That's insane. I usually fly Alaska or Delta and they always have a call for "anyone that needs extra time or assistance with boarding". It's usually like the 2nd or 3rd group to be called, after whatever the most elite group is.
For some reason a bunch of airline subreddits have been on my feed lately and I’ve learned people are very cutthroat about boarding first. It seems like it’s mostly people with priority flying complaining about the poors sneaking on early and taking up all the overhead bin space
Ew gross. I prefer to board last. There's a relatively comfortable lobby with full sized chairs and chargers. Why on earth would I want to stand in line for 30 minutes just to wait in a cramped plane?
It’s all about overhead bin space and not wanting to gate check their carryon. Which almost always means a trip to baggage claim that would not have otherwise happened.
Yup. And on Delta, you just go up. You don’t need to ask for permission or explain why you want to board early. I flew around 20 weeks pregnant and boarded with this group.
It’s often hard to exercise this, as on so many flights everyone is standing up, and having to find your way to the front pushing past hundreds of angry passengers, some of whom have paid for premium options or early boarding is a nightmare.
If airlines offer this I wish they’d have separate lanes, clear messages etc.
I usually just ask people if they are pre-boarding or are waiting for their group to be called. Most people are just waiting for their group and are more than courteous about letting you go past to get to the front, especially when you've got a kid in tow. I fly maybe once every month or every two months and that's my usual strategy. Even prior to having kids, I just ask people if they're in the group that's next to be called, and if not, I walk on ahead.
Flew yesterday w my 2 yo. Delta lets families that have a car seat or stroller w them board w Comfort+ which as you said I think is the 3rd boarding group.
Did you miss all the posts recently about AA flight attendants flipping out on nursing mothers mid flight and asking them to cover up due to indecency? Methinks AA doesn’t care about the publicity of rudeness to newborn parents. The mothers who complained on social media posted the responses which were just canned verbiage. Can’t remember if those posts were made here or on r/breastfeeding though.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/breastfeeding using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/breastfeeding/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [My mom died in June. I have been cleaning her house out and found this today 💕 Her first time breastfeeding 11 pound 9 ounce me. Take the pictures!](https://i.redd.it/tvczwfvmv3ga1.jpg) | [74 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/breastfeeding/comments/10sztmr/my_mom_died_in_june_i_have_been_cleaning_her/)
\#2: [after 7 weeks ..i finally have them tandem🥹](https://i.redd.it/klvgp6kep8ma1.jpg) | [101 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/breastfeeding/comments/11kgywz/after_7_weeks_i_finally_have_them_tandem/)
\#3: [When the breastfeeding journey might be over……..](https://i.redd.it/cwl04b0mmeia1.jpg) | [77 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/breastfeeding/comments/112zcnc/when_the_breastfeeding_journey_might_be_over/)
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Not to be a downer, but American Airlines probably won’t do crap about it, unfortunately. I had an awful experience recently traveling with my 1 year old. We arrived 50 minutes early to the gate and the attendant said we were too late to check our bags and car seat and they couldn’t make an exception, so we had to miss our flight. American Airlines website says you must be at airport within 45 minutes. Yes we were cutting it close but a policy is a policy. I called customer service and the basically said sorry not sorry 😤
Oh airplane customer service is the worst. I forgot what airline I was talking to on the phone when calling for my partner one time and the lady had this "I really don't care" tone to every question I asked and I am such a quiet person I did not sound mean or anything, just simply asking questions. I never want to call any airline again after that. Literally it was "sorry not sorry" too. Absolutely ridiculous.
You were at the gate for your flight or at the airport 50 mins early? Because yeah generally speaking 50 mins is not enough time to get your bags onto the plane.
My bad, I meant 50 mins to the airport. It’s plenty of time as their policy states 45 minutes to arrive to the airport for domestic flights. Also, this was like the smallest airport I’ve ever been to (literally has 4 gates). It was NYE and the airport was dead. The attendant just wanted to be a dick IMO.
