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Southwest Seeks Better Boarding For Families

Month-long experiment is testing a "families-only" section

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 13, 2007

This month, Southwest is testing new boarding procedures in San Antonio.

The tests specifically involve families, who invariably travel in groups and cart a considerable amount of child-friendly paraphernalia.

Because Southwest depends upon quick turnaround time to maintain a schedule that depends upon connections, the airline is trying to find a more efficient boarding process.

Before the month-long experiment began, Southwest boarded families first – as most carriers do – and let them occupy any vacant seats (the discounter does not issue seat assignments).

Another option under consideration is the creation of family-only sections, most likely toward the rear of the plane so that children could be close to the lavatories they need so frequently.

Although neither the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nor the Air Transport Association (ATA) has taken a stand on the issue, nearly three in four respondents to a recent Maritz survey endorsed the idea of separate family sections aboard planes.

Screaming babies, rambunctious children, and parents who fail to control young children are perennial problems for business and leisure travelers who prefer to work, read, or sleep undisturbed while flying. All too often, conflict ensues. Recent examples:

• AirTran received 14,000 letters of endorsement after forcibly disembarking a family whose child threw a tantrum rather than buckle a seatbelt

• The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), attempting to enforce restrictions on liquids in carry-ons, posted a video of an irate woman allegedly dumping the contents of her child’s sippy cup on the airport floor

• Another woman was told to disembark after her toddler kept saying "Bye-bye, plane"

• And a nursing mother was booted because she wouldn’t cover her breast – triggering nationwide protests

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Southwest's experiment may not eliminate such problems but the carrier thinks it might minimize them.

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