Posted on 05/24/2012 6:54:41 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
As if it wasn't hard enough traveling by air with children, United Airlines won't be offering early boarding to families in coach with small children.
United quietly made the policy shift in late April and joins other airlines including American Airlines and US Airways that have dropped family pre-boarding.
The airline says the move was "to simplify the boarding process and to reduce the overall number of boarding groups," United spokesman Charles Hobart told USA Today.
Previously, families with small children flying coach were allowed on aircraft before general boarding -- a convenience for parents to get their children and their things stowed before the crush of passengers. But now, as more airlines charge for priority boarding, passengers are more willing to pay to guarantee space in the overhead bins for their luggage --space that could be taken by early boarders.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Personally, I would choose to take my kids in last.
More time to play on the airport floor and be kids before they are strapped in for a long flight.
>>You have an extreme “nature vs. nurture” position<<
LOL!
Yeah.
That’s what God made Benedryl for.
Trust me, I’ve raised my sister kids and my own. It takes a lot of effort or some creative parenting.
Forget that, you would still hear their muffled cries.
Anyone under 18 should be Fed-Exed to their destination and delivered to the hotel to be picked up by their parents when they arrive.
In fact send them ahead so you can finish packing in peace...
>>Anyone under 18 should be Fed-Exed to their destination and delivered to the hotel to be picked up by their parents when they arrive.<<
No wonder there is a huge uptick in Nursing Home abuse.
“Its the people who...”
And there are the ubiquitous 3rd worlders with their odorous containers of “food” who leave shoe prints on the toilet seats.
We accumulated many frequent flier miles, mostly on United. They were great little travelers and the only incident we ever had with them was an airsickness bout on one turbulent flight.
I realize that some parents ignore or even reinforce bratty behavior in their kids. But others come prepared with sticker books, discipline and a number of other tools to ensure any disruptions from their children are minimal to nonexistent.
Not one of my kids have every kept a seat down in some body's lap, been obnoxious, put the arm rest up so they could spill over into the seat which I paid for or scores of other behaviors imposed on me by adult travelers.
On the contrary, they've been so cute, charming and courteous that strangers have asked us how we did it. It ain't rocket science, it is the right combination of love and discipline, from parents who care with the additional advantage of raising them in a polite society where it is reinforced.
>>It ain’t rocket science, it is the right combination of love and discipline, from parents who care with the additional advantage of raising them in a polite society where it is reinforced. <<
Thank you!
Great old commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bTO2iJJjbU
You’re right, of course. Misbehaving kids on airline flights is a generalization, and there are exceptions.
Having said that... MOST “new age” parents’ kids I’ve encountered on airline flights are holy terrors. Ditto in restaurants. There’s a certain belief among permissive parents that it’s acceptable to inflict their unruly spawn on everyone else and it’s our obligation to shut up and take it. “For the children.”
Take the bags OUT and put them on the floor! If the owners are at the back, they will not see you, and the bag will have to be put 'underneath' and they will be pissed. In my pre-elite days, those people were abouut the most annoying on board.
Over on Southwest, they now board children in the middle, halfway through the masses.
The wheelchair, frequent flyers, premium paying persons on first, then some economy flyers who printed their boarding passes early. Then the families. Then the masses.
Seems to work.
It never ceases to amaze me that the wheelchair passengers are suddenly mobile when the plane arrives. It’s like a miracle cure.
Space in the overhead wasn’t usually a problem until the airlines started charging for checked bags.
The airlines decided to inconvenience all of their customers for maybe $2000 extra revenue on the flight.
Airlines are pretty close to being the most dysfunctional industry there is.
Seriously now, do you really want to sit on the airplane toilet seat?
I like the way Southwest does it, after the A boarding group, just before the B group. Still plenty of room for families to sit together.
Your comments are all making me really glad my dad preferred ten hour drives in the station wagon...
I am amazed how much abuse went with the early board with small children. I give a pass to a “in hand” baby. But when children are mobile, it is just an annoyance.
What ALL of this is really saying is that the overhead bins are too limited and too small.
Doesn’t make sense to me from the Airline perspective of efficiency or the Parents either.
I’d want anyone slow to board first especially if they have their tribe in tow.
LOL
Not necessarily. Now the airlines are going to be charging more for aisle and window seats instead of just for extra leg room. There are going to be plenty of families that could end up getting separated. Its their choice whether or not to pay the extra $$ but its just yet another inconvenience.
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