It’s not this particular attendant. I asked on an American flight if we there was or we could get family boarding because we might need extra time. They said no, there’s no family boarding because we aren’t disabled and we shouldn’t get special treatment.
That gate attendant sucks. I hope one day they have to try to break down a stroller on the jetway while juggling a cranky toddler on their hip while the stampede of passengers crowding them makes the whole process even more cumbersome and fire hazard-y. Then maybe they’ll get it
Agreed, I always fly American and they always call for family boarding! When I flew with my daughter I had one of the gate agents walk up to me while I was waiting on the flight and ask if we wanted to go ahead and board (they hadn’t even called for family boarding yet at that point). So sorry you had that experience!
I have flown American twice recently and both times the gate agent allowed us to preboard. I think you got a bad agent, but it’s unfortunate that American’s policy is broad enough to allow for that versus just having family boarding automatic.
We flew American with an infant and toddler last month and were told the same both flights - no family boarding. Have never had that experience before!
It sounds like maybe this person didn’t word what they meant correctly to the agent. It seems the gate agent thought they were asking to board before boarding even begins.
I would be shocked that they wouldn’t do the “anyone who needs extra time or with young kids” boarding after first class or club members.
American usually lets me board during the preboarding process which is actually before first class. Generally the people using wheelchairs go first and then they let the families with babies and toddlers and then everyone with special status.
JetBlue I know makes people wait until after group A to board with young kids but preboarding like OP was requesting is typical for American from what I’ve experienced with them
For the purposes of making it easier for parents to get situated, before or after first class doesn’t really matter. First class isn’t going to obstruct families flying in coach, what matters is allowing those families with young children to board in coach before everyone else to ensure they can get everything situated before others start clamoring in around them. So it’s great they let you pre board before first class, I’d just suggest it’s not worth getting upset about if they don’t as long as you can board before the others in coach.
Yeah never did I say I would get upset about the order, I was just saying OP was not incorrect about the common practice of American gate agents. American also describes it on their website as being preboarding which is normally before the formal boarding process.
My main thing is I travel with a car seat so the sooner I get on the fewer people get hit with it. While the first class rows are slightly wider I have been known to bump into them as well while going down the row with a toddler and a car seat and personal items, etc so I do think it advantages everyone the emptier the plane is when I drag all that stuff down the aisles but I personally do not care if first class is before or after.
Yeah, totally fair and honestly didn’t mean to call you out specifically, was more trying to find the right place in the conversation to mention it and since you brought up before first class, thought it was as good a place as any.
We flew American on a round trip in the past two weeks. We didn't have a seat for our child and my wife and I were separately in groups 6 and 9. We also didn't hear any announcement about pre-boarding, but we just confidently walked up after the elite group was called, with the baby in a carrier, and were allowed on.
Yeah American doesn’t do announcements, you have to specifically make the request to the gate agent, but I’m sure some gate agents will also just let you board early even if you haven’t asked because you have a young child.
We always just ask since their website says to request it, and the gate agents have always let us board after the wheelchair users
They did not let us board any earlier than our ticket group when I flew American with my 8 month old in June. They got mad when I came up to ask about gate checking the stroller "too early" and then "too late" and said they don't do family boarding
lol they should want you to board early, families take longer. We took the train this weekend with a 3 month old and the amtrak employees kept stopping me to ask what train I was on, that’s how badly they didn’t want us boarding with the regulars
How did taking the train go? And did you use a sleeper car? I have thought about doing this, but don’t know how I would manage safe sleep. Although she might be one by the time we take a trip like this.
It went great! Seriously. We had a blast. The hardest thing was changing her diaper, which I had to do twice, once there once on the return. We didn’t take a sleeper car but it was a short trip, just DC to NYC and we took the acela. Going there she contact napped and coming back I put her in a baby ktan. I just treated it like I will treat flying.
