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Preboarding

ljlockman
Explorer C

My family flew Southwest for my daughters Make-a-wish trip. We provided a doctors note for preboarding both to allow extra time to deal with medical equipment and to allow us to disinfect the seating area around her with Clorox wipes. It was very dissapointing/frustrating that Southwest only allows one adult to board with the person with a medical need. Not only did she not get to enjoy a plane trip with her sibling, but she was exposed to additional germs from the person who selected to sit next to her. My husband and my 12 year old boarded in one of the last seating groups and were unable to find seats together - which was pretty uncomfortable for a young person with little travel expereince. While we are grateful for this experience, this was not how we imagined this dream trip for my daughter. In the future, Southwest may want to consider how they handle boarding for famileis with chronic medical needs. 

3 REPLIES 3

Re: Preboarding

ZevSupport
Frequent Flyer A
Solution

Hi there,

 

I'm Zev, a volunteer (non-employee) member on this forum, and I'm sorry to hear of your frustration with this incident. I would assume it's up to the gate agent to allow more than one passenger to board, and I'm sorry the family couldn't sit together. 

 

There isn't much we can do here, except suggest you raise this directly with the airline via this link: https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html. If you have Twitter, you can reach out there too. 

 

Aside from this flight, I hope the rest of the trip went well! Make-a-wish is such an awesome organization, and I'm sure they gave your daughter the fun she deserved, and so much so that she forgot about her flight down!

 

Feel free to reach out with any other questions here,


Community Champion | PHL based | ex-Companion Pass Holder | Southwest Passenger

Re: Preboarding

spacecoastbill
Frequent Flyer B

You could have purchased the upgraded boarding and gotten on e of the A1-A15 spots that were likely available.

Re: Preboarding

L55Etch
Explorer C

That wouldn't have helped.  I just took a flight that was delayed by weather, making me miss my connection, so I rebooked for the next day.  That lost me my "Early Bird" A group status, so I spent $180 to upgrade to Business Select the next day.  (I was flying to attend a family wedding and had a short layover and little time to get to the wedding, so I felt that would guarantee that I get on/off the plane first.)  They preboarded the connecting flight, they not only let multiple family members board with people in wheelchairs, they also allowed an arena football team to preboard.  I'm pretty sure if you are able to play arena football, you probably don't have a disability.  I sat in the first aisle seat available in row 7.  Worst $180 I ever spent.