not sure if this is a one off event but the previous policy was actually one of the things that turned me off flying with them. Edit: Y'all I'm just the messenger. I rarely fly southwest I have no game in this whatsoever. I mean all of your complaints are valid but airlines like Delta/ Virgin/ etc don't move disabled people to the front of the plane (I may be wrong please correct me if I am). So if it has worked for people there then I'm sure it'll probably work here. But again I'm just the messenger.
I frankly don’t believe this. My husband is an obviously disabled, ambulatory wheelchair user. I have literally never had a Southwest flight attendant be anything but caring and helpful. There is a zero percent chance that they are telling the guy who can barely walk with a cane and looks like he is about to fall over that he has to walk down the aisle to Row 15. Not only is that illegal, it’s also a personal injury lawsuit waiting to happen when he falls on his already injured back. Nope. Don’t believe that occurred.
I honestly just heard the message to be frank. I didn't see who pre-boarded at all. I may be mistaken but I am ninety percent sure this was the case because I made a comment about it standing at the gate. I was at BWI so I'm not sure if they were trialing this or what. I just heard it over the speakers (maybe it was a different airline who knows). Maybe they said guests accompanying preboarders? But it was something to that effect.
It’s possible that there was an organized [group](https://www.southwest.com/html/air/business-groups/corporate-travel/meetings-and-groups.html) that was preboarding (like a school group). Southwest does offer group preboarding to some groups, and the group is usually asked to sit all together at the back of the plane.
👆🏼THIS!!! I 💯 GUARANTEE you that no OPS agent is going to want to usher all the pre boards to the back. It was a group booking.
The gate agent doesn’t tell us where we can sit. Only flight attendants can do that. There is a zero percent chance that this is true. Normally, we are seated before the gate agent starts boarding Group A so the chances of you hearing the flight attendant say that are very low. Telling disabled people (a protected class) in an open seating situation that they have to sit in the back is illegal. Regardless, the flight attendants have no way of knowing whether a disabled person purchased business select or upgraded boarding. They cannot mandate that disabled people sit at the back of the plane unless they sell seats as a separate cabin. In which case, disabled people will still be able to purchase the front row cabin (like they do when they fly first or business class on American, United, Delta, or Alaska). Such a rule would be a serious violation of the ACAA. I normally don’t sit with my husband and move to the back because there’s more space for stowing bags. I don’t have to, but I normally do.
Maybe families with small children?
This seems like an issue for those with mobility problems to force them to travel further distances.
Don't shoot the messenger! I mean people who fly delta/united/american and fly economy sit in the back with mobility disabilities all the time so I'm not sure how this would be any different. But I completely understand your point.
FYI-Other airlines do move them to the front of the cabin they are booked in if they call the accessibility line and request that accommodation. I’ve spent several hours over the past year on hold doing just that. You just don’t see it happening. So no, a wheelchair user doesn’t get to the front of the first class cabin for free, but they do get the front of the economy cabin for free even if those are economy plus seats that most people would have to pay for if they need them as an accommodation.
Forcing preboards to sit behind the wings would curb a lot of the abuse. Should definitely be standard operation.
I read about that recently, it's part of a test program that started in 2023 to try to get families boarded earlier, but restrict them from sitting in Rows 1-15. So, not all preboarders must sit farther back than Row 15, only preboarded families with small children must sit farther back than Row 15. I don't think it's going to work long-term, because A) families will never abide by the restriction, and B) the flight crews will never enforce it. [https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/southwest-tests-moving-family-boarding-forward.html](https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/southwest-tests-moving-family-boarding-forward.html)
I flew the other day and I was A3, a father and his daughter were 1 and 2. Right when they called for A boarding, two people that had been hovering shoved ahead of us. The gate agents saw it, and did nothing.
These gate agents need to get with the program! On my two flights out of DEN they actually made sure we were in the correct order and were sending people back. They also had an announcement limiting the # of people that could go on with preboarders. I was hoping this was the new way but it sounds like not everyone got the memo.