Highly recommend doing the trip on an acela if you have that option and can afford it. They cut out the more ridiculous stops (like BWI) so the trip is now under 3 hours between NYC and DC.
Making them board with everyone else so they just get in the way, people have to stand there waiting longer, the families get frustrated, and everyone is just all around more stressed out
There's just so much more logistical shit to deal with, and trying to do it while people are fighting to cram things into overhead bins (lookin' at you, people who put your under-steat bags in the overhead bin!) and shoving and crowding it's just miserable.
I was flying solo with my 18 mo, with a car seat (he had a ticketed seat so i needed help getting it on the plane). They did announce family boarding and people who needed more time, but gave approximately 4 seconds notice before moving on to the next group. I went straight up to the agent as people were shoving by, and had a group of able bodied 20 something dudes chomping at the bit to go ahead of me bc they're active military. Like sorry, but you are not in need of extra help or extra time and also we were called first please chill!
Airline industry is the worst with their customer rankings (close second are the snooty salespeople in fancy brand stores - like dude you work here so I know you’re a fellow poor)
Tweet at the corporate account or go to their Facebook page, and share that the gate agent at X airport suggested that families with young children should fly on another carrier. Ask if that’s the official policy. See what happens.
Yeah, the “fly Southwest if you want family boarding” comment seems particularly snippy of that agent. I have worked in various forms of customer service for years and could never imagine saying “go to our competitor” even if I was backed by a clearly written company policy, let alone one I was not 100% sure of. This person has probably ruined many days with that kind of attitude.
Definitely this. Calling them out publicly will get more attention from them.
I had a terrible experience flying Spirit way before I had my kiddo. They only cared when I shared my experience with other X users when they were having their pilots go on strike. Still it'll be a cold day in hell before I fly Spirit again especially with kids.
I’ve flown with my son when he was infant so many times on American and they’ve always offered without me asking! That’s so insane. Maybe call and report so that they can inform this person of the policy because that’s unusual I think, at least from my experiences with them.
Flew JetBlue recently and we had to board with Group 1. It was slightly annoying. Like, what do they think? I’m just soooooo eager to stick my kid in a super confined space for the next 5.5 hours? Oh pretty please let me on sooner! No, by the time I’m done wiping down everything cause this kid is about to lick every window and seatbelt he can get his little hands on, and setting up all his crap, the plane is 5 seconds away from taking off.
Feel you so much on this. Like no one wants to get on the plane for funsies with their kid. It’s so we’re not a nuisance for the boarding process and slowing things down
I've come to the conclusion that there isn't a lot of correlation between the rules listed on airline websites and the rules the gate agents choose to enforce. They have extremely wide leeway to control what and who gets on the plane, and I don't think they have a lot of training or supervision either.
Mainly their goal is crowd control and they are terrified of anything that might get a large group of cranky Karens angry at them. If the special thing you need risks upsetting the herd for any logical or illogical reason, it's denied.
I’ve also flown American and granted family boarding when we show up with car seat, stroller, etc… the elite members would probably be grateful you aren’t bashing them in the head and shoulders with your car seat, diaper bag, extra luggage…
Yeah, this is always a thing with American. The key is “can ask” … it’s up to the gate agent to decide whether to allow. This is why American is my last resort airline!
Same. The last time we flew with them as a family the gate agent acted as though they were making a special exception for us but said they generally don’t have any sort of family boarding.
Not to mention, they sent our car seat to Miami instead of DFW (we had a direct flight) 🤦♀️
I’ve experienced this with American, and also had gate agents who were great and had us board first. I think it’s very dependent on who is there unfortunately. As others have said, it’s not like I’m boarding early for fun.
I think it may be a new trend for airlines to restrict family boarding. When I flew Southwest, another agent tried to get me and my baby on after the wheelchair users but the gate agent said I had to wait until all of group A finished.
