The "New" Southwest Airlines Sucks

My family and I took a trip on Southwest Airlines last weekend, and from the perspective of a parent traveling with small children, it was a big let-down. Gone are the egalitarian days  when the first person who showed up got to board the airplane first and a family got to pre-board. Actually, gone is any concern for a family traveling at all.

At first there was just online check-in, so the people who thought to check in on the internet got on the plane first. But I guess they figured they needed to cater to business travelers more, because now there's special pre-boarding group (that you have to pay for I think). And the new rule is families get to board after the first sixty people board the plane (provided the family isn't lucky enough to have group "A" boarding passes). I guess the point was to keep families from taking the seats up front before the people who waited in line for boarding group "A" get a chance. But the point of family boarding is to give the families some more time to get settled. Southwest would rather have the families fight past everyone jockeying for overhead bin space.

And about the changing tables? On one of our flights there was no changing table at all, and on the other the only changing table was in the lavatory at the front of the plane. The problem is you can't wait at the front of the plane anymore (new FCC regulations). So you have to wait until the occupied light goes out, then race down the aisle of the plane, baby in hand, to get to the lavatory before someone who is sitting in one of the seats in front of you decides to get up to do their business.

Flying with kids is difficult enough. If you've got a choice, I would avoid Southwest.

Comments

[Paula Berg - Southwest Airlines]

Modern Day Dad – I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy your recent trip with us. We have made some changes to our boarding process. As you noted, boarding order is now assigned in the order that people checkin rather than the order that they show up at the gate. The idea behind the change was to give people the freedom to do what they want/need to do before a flight without feeling like they have to camp out in our gate area. While I can assure you that the changes were designed to improve the process, it is clear that you are not pleased – particularly the family boarding process – and your feedback has been shared internally. I know flying with small children can be challenging, and if we have the chance to serve you and your family again, I hope we can provide you with a better experience.

Paula Berg
Southwest Airlines

[Shaun Dakin]

I agree. Last October I set up the website:

http://www.StopSouthwestPreboard.com

Join us!

Shaun Dakin

[Shaun Dakin]

And, by the way, Paula and the team were going to share my feedback as well with the management team.

No real response from the management team in 6 months.

As a result, this MEM day we are flying with another carrier.

Bye bye SW.

[moderndaydad]

Paula, I understand not wanting people to "camp out" at the gate, but that has nothing to do with keeping families from pre-boarding. Obviously you could still give out numbers and let families pre-board.

I hope you share my concerns over the changing tables as well. Thanks for your comment.

[Paula Berg - Southwest Airlines]

Modern Day Dad – I apologize for being so brief in my initial comment. You are correct that we could continue to issue boarding numbers and still allow families to pre-board. But, the truth is, the new family boarding process has both enhanced our operational efficiency and improved our overall Customer satisfaction.

Families continue to board early on Southwest Airlines; the change is how early. Certainly, we understand the need for our families to sit together. As these new procedures become more familiar to our Customers, we may see more families checking in online so they can receive an "A" boarding pass. Until then, our Flight Attendants will assist families (just as they always have) to make sure their seating needs are met.

We realize that we won’t be able to please everyone with the new process - Mr. Dakin is an example - but based on the feedback we have received from comment cards, most of our traveling families, though anxious at the onset, have found that, once onboard, they are able to secure seats that meet their needs, although usually a little further back in the aircraft. As such, families aren’t feeling rushed to get settled as a group of Customers behind them impatiently waits to board. And, likewise, upon arrival, by not being at the very front of the aircraft, our families with small children have a little extra time to gather everything, and our Customers who have much less to juggle are able to exit the aircraft quickly.

While we have no plans to change the family boarding process at this time, I did want to let you know that we are planning to retrofit our fleet to include changing tables, and have already installed tables in the forward lavatories on some of our aircraft. Because we have several different lavatory designs, our Maintenance Department is working on a slight re-design to accommodate the rest of the fleet. I understand that the inability to wait at the front lavatory causes additional hassle, however, it would be difficult to install the changing tables in the rear lavatory, mainly because the limited wall space.

Again, I understand that traveling with children brings unique challenges, and I hope that we have the opportunity to better serve you and yours in the future.

[Paula Berg - Southwest Airlines]

And, Mr. Dakin – As you know, I am aware of your ongoing dissatisfaction with our new boarding process, but I was not aware that you were expecting a response from Southwest Management. If you have written a letter to our Customer Relations Department or to one of our Leaders, please let me know or send me your case number so that I can follow up.

[Lauren]

I agree with you! We LUV Southwest but the new family pre-board policy is a huge issue for parents of small kids. I unintentionally clocked several passengers on the head trying to tote the carseat down the aisle on our last flight. Juggling a baby and carseat is no easy task.

Southwest - bring back the family pre-board!

[Scott]

Paula...question...I always get an A boarding pass since I check in online early. BUT...we travel with a lap child and that child must get a form to fly the day you fly. Not only that, why can't we link our boarding passes (I used RR reward tix and some paid tix) so I can check us all in at the same time?

[OverDad]

I haven't flown SW since the changes but I think it would be an issue for me too - it's too difficult to get kids, car seats and bags past other passengers without annoying or hitting someone. We don't need additional stress when flying with kids.

[Katie]

I was recently on a very full SW flight to Las Vegas. There was a mom with her 6 or 7 year old daughter. By the time they boarded the flight there were no two seats together. The only thing that was left were middle seats. The mom was very distressed and no one was moving for her. I would have moved myself but I was in the middle seat so me moving would not have helped her. No flight attendant came to her aid and she just stood there trying to get the courage to ask someone to move. She started to give up and was motioning for her daughter to sit between two men. The open seats were almost all between two men. I couldn't believe it! No one even made a gesture to move and no FA had come to her aid. I could not just sit there and not help so I got up and very directly and firmly asked a man to move to one of the middle seats so the woman and her daughter could sit togther. I made it clear that it was not right that no one would move for them and that a 6 year old girl should not have to be seperated from her mother. The man did move, no doubt shamed into it and I'm sure hating me. If that is what it took then I was willing to do it.

This could have all been avoided if SWA allowed parents to preboard!! It would have at least help if a FA had stepped in and asked passengers to move instead of another passenger needing to step in. All in all I was dissapointed with SW and will not be flying with my 2 year old. He would NOT be happy sitting by himself.