Flight from Hell

Usually when I talk about traveling with kids, I say the worst part is the schlep - getting me, two kids, two car seats, two suitcases, a diaper bag, a stroller, my camera bag and Alex's tiny little owl backpack all THERE.  Once we check the luggage, the worst is usually over.  Even getting through security with two small kids seems like a cinch after that.  The best part is that we get to pre-board, literally the only true good thing about traveling with little kids.

Not so much anymore.

Southwest apparently changed their policy.  It used to be that families with kids under four boarded first along with the disabled and any children flying solo.  But not anymore, now families board AFTER A group.  (If you've never flown Southwest, you should know that they don't assign seats.  It's a first come/first served basis.  A Group boards first, B Group second, etc.)   Fortunately, or so I thought, I actually HAD an A Group seating assignment, which is funny because usually I don't bother getting a seat assignment until I get to the airport solely because I figure I'm boarding first anyway, right?  I might as well let some lucky business man get my A ticket.

Now the groups are also numbered and you board the plane in numerical order.  We were A40, so I figured we'd still be fine.

We took the first window seat that was available.   In the second to the last row on the plane.

This is the stupidest policy change I've ever seen.  I always thought it was better for EVERYBODY to let the babies on first.  We would all congregate in the first three rows of the plane and that helped make sure that anybody who didn't want to sit next to a baby DIDN'T HAVE TO.  You could walk right passed those aisles and guarantee yourself a quieter flight.  No cranky toddler was going to up and grab that final seat right next to you because we would've already been on the plane.

Anyway, this pissed me off quite a bit and has made flying Alaska Airlines, where I can both book a specific seat AND pre-board, look a lot more attractive to me.  I'm pretty sure this will be my last Southwest flight.

It also turned out that Genoa isn't so much a fan of heights!  Watching the ground slowly disappear freaked her out and she snuggled into me and kept repeating, "I don't yike it!"  Other than that, though, both kids were really well behaved the entire flight.  No screaming, no spilling, no fighting.  We colored and played matchbox cars and ate goldfish crackers.  I had a cocktail.  All was good in the sky. 

Of course, as we were getting closer to landing, Alex started complaining that his stomach hurt.  A LOT.  Eventually he admitted having a "poopy fart" which I took to mean we needed to hit the bathroom pretty quickly upon landing.  But no.  Seconds after the plane hit down, Alex completely emptied his stomach contents onto the floor. 

GOOD TIMES!

Actually, as far as barfing on a  plane goes, it couldn't have gone any better.  We were already on the ground!  And having read some of your blogs and learning from your lessons, I was prepared with wipes and a change of clothes for everyone and even a plastic bag to put the barfy clothes into.  Alex felt bad, though.  I had to keep reassuring him that it was okay and that he wasn't the first kid to ever barf on a plane.  So far, we think it was either some bad Wendy's or plain old air sickness because the kid is completely back to normal.

Sadly, because it was sitting directly beneath him, my camera bag will never be the same.

Comments

[rachel]

Was my blog one of the ones you learned from? Glad SOME good could come of that...

[Erica]

Oh dear jebus. Southwest is tun by a bunch of men who have never flown alone with children.

Sorry to hear Alex got sick, but I'm glad it was a one-time thing.

[Rex]

Interesting that you liked being able to board first, and I guess under the old rules of Southwest it would have turned out pretty good.

My wife and I haven't been a fan of the pre-boarding with kids thing since I think the second flight we took our oldest on. We got on the plane way early, and then ended up being there with no air blowing for about 30-45 minutes while she was in her fleeced, footy PJ's. You would have mistaken her for Elvis with as far down as we had the zipper.

[Shaun Dakin]

Hi,

We hate Southwest preboarding and, after a decade of flying, will no longer.

We started an online petition.

http://www.StopSouthwestPreboard.com

Shaun Dakin

[Marcela]

I'm surprised as well that you liked pre-boarding... I actually avoid it, we fly from Tokyo to LA or Washington State at least twice a year, and when in the States we fly to Texas also.
It's a lot of flying and though my kids are used to it by now (one is 4 the other one 18mos) sitting on a plane not moving just does not work for us, specially from Tokyo to the States and back, 10+ hours on a plane in air is enough for us.

sorry about the throwing up, that is never fun, but at least you were already landed.

I love your blog, specially all the recipes you share, I've tried more than a couple and they keep me coming back to you.

[G-mom]

You are a good mommy. I would have been yakking right along with Alex. Clean up? HA! Everyone would have been helping me & him. LOL

[Lisa]

I've got to say, I disagree here. I'm grateful that Southwest discontinued the pre-board thing. Under the old rules, folks like us, 6'5" and 6'2' ended up wedged into regular rows, with the larger exit and bulkhead rows occupied with pre-boarders. And let's not even discuss the overhead luggage issue.. At least the new policy gives everyone a fighting chance for any seat. And yes, if they asked me to pay extra for those seats I gladly would........

[LVGurl]

My heart goes out to you! Flying with children is, like, my most dreaded activity. I avoid it whenever possible.

I liked the preboarding not because we got on the plane first, but because it gave us (me, husband, two little girls) just a little breathing room to grab a row and get settled before the throngs of people flooded on board.

I love the grumps who complain about not being able to choose a seat because of those pesky pre-boarders. Then fly an airline with assigned seats! They fly into the same airports as SWA! Oh, you want to save money, huh? Thems the breaks.

[rachel]

Yikes. So not the time to read this!! We are flying on Thursday with our 4 year old and 18 month old for the first time. :-) Not on SW though. That is a horrible rule. I keep hearing more and more negative things about them...
Sorry for your camera bag.

[sean]

It was very generous of Southwest to even offer you preboarding. So many people used this as an excuse to wait until the last possible minute to take responsibility and check in like everybody else. You have kids? I'm so sorry...that's your problem, not the rest of the passengers. You have every opportunity, just like the other 136 passengers, to check in within 24 hours of departure so that you can get that high number A boarding pass.

Seriously, how self absorbed can someone be that they would consider changing an airline just because they don't get special treatment and their brats can't preboard? Your kid threw up all over the plane! c'mon! Did you clean it up? Your kiddo just tossed his cookies on a multi-million dollar aircraft. What do you have to say about that? I mean, what are you going to do when you need to fly and your kids are over the age of 4?

Bottom line... Take accountability for your own lack of planning and stop whining about not being able to preboard.

You're probably thinking, "well this guy just doesn't have kids/doesn't like kids, etc." Actually... no, I don't have children. Nor do I really mind children flying. I take my niece and nephew on trips and I *know* that it's extremely embarrassing and a hassle when they misbehave, get sick, etc. I've been very tardy and almost missed a flight from Denver, but I did not make an issue with the airline. I was very humble and apologetic and THANKED them for waiting and being helpful.

But no... don't blame your problem on an airline. SWA's flight attendants are great and will usually go out of their way to accommodate families. See if you get that on Alaska!

[Nicole]

I have to fly the lowest cost airway for work, my route is the same CLE to BHM and is always last, last minute and our corporate travel gurus always book me Southwest. I'm in the C group everytime. It sucks.

[Bubba]

Good Lord!
In my day we had carseats waiting for us at the other end(no need to schlep them around), we asked politely if a person would mind moving(assigned seating doesn't mean the family sits together by the way!) and we always used SW because of the unassigned seating(people less territorial about their seats and the type of passenger just seems less stressed and pleasant to be around). It seems that your only negative about SW is you didn't get to preboard. Oh, that policy changed over 6 months ago which you would have known if you checked out the website to understand tickets that you purchased. Give the rest of us a break!