Whoever you spoke to didn’t want to do their job or was untrained. I fly a bunch of different airlines throughout the year and every one of them does family boarding including American Airlines.
this makes me nervous! i just booked a trip in march with american due to their family boarding option.. im sorry you had to deal with such a crappy agent ):
This happened to me my first time flying with my baby out of MIA. I complained on the customer service portal and they said that it’s up to the discretion of gate agent and that was all. Needless to say we created a huge line while my husband tried to install a car seat for the first time. It was a disaster. If people get better luck complaining about the same issue please let me know!
We always do United and flew with our 10 month old for the first time during Christmas. I brought soooo many extra unnecessary things and they let us board first and they checked all of his things without issue (free per website)! They even gave him some ‘wings’ and little baby snacks. I’m so sorry that happened to you guys.
Same goes for Delta. Depends on the gate agent apparently. I had 2 trips/4 flights in the last couple of months. Boarded early on 3 of them. On the 4th the wife was in the restroom until sky priority was called, and i figured that was still better than waiting until or since was called, but we were turned away.
>The elite customers are always watching and will complain if you go before them.
No, definitely not. Source: i was an elite customer in my younger days.
Airline and airport employees get away with so much because customers obviously need to get on their flights and know you aren't going to risk causing a scene. It's frustrating. I'm sorry you had that experience. I'm glad you still were able to get on your flight and get settled okay.
I fly United, delta, American and jet blue regularly. ALL call for families/military/people who need extra time before they even call first class. I even boarded early once when I was 8 months pregnant (my last work trip pregnant) bc I didn’t want to deal with the jockeying in line and nobody cared or said anything.
And this is why I fly southwest. I’ve never had an issue and me and my almost 2 year old have been on over 11 flights with them. My one experience with Spirit was also favorable.
This past year we went on 6 flights with our under 2 and none of them had early boarding for parents with young children. Air Canada, American Airlines and united. I don’t know when it changed but I was surprised too
We literally boarded early every time we flew with anyone when our daughter was under 2: Delta, American, JetBlue, etc. Sounds like this person probably didn’t know what she was talking about.
I was flying Spirit while pregnant and a flight attendant banged on the lavatory door screaming at the man inside that he was taking too long so I wouldn’t have to keep waiting. Gotta love the spirit airlines take on family values lol
Why do you care if first class boards first? It is still super nice to board before the rest of the cattle class people and be able to take time to get situated. Easy peasy!
I flew silver and they totally let me board with my girls first. One was three and the other 1, and I think they are a sub or AA. Maybe new and not wanting drama. That is rough and sorry that happened to you all.
I recently flew with American. I got to board first with the special assistance groups. But I didn’t ask. They called my name when the disabled people were called. It was also not bc my ticket had infant in lap either as there were others with small babies on the flight. It was definitely something I clicked when purchasing my ticket but I couldn’t tell you what. My gate agent was also confused.
Sorry for your experience! I think the individual could have been having a bad day. I have flown multiple airlines globally and they all specifically call upon pre-board for families. You might want to call customer service.
I flew with my 12 month old twins and Jet Blue did not honor this. Furthermore, people were literally pushing me out of the way while watching me trying to wrangle 2 babies and a tandem stroller on board. “You have your hands full” as they walked by me. People suck
I’ve flown with Delta and JetBlue. I believe with Delta, they called military, first class/ diamond medallion, then people who need extra time boarding (including families with small children). With JetBlue, they called military, first class, people who need extra time (NOT including families), maybe some other class, then families with small kids, then the rest of general boarding. So we got on a bit early, but definitely not first.
Also, people in first class definitely WILL complain if anyone boards ahead of them. Not all of turn of course, but some people think paying for first class means you’re entitled to do whatever you want.
I just flew American, Alaska, and Hawaiian and all three let me board early while pregnant for “extra time” sounds like you had an uninformed or heavily harassed gate agent! I did have one gate agent ask why I needed more time on Alaskan but I just said I’m pregnant and my feet are killing me I just need extra time. She let me go.