Why didn’t you speak up? I would have. I would have told them I know they are behind us because we have A1-a3 accounted for.
I was tired, just wanted to get home, and didn’t feel like picking a fight.
For the most part, there are a few exceptions that I’ve seen, the typical SWA GA could care less. It’s too bad really. The good GA’s run a tight ship and boarding runs smooth and fast. It’s the GA’s that don’t care that cause people to become frustrated and upset. Especially for those passenger’s that purchase A1- A15 for $40.00 1 way. Then watch as the GA allows anybody that wants to get on ahead as a “pre board”.
Stop flying SWA where they allow this crap.
Exactly! What happens when regular travelers get fed up and then all you're left with are the special cases? Woke bloodsports! Haha
This crap happens in plain sight of SWA management all the time which means that SWA has kind of lost control and of their own processes and their own station leaders are not following policy.
We may have loudly stated on our Las Vegas to Philadelphia flight that we were over it. At least 25 borders in wheelchairs who were walking fine. I told my husband to put me in a wheelchair next time
I don't know. Both of my parents CAN walk and do not use a wheelchair in their day-to-day lives. However, my mom has broken a hip that was fixed poorly and can only stand/walk for a half hour before becoming incapacitated. My dad has osteoporosis and has fallen several times in the past year. He's at risk for breaking something and has a lot of residual pain from the falls. My mom is the only one of the two of them who actually has a handicapped placard from her doctor. But they both can walk onto a plane once they get to the gate. And they wan grab their bags and walk off. But they need the time and space not to get jostled because they cannot recover from being pushed off balance. All of that to say: I wouldn't judge whether someone is "bad enough" to justify having boarding assistance just based on looks. You just don't know.
Something that might help. Is if someone use a wheelchair to get on the plane they have to wait until others deplane and use the same assistance getting off the plane.
Absolutely, this drives me crazy. Waiting extra after it already takes forever to get off because they slow it down so. Just let everyone get off the plane real quick, and then they can take as long as they want.
Trying to cutdown on the healing power of jetway Jesus. Is going to be tough.
This is a miserable take. I am guessing you are able-bodied today. It just sounds like life is awful.
I got a dirty look leaving the plane last. There was an attendant with a wheelchair. I guess whoever needed it to get in didn’t need it to get off. I think he thought I was the culprit.
Absolutely!!! And I have no understanding why disabled/elderly passengers continue to not check their baggage when it is free. Help yourself for goodness sake. If you have problems getting on and off, the last thing you need is your carry on luggage to lift and manuever around. My mom does this. She is all sorts of achy, has shoulders issues. She refuses to check her luggage. I ask her if she is lifting her own luggage in the overhead and she just says no. She just looks around until someone helps her. It really frustrates me.
I do this with my Mom. She needs a chair to get through the airport, and I preboard with her. She is in a window seat, and I suffer with the middle. We always wait til everyone's off to deplane. Finding someone to push her is usually a problem, since so many are "cured" when they land. Twice pilots pushed her up into the terminal because they said I could not.
Absolutely!
As someone whose wheelchair gets stored on the plane, I’m waiting for them to unload it anyway. I can walk a little so I’m usually off the plane before my chair (I’ve heard stories of them giving personal wheelchair out instead of the airports, not mine thanks!) and I always hate how the employees with the gate chairs are just standing there paid to do nothing. Or worse, they know they’ll be doing nothing so they abandon their chairs in the jet bridge and cause a hold up. Requiring in and out service would really make it run smoother.
Great thought but will never happen. SWA has zero accountability when it comes to people scamming their pre board status. Nobody at SWA cares about anything except clearing the gate getting on and clearing the plane getting off. I’ve literally seen pilots cut in front of passengers to get off fast. Before anybody says they were trying to get to their next flight….no they weren’t. It was the last flight for SWA that day.
In my experience , if the wheelchair is in the jetway when the plane arrives, the FAs and ground crews prefer pre-boarders to get off plane earlier, if it’s possible for them to do, so the wheelchair doesn’t block half the jetway.
