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It appears that SW is still working out the kinks on this service. I recently traveled a minor child (under age 12) and here is what we encountered:
1) my original contact at the boarding gate in SNA tried to inform us that the child boarded in-line with regular passenger line up and that we would not pre-board. I said that is incorrect. His response was “all airports have their own policy.” When another attendant joined him at the gate. I approached her and she said “yes”
we will pre-board. From her arrival things were handled perfectly. Had she not arrived we would have been #C22 boarding as you can not check in 24 hours prior to departure and Check-in for UM travelers take place day-of at the airport.
2) we were charged an extra $50 UM fee on the return leg of our trip departing HOUSTON. My original tickets were booked online and the fee of $50 EACH way is paid at that time. We were charged a second fee when the UM was flying the second leg of the trip.
3) The system sometimes only shows 3 registered adult escorts however a total of 4 can be entered online. We had an issue because our 4th person brought our son to the airport in HOUSTON and the person who checked them in could not see his name. Here is what I could enter:
Origination City: Adult #1 and Back-Up Adult #2
Destination City: Adult #1 and Back-up Adult #2
We entered 4 different adults. On the return flight home the attendant could not see the designated back up Adult listed in the destination city. They only saw the first three names - two of whom were in the Origination City not the Destination City.
4) updates to the system do not register. When departing our origination city (SNA) I notified the attendant that our Back-up Adult in Houston will be returning the UM to the airport on his return flight home. She acknowledged him as being on the list and made note he would be returning the child. When they arrived at HOUSTON for the return flight home he was not on the list and they could not see his name. They only saw the first three people we registered. (See above)
Overall, things worked out fine but there are some tech support issues that need to be worked out to make this process perfect.
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@MitzTrvl wrote:It appears that SW is still working out the kinks on this service. I recently traveled a minor child (under age 12) and here is what we encountered:
1) my original contact at the boarding gate in SNA tried to inform us that the child boarded in-line with regular passenger line up and that we would not pre-board. I said that is incorrect. His response was “all airports have their own policy.” When another attendant joined him at the gate. I approached her and she said “yes”
we will pre-board. From her arrival things were handled perfectly. Had she not arrived we would have been #C22 boarding as you can not check in 24 hours prior to departure and Check-in for UM travelers take place day-of at the airport.
2) we were charged an extra $50 UM fee on the return leg of our trip departing HOUSTON. My original tickets were booked online and the fee of $50 EACH way is paid at that time. We were charged a second fee when the UM was flying the second leg of the trip.
3) The system sometimes only shows 3 registered adult escorts however a total of 4 can be entered online. We had an issue because our 4th person brought our son to the airport in HOUSTON and the person who checked them in could not see his name. Here is what I could enter:
Origination City: Adult #1 and Back-Up Adult #2
Destination City: Adult #1 and Back-up Adult #2
We entered 4 different adults. On the return flight home the attendant could not see the designated back up Adult listed in the destination city. They only saw the first three names - two of whom were in the Origination City not the Destination City.
4) updates to the system do not register. When departing our origination city (SNA) I notified the attendant that our Back-up Adult in Houston will be returning the UM to the airport on his return flight home. She acknowledged him as being on the list and made note he would be returning the child. When they arrived at HOUSTON for the return flight home he was not on the list and they could not see his name. They only saw the first three people we registered. (See above)
Overall, things worked out fine but there are some tech support issues that need to be worked out to make this process perfect.
Thanks for posting your experiences @MitzTrvl this is a very constructive post. I wanted to flag this for @LindseyD to make sure it can be passed on to the operations side of things.
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Interesting to hear this experience as all my experiences with an unaccompanied minor have been very positive. Numerous flights to various cities and never a question about boarding before everyone else and having the fee paid over the phone. Hopefully Southwest will listen and learn from your experience.
--TheMiddleSeat
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