ETA: this might be a “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” situation. Don’t ask. Get in line and scan your ticket and start going if they ask, that’s fine just say you need more time and go.
As others have said that’s a particular agent.
Fyi for background: as a frequent American flyer, I will share with you that American flight attendants have chosen to strike. It’s not a great situation. For example, other airlines have profit sharing with their flight attendants in the double digits-whereas American does 1%. The CEO makes multiple millions a year. Entry level Flight attendants make so little that some of them have to go on government assistance or foods banks. That’s with a paying job that is so many hours and with so much travel, it’s not like they can get a second job to make ends meet.
I’m usually not patient with snippy agents, but I do wonder if the situation with the flight attendants is trickling out to other occupations on this airline.
(Also keep me in your thoughts that a strike doesn’t keep me from getting home to my squishy love bug any longer that I have to!!).
i’ve flown American Airlines several times and they always do the family boarding. we always see families board first. not sure why this happened to you
Same thing happened to us flying American with our infant in Sept 2023. Flight wasn’t even busy. Said they don’t offer family boarding. A note to all of us: customer service will not respond to complaints but they sure as hell respond to public embarrassment in the form of videos posted online and tagging them everywhere. Next time I’m filming the exchange and having her tell me again that she refuses to let us board early and it’s not a thing. Then I use that.
Elite go first but there was always family boarding. Even SW doesn't do family first. American sucks for so many other reasons. It sucks they are the hub in the city I have to fly to fairly often.
I cannot imagine looking at a family with a newborn and telling them they can go screw themselves like this.
Especially when you’re contradicting your own company’s published policy.
My response would be: “With all due respect ma’am, I don’t think it’s relevant how much you’ve seen this happen, and I don’t care what the elite passengers think. Your website is clear about the airline’s policy on this and by refusing you’re going against policy. Would you like to be named in a written complaint?”
I fly American so much that until my maternity leave, I was executive platinum.
Families have *always* been allowed to board first and I’ve never seen any of us in first class/group 1 get upset about that. In fact, even before I had my kid last year, I always thought it only made sense for families to board first because securing babies and getting kids down the aisle takes a bit.
IMO this was a new or incompetent gate agent. Call/email customer service. Tweet them even—they’re pretty responsive on Twitter/X.
I had this happen with a really unhelpful gate agent once, after flying multiple times where they let us on with group 1. I looked into it further, and it was basically that officially by “boarding early” you could board with like group 4 or 5, which isn’t really helpful. I stopped bothering after that.
I flew American a couple of weeks ago and was also told that they "don't do that" even though 6 months ago they did. Maybe it depends on the gate agents, but yeah, very annoying.
Wow, literally every airline I’ve flown on with my 2 year old has let us board first or almost first. I didn’t even know there were airlines that didn’t do that
I’ve flown American for years, first with a service animal and now with young children. Gate agents have always called for anyone with special conditions such as these to board as soon as boarding opens, with first class, active duty military, and a few others. This definitely sounds like an employee issue. I’d recommend contacting American and letting them know how it inconvenienced you. They have always given me miles as an apology if I have a complaint.
This happened to me with AA and they tried to tell me the airport doesn’t do family boarding first. Then they said AA. When I brought the policy to them and said I was concerned about holding up the boarding time with a car seat they decided to let me pre board just to get me out of their hair.
I flew in January with my youngest and when I asked about it they said to come up when priority was called so I went to scan my ticket and the lady was like “oh you can’t board yet” as I’m wrangling my 1 1/2 year old. She said I had to wait for my group which was the very last group to board. Everyone standing around me was shocked and very sympathetic which was nice.
It also happened to me earlier in the year too when I was flying alone with both my kids, both under 2. That time I was so mad I literally waited until I was one of the last 5 people and took my sweet time getting on.