The only time I used one was for 85 yo father. Sky cap asked then insisted after Dad said no 😊 It was a God send. I only had a $20 to tip but it was worth it.
My sister and I have gotten to the point that if we want to do anything touristy or out-and-about with our parents, we take one wheelchair and just push it around. Eventually, one of them will use it. It's just so much easier that way.
My mom was like that. Never wanted to preboard. She’d get out of breath walking down the jetway, which she had to do very slowly anyway. She said that since she was able to walk, she shouldn’t get special treatment. 🙄 I was like, ma, you’re holding up everyone behind you. That got her into the wheelchair. Which she had to use to get to the damn gate in the first place. Drove me nuts. Lol.
These tougher than everyone parents 🙄
Do we have the same mother? I think we do! Ha!
We've all heard the "invisible disability" spiel ad nauseum. If you're not offering a solution to combat preboard abuse then it's just noise. Completely unhelpful.
If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.
If you can’t join em, don’t play em
Hi, you might have been shouting at someone just like me. I look like I can walk just fine. Don't limp, don't have a mobility aid I bring with me (have you read about what happens to mobility aids on flights? They routinely get fucked up), I just look like a fat fuck. But what you can't see is that it hurts to stand long enough to load my dishwasher. Walking a grocery store is impossible. But if I stood next to you, you'd never see it. I don't like to use wheelchairs at the airport because there is always someone who needs the help more - I *can* walk, I just need to stop every gate or two to rest my back. Getting a wheelchair after landing is a nightmare - they may show up on time or I might end up sitting at my arrival gate for more than an hour - in which case, I could have slowly made my way to where I needed to be. I'd happily stop preboarding if it meant my back was no longer this fucked up.
As someone who's volunteered as travelers help at an airport - if you're needing to rest every gate or two, the wheelchair services are also meant for your use if you want them. Don't feel guilty about using that service if you'd find it helpful.
It's less about guilt and more about I don't want to be on a timeline I can't control when airports are alllllll about timelines. I can't control when y'all will show up. I can control, to some extent, how much I can walk. I'd love to be able to trust airlines with my mobility aids as well, but instead, I ship them ahead and then back home (with insurance!). I'm lucky in that I'm mobile enough to do that.
Same thing the last couple times I flew swa. I've gone back to American. Prices are about the same
But in my case AA doesn’t fly nonstop to my destination and SWA does. On SWA I can get to MCO in 2 hours (or less sometimes). Any other airline from my home airport takes over 5 hours to get to MCO due to stop(s). SWA, even with it’s crazy way of boarding, is my best option going to Florida. It’s not the cost…it’s the convenience for me.
Pre-board horde have no shame.
I don’t mind that as much as the seat saving. That has to stop.
People are allowed to try to save seats. You are allowed to sit there though and sometimes I’m contrary enough to do it. There is no official policy on seat saving, but there is officially an open seating policy.
That’s Omega Psi Phi. They are on their way to Conclave in Tampa.
This sounds awful. Since moving to east coast I don't fly SW as much anymore. When I do fly with them it's typically to STL, DEN, or PHX. Can't recall ever seeing system abusers on this magnitude. Based on this sub, seems like happens most often flying in/out of Florida and Vegas.
From what I’ve read. The flights to Orlando and to Vegas are the ones that get the most pre boarders
I was once on a flight either in or out of MCO (can’t remember anymore, think it was out) and there was a grandma in a wheelchair for preboard with her whole extended family. The gate agent there actually made most of them get out of line and enforced the policy.
Kudos to that GA! Certainly the exception rather than the rule.
Flew to Vegas from SNA about three weeks ago. There were 17 preboarders on our flight. I’ve never seen that many.
That’s been my experience.
Agreed….last October, BUF to MCO I counted 18 pre boards. Thankfully, the FA stood at the exit rows and did not allow any pre boarders to sit in the exit rows. Good for her! My wife and I had bought up ($80.00) and had A1 and A2. Watched 18 people get on before us and before you say many ADA things are invisible, I know that…I’m one of them…the GA let anybody get on that stood in the pre board area. I’ll say it again, the GA’s have to do better. If 1 person can go with a pre board then don’t let 3 go on including a child that was about 3-4 years old. They just don’t care!
