If you've ever flown Southwest, you'll know that they have quite a unique boarding process. Instead of having the option to choose a specific seat on the plane ahead of time and then board the plane in any order, you are assigned a boarding position "number" that tells you when it'll be your turn to board the plane. Once on the plane, you can choose any open seat. I'm not here to discuss whether this process is more efficient than the classic system used by all the other airlines, but rather to tell you how I witnessed what I think to be an abuse of this system.
Let's first understand how Southwest's boarding process works. Exactly 24 hours before a flight, online check in becomes available. Racing to check in as early as possible is extremely valuable with Southwest because the earlier you check in (again, can't be before 24 hours), the higher boarding position you'll get. There are 3 boarding group labeled "A," "B," and "C," with each group containing 60 boarding position numbers. The A's will board first in order of 1 to 60, then the B's, etc. First, all the A's will line up by the columns (shown on the right side of this picture), which are numbered to tell you where to stand.
One will say 1-5, the next 5-10, etc. Once everyone from your group is lined up, everyone boards in order.
Because there are no guarantees as to what boarding position you'll get, Southwest offers a few options to help certain individuals. If you're willing to shell out cash, you can opt to pay for a more expensive, refundable ticket (what Southwest basically calls "Business Class"), and in turn, you'll be privy to be automatically assigned a boarding position in the first few A slots. Another way to buy yourself a good boarding position is to pay $12.50 for what they call "Early-Bird Check-In," which will also guarantee you a spot at the head of the A group.
However, if you don't want to pay extra and weren't able to snag a few boarding numbers in a row for yourself and your children, yet you understandably want to sit next to your children, Southwest will gladly allow you to board with your family after the A group boards before the B's get to go. Any family traveling with a child 4 years old or younger can board in this special group. Simply approach a gate agent while waiting for boarding to begin, and they'll make sure you're set up. Finally, if you have a disability, Southwest will give you the highest boarding priority of all and allow you to board even before the A group. Again, just find an agent to let them know.
So, where's the abuse?
On my flight EWR-DEN this week, I curiously noticed a group of about 20 kids (probably in the 12-14 age range) standing together right in front of the gate.
Immediately, I raised my eyebrows and said to my wife, "Watch, these kids are all going to get special boarding." Because I was heartily enjoying my Chinese food that I picked up on the way to the airport, I didn't notice when exactly this group boarded, but the kids never got in line, and they were definitely on the plane before us, who had B18-19. (Yes, I know terrible numbers, but I forgot to check in on time. :-( ) Once on the plane, I saw that this group was seated together about halfway back in the plane. That leads me to assume they didn't get full boarding priority before the A's, or else they would have been sitting in the first few rows, rather, I imagine they got to board between the A and B groups.
I understand that it's nice to let a family with 2 adults and a few kids to board together. In fact, I'm not sure why the cut-off age is 4 and not something higher. I'd have to research how they picked that age, because I'm quite certain I'd want my 5 year old sitting next to me and not some stranger as much as I'd want a 4 year old. But, how did this group of older kids get this priority - and why? Is it simply just going up to the agents and saying we'd like our group of kids to sit next to each other, can you help us out? I've been on a few Southwest flights that clearly had groups on them - you can tell when you see 20 friends at the boarding area all clearly coming back from a group ski trip or all wearing ties and jackets looking like they're on an classy sports team. Yet, both those times, the groups were split up - 2 sitting together here, 3 over there, 1 nearby, etc. How did this group pull it off and why were they allowed to. B18-19 should have gotten us 2 seats next to each other in the middle of the plane, not 3 rows from the back.
In the end of the day, sitting a few rows back just means getting off the plane a drop later, so I'm not complaining about that. I'm complaining about the principle of the matter. Once you make exceptions for people to board early that don't fit your established criteria, where do you draw the line?
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