[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by punkydoodles

Don't know who's idea it was to get rid of family pre-boarding, but it's clear that said person has never traveled with a small child! ...with 2 kids under the age of two while all the A group finishes getting situated. Then I find a seat towards the back where all 3 of us can actually sit TOGETHER. ... I am now in the back of the plane (because I wanted my family to sit TOGETHER!) So we must wait, again, with 2 kids under 2, which people lolly-gag off the flight. Had we pre-boarded we would have been in the front. Easy on. Easy off. -sarah-

Really? Easy on - easy off? Better that you and your kids are at the back of the plane so that the bulk of the passengers don't have to trip over you and your stuff as you scramble to settle/pick up all of your kid-crap to get on/off. It was YOUR choice to have kids and YOUR choice to travel with them. Why should YOU get special treatment because of a life choice that YOU made?

Originally Posted by richright

I partially disagree Sarah but I understand the problem and have a better proposed solution that would make both of us happy.
Years ago I complained like the dickens over the excess amount of preboards as not only you and your kids would pre-board but also husbands that would sometimes steal my emergency exit row seat. After a lot of complaints they amended their policy that says preboards can't sit in the exit row seat. I believe this policy is somewhat unofficial however as their carriage of terms states specaial needs persons CAN be excluded from the exit row but nothing states this is absolute.

Actually, FAA regs DO state that if you are traveling with young children, even if separated you cannot sit in an exit row. The reason being that in an emergency a parent is more likely to see the safety of his/her family than assist with the opening of the exit and evacuation which is expected of those occupying exit row seats.

Anyway they eventually cut out a lot of the preboarding. However what they did do was essentially replace much of the former preboarding with business select and frequent fliers by automatically giving these customers the first slots in the A-line. These people don't have to check in early just pay about twice as much as most or fly a lot on Southwest. That excludes me and you and most other people.

Pay twice as much? How do you arrive at this? For example, the "anytime" fare frpm Phoenix to Philadelphia is $382. The Business Select is $407. By your math it should be $784.

What they should do is calculate the number of special needs persons in advance and reserve seats for them in the front.

How on earth do you expect them to do this?

For people like me that have a 39" inseam and NEED the emergency exit row seat I get one of those pre-assigned to me also.

You have already stated you are an infrequent SWA flier. Why would you expect exit row seating just because you are tall?

What we have now is an elitist system. First come first served unless you pay a lot more or fly on a frequent basis. Then you get special treatment. That doesn't seem fair to me because it is not based on need but rather greed on Southwests part.

Greed? You are calling rewarding loyalty or paying a premium fare greed? Yes, it IS elitist. It's called taking care of your best customers. Loyal customers should be rewarded with priority seating.