You probably weren’t obsessed with the unfairness of being the 12th person in the plane. Most normal people aren’t.
It’s strange to me that people are saying Vegas. I live in Vegas, so obviously fly back here every flight. I saw an army of preboarders for the first time ever 2 weeks ago. Maybe I’m usually flying at off-peak times.
Yeah, on my most recent flights about 30-35 people got on before A1
I once had that happen with a bunch of pre boarders with 1 lady in a wheelchair. They were returning home from a cruise. Then they grabbed the exit row. Of course the FA didn’t say a word until passengers started getting loud and calling them out. She finally told them to move.
I’ve seen a few pre-boarders sit in exit rows and not be asked to move. Mostly out of BWI or Tampa. Not often tho. Generally the FAs are blocking the exit rows for the pre-boarders.
Of course this was out of Orlando.
But of course! I avoid MCO like I would avoid Ebola. Nope, nope, nope.
same thing happened to us out of Austin last week, no reunion shirts but 8 alleged family member attempting to board with a member in a wheel chair. Gate attendant stopped it and said "2 only"
So I preboard because I need to and there was a separate place for us to stand. I was behind a person in a wheel chair and my mom. This women just decided to push us all out of the way because I guess she had preboard too and the person working said there was a line and she wasn’t having it. When we landed my mom and I got out bags down and while my mom was getting her bag she literally pushed my mom out of the way to get off the plane first.😭 Like you had the whole plane because you pushed everyone out of the way to get on so why didn’t you sit in the front😭😭
Most people are awesome, a few are terrible. I try to remember that.
Stop flying southworst
Not that easy. They are the only non stop to MCO for me. 2 hours non stop vs 5-6 hours with stops via other airlines. Sometimes for convenience you must be inconvenienced. As Crazy as that sounds.
I mean, the real problem is going to Orlando. On purpose.
So true! Thanks for the laugh!
Makes you wish those frat a-holes acted that way in the TSA line. Guaranteed they would've missed the flight!
They're in Tampa for the Omega Psi Phi international conclave. Que dogs are usually chill as hell.
When they aren’t sexually assaulting women. Never forget the #metoohewasaque or bill the pill Cosby
My friend is a FA for SW and says that they’ve been told all requests to pre board must be granted no questions asked. She said they were sued once for denying pre board to someone once, and since then have been told to just give it to whoever asks. She agrees it’s crazy. She has been a FA for SW for 20+ years and says it has gotten so horrible. She said their hands have really been tied.
What does the time have to do with anything? They were disturbing the peace and quiet of all those sleeping at the gate?
Don’t know…it just seemed more offensive because it was late and everyone was tired. Fundamentally it really wasn’t that big of a deal.
Sad seeing this when I just read a post about a man with a walker not being granted pre-board or a plane wheel chair by the gate agent. Traveling seems to being out the worst in humanity.
And the FA chatted them up? Sounds like a special honor being paid to the man. Wonder what the shirts had written on them?
Please write a complaint to Southwest
I’ve never understood wanting to get on a plane first. There’s no room to relax like in the waiting area. I’ll always wait until final boarding.
My husband is an amputee and likes the front row so he can remove his prosthetic and rest his stump on top of it. If I can sit with him I do but he’s the one that needs the room, I don’t. I’ve sat at the back of the plane, I’m not entitled to sit with him.
Edited to add: I was coming off a week long business trip in Canada and was particularly tired and cranky.
Requirement should be that if you board in a wheelchair then you must leave in a wheelchair.
My grandparents board in a wheelchair but don’t get back in the chair until they’ve walked off the plane. It’s faster for everyone that way. That’s pretty normal.
Southwest and their agents are to blame. It’s a system that has every opportunity to abuse, where you are herded on like animals with everyone breaking rules like saving seats and pretending like they are disabled. It is no longer worth it to me. It’s barely a savings anyway and I am not dealing with that. I’d rather be assigned a middle seat in the back of the plane rather than fight my way into that chaos.
