I fly Southwest Airlines for work quite a bit out of Dallas and have noticed a dramatic increase to the number of people taking advantage of Southwest’s pre-boarding policy. Has anyone else noticed this?
I flew DAL to LAX last week and there were 12 people who were pre-boarding! And it appeared that only 4 of them had the pre-board passes. The rest were family members who were “accompanying” the pre-board person. As I understand the policy, only one person is supposed to be allowed to accompany the pre-board person, but the gate agent failed to enforce it.
Also, a couple of the people who were pre-boarding sat down in about the fifth row, but then got up and tried to blend in with the general boarding people and sat in the exit row. Luckily the flight attendant noticed what they did and after a brief argument, moved them to a non-exit row.
One of the flight attendants told me that you don’t have to prove that you have some disability, injury, etc. to get a pre-board pass. You just have to request it. Which explains why I have noticed that many of the people with the passes seem to be walking with no problem.
So I guess my point is, why should I pay the extra money for the business select tickets on Southwest, when all I really need to do is buy the cheapest ticket and request pre-boarding? I would get first pick of the seats. Granted I couldn’t sit in the exit row (if enforced) but I could make sure there is overhead bin space for a carryon. Their pre-board policy really bugs me.
I flew DAL to LAX last week and there were 12 people who were pre-boarding! And it appeared that only 4 of them had the pre-board passes. The rest were family members who were “accompanying” the pre-board person. As I understand the policy, only one person is supposed to be allowed to accompany the pre-board person, but the gate agent failed to enforce it.
Also, a couple of the people who were pre-boarding sat down in about the fifth row, but then got up and tried to blend in with the general boarding people and sat in the exit row. Luckily the flight attendant noticed what they did and after a brief argument, moved them to a non-exit row.
One of the flight attendants told me that you don’t have to prove that you have some disability, injury, etc. to get a pre-board pass. You just have to request it. Which explains why I have noticed that many of the people with the passes seem to be walking with no problem.
So I guess my point is, why should I pay the extra money for the business select tickets on Southwest, when all I really need to do is buy the cheapest ticket and request pre-boarding? I would get first pick of the seats. Granted I couldn’t sit in the exit row (if enforced) but I could make sure there is overhead bin space for a carryon. Their pre-board policy really bugs me.