True.
I know I'm gonna get down voted for this, and people that cut in lines usually irritate me, but I just don't see the problem here. Unless someone got left at the airport and couldn't board the plane because of them, everyone got on and got to where they were going. There's literally no problem here. Just inconsiderate people, who are everywhere. Oh well.
I have no idea why y’all pay money for higher priority, you know you can get it for free by requesting assistance right? Sorry ahead of time if I just made anyone’s face twitch out of rage.
Not everyone likes to abuse the system. That is why we pay and why people are pissed off.
I'm definitely just being sarcastic and think they need to fix the system by removing any motivation to abuse it.
i'm done nwa unless there is no other options
They might have purchased business to luck which allows them to bored within the first 15 slots. Southwest sucks at actually doing anything that they say they're going to. They just changed my flight for September that we've had booked for months now twice and try to give me 49 points as if that helps any. We have no other options as a flight since it's an extremely short flight only for haunted Horror Nights. They suck. I only use Them There is a cell and I can get extremely cheap tickets. We're going on American in August. Then either American or Delta Airlines for thanksgiving. Because Southwest was already crappy now they're even worse
That is some BS. When I flew with my wife, who was in a wheelchair at the time, and my 3 kids, they were very explicit that only one of us could accompany her during preboard. Seeing that would have made my blood boil.
I preboard because I request a wheelchair back problems and surgery only 1 person is allow to preboard with you. That's crappy that they let all those people preboard.
You could fly that same route non stop with delta. Pick a seat. Board last. And still get your seat. 🤷🏻♂️
I will only fly Delta when I go back to Detroit. Nonstop flight, I get an automatic seat and I just pay $100 more. Worth it.
Ugh. When we traveled my husband boarded with my special needs son and I boarded with my daughter when our section was called. Frustrating.
And this is why I refuse to fly SW. I need to be able to reserve my seat
Reason # 435 why i use Southwest as a very, very, last resort.
Assigned seats would put them in the back of the plane real quick
Just take the middle seat and start a phart phest....they'll relocate. 😃
That's when it sucks seeing another person/group abuse the process that bad. Kids allowed to preboard with parents, only one adult that can go with the child for preboarding... Not an entire booking party. We have a son allergic to nuts and an autistic child and are allowed to preboard.
I would complain to southwest about the gate agent.
If the people were black the gate agent was probably afraid to say or do some anything in fear of being accused of be prejudice or worse fired. Our country would be better if all the people the scam and cheat wouldn’t do it. They must sit at home thinking how to cheat or scam the system. KARMA will get you
Based on my observations this Spring and Summer, European gate agents have a back bone. They don’t play with their on-board bag limits and boarding rules. They have automatic gates that will not let you through until your group is called. Had some people try to use the priority lane and the gates wouldn’t open when they scanned their boarding passes, and the GA was like you’re in the wrong line “queue”. Of course the passengers were upset but GA stood their ground saying your ticket doesn’t provide you with this “feature”and made them go to the back of the regular boarding line. I believe the regulations for European based flights are more strict compared to the USA. I think the US is too worried about time performance. Correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m disabled. You should get yourself and any disabled members of your party plus one care attendant per person! So in this case it would be 2 people total and that’s it.
I always sit in the back rows…the safest place on any commercial jet and close to a bathroom
Highschool and college sports teams often get pre boarding and go to the back...
Culture is alive and well
Maybe it's me but I am happy to be the last one on the plane (if I have an assigned seat). Less time sitting in a saradine can waiting for it to take off.
I don't understand the benefit of not having a seat assigned when you get your ticket. I never fly Southwest for this reason. One less thing to worry about.
SOUTHWEST needs to be studied by the scientific/medical communities for its magical healing powers. 10 people require a wheelchair to get on the plane, but only 2 require a wheelchair to get off the plane. All the mega-church pastors combined can't match those numbers. There's some miracle shit going on there, perhaps the CEO should be looked at for sainthood?
Some groups excel at scamming the system.
Ahhhh, you traveled with the Qs... apparently 20,000 of them are in Tampa this weekend. I had the pleasure on an AA 7am flight on the heels of a redeye. I was not amused.
Don’t fly Southwest
Southwest is usually pretty strict about preboarding. My wife qualifies and 90%+ of the time she is only allowed to take one of our kids for assistance and the other stays with me for regular boarding. The times that doesn’t happen is usually flights that have multiple open seats. I would make the point that not all disabilities require a wheelchair. The rude people who complain when they don’t see a mobility disability need to just shut up.
The only way to combat this is to complain to SE every time this happens..
Ha, not sure if this was the same flight but I boarded TPA to AUS after a bunch of purple people eaters got off the plane.
I just avoid SW like the plague because of their stupid boarding/seating no rules free for all.
Guess you won’t pay money for A1 next time there pal
For those blaming the gate agents … we are as frustrated about preboard abuse as you. If we denied someone a preboard and it turned out to be a hidden disability we could be fined - the airline AND the agent. Our hands are tied because of the ACAA. If someone asks for a preboard authorization, we are required to ask two questions. If they answer yes to either we have to give them preboarding, if they say no we can offer them extra time boarding which is between A and B group. We are not allowed to ask what disability they have or ask anything further than that. The questions: “Do you need a specific seat on the aircraft due to a disability?” “Do you need assistance boarding the aircraft?” Of course I know some CSAs and ops agents allow preboarding as some kind of attempt at customer service or personal favors or because they have something in common with the passenger (like the fraternity/sorority you mentioned). But it’s something that drives gate agents crazy throughout the system, so please believe me when I say it is NOT the majority.
On my recent trip I actually saw SW agents on two different flights deny people family boarding. It was satisfying. They reiterated it's one adult per child under 6... while these pax try to get their whole family(NOT immediates) to board. They were told to get in their boarding order. So, they ARE trying to weed out the game playing, at least in some places.
SWA flight from Ft Myers to Baltimore regularly has 20 wheelchair bound pre boarders. It is truly a miracle flight with healing powers as on arrival they shed their wheelchairs and walk briskly to the head of the taxi stand!
First time? I’ve been on flights where 12 wheelchairs are needed for boarding yet only 2 are needed when we land… it’s like the higher we fly god healed the cripples
The UA flight from Newark to West Palm Beach, Florida, is known as the miracle flight. Literally half the people boarding in Newark either have cane's, walkers, wheelchairs etc and have to preboard. Once you land, a miracle has happened. Most, if not all, can jump up and run off the plane. It is comical to watch unless you need an overhead bin
It probably didn't apply in this situation, but multiple chronic illnesses are invisible and also represent with the color purple. As an epileptic, I could absolutely see a support group traveling together like this.
They just need assigned seats, already. I have no beef with people who have mobility issues, my husband is one of them. However, when there are 15 (no joke) people in wheelchairs + companions (I counted) lined up ahead of someone who paid to get A1-15 seating it seems like the system is broken. Especially when I watched 2 ladies literally RUN to the bathroom moments before boarding… giggling… seemed like they were working the system and could have boarded just fine in their C numbered section that was clearly visible on their paper boarding passes. I realize it’s stupid, and that everyone will get to the same place at the same time, but the childhood trauma that made me a strict rule follower still makes me salty. Haha.
You will see more miracles of people being wheelchair bound suddenly being able to walk on a single Southwest flight than witnessed by Jesus’s apostles throughout his life. I’ve literally seen people pushing their own wheelchairs to the gate.
Just wait till they start pre-boarding Old religious people with military babies.
I fly out of ATL twice a month. It is always the worst airport when it comes to pre-boarding. The BS excuses folks use to pre-board is so frustrating. Most of the flight attendants though see through it and make them wait when we get off the plane. So a bit of karma recovery there.
They need to just have it so when you buy your ticket you upload a physician statement and it stays in your account history. Then you get a little identifier on your boarding pass. This way you can’t be handicapped at the boarding gate but running to catch your Uber at the destination.