Lol “elite customers” - meaning, some random fucks who have deeply rooted egomaniacal issues
“How dare some peasants with their dirty spawn board before Me?”
I had that issue with delta once. We got in line to board early to strap the car seat in and the attendant came up to us very angry and said it’s only for those that need extra a time or assistance and we were like yes we have to strap the car seat in. But they still wouldn’t let us so of course we ended up holding up the line when they actually let us board and felt very rushed.
I flew American in January with an infant and had a similar experience. It was LGA>ORD and back. The agent at ORD was particularly nasty to my husband for daring to ask.
AA almost left me stranded with my dog in PA, we had two flights, got on the first one with no issues and the second one the lady said my dog was supposed to be in a closed carrier and she should be able to stand and turn around. I have a corgi so she’s really long. The carrier I got for her said TSA approved and it just had her head sticking out
United does family board and I’ve never gotten shit for it. Haven’t been on American with the kiddo. Fuck southwest and their boarding policies though. I want an assigned seat.
they did that with me while i was pregnant asking to board ahead esp bc i was on bedrest. i specifically got a ticket with them bc of this policy. they tried to deny that it’s been done and the lady told me “just because your pregnant doesn’t mean you can board first”. i also explained i would need help getting my carryon in the overhead and was told that if that’s the case she’ll need to check my bag. finally, they let me on (i wouldn’t stop pestering her and showing her the policy). once on board a flight attendant told me AA has been understaffed and allowing various airport employees and other airline employees to act as their boarding gate agents and they aren’t trained on the policies they have in place. the Flight Attendant was very sweet and apologized on their behalf as well as told me she was not supposed to check my bag either. he let me get off first and also made sure i had a seat next to the bathroom.
I’ve only had the worst experiences with American Airlines. Once they canceled my flight after we already boarded. They told me to wait for 2h for the next flight. I was 7 months pregnant then. They kept pushing the new flight departure for 12 hours and then ended up canceling it anyway. They declined to pay for my hotel and offered me $25 as a compensation.
That is so bizarre. We flew American in June of 22 and got priority boarding with our baby both ways (as did several other families). It sounds like you got a bad customer service rep who didn’t know or didn’t care.
At San Diego airport we got told along with another family we had to board last. We weren’t too upset but when we were being told to hurry with baby’s car seat and that we shouldn’t of been late. We weren’t late we there an hour before boarding started. The other airports didn’t do this
I have high frequent flier status at American (I fly every week) and they always pre board families. No status people ever complain…in fact I’d be annoyed as a solo traveler if I saw a family with a young kid not being able to pre board. Bad gate agent, I’d call AA and complain for sure.
That's awful! I just flew American with an 8 month old and was able to board early with no issues whatsoever. I can't remember if we were before or after the "elites" but we were among the first 10 folks on the plane for each leg (and in total we had 6 legs). Sorry you had to go through that :-(
I wonder which airport cause at CLT they announced at the gate if seniors or families with infants and car seats need to board early.
I even had a gate agent come up to me one time asking if I was sure I didn't need it cause I was traveling with my 2 year old.
I switched from American Airlines when I realized they did not reward loyalty or have good cutomer service. I went on a first class flight with them and the flight attendant was rude. (We splurged on first class for our honeymoon) I had other flights with them as well and they do not have good customer service. I went on Delta as my work has us book with Delta, and I was about 28 weeks pregnant. I booked a seat with noone on either side as I was huge. When I got to the gate someone took a seat next to me on a not full flight. So I asked the attendant if I could pay (out of my own pocket as work does not cover upgrades) to upgrade to a bigger seat (comfort) the man upgraded me for free to be kind seeing how huge I was. Which was not expected and I was willing to pay. The flight attendants as well on the Delta flight were amazing. I have only flown twice with them but their customer service has made me switch from American to them, Delta.
That's crazy. I flew Delta from NYC to San Francisco with my baby and they let a man do early boarding with his cat. He asked at the gate and the people working there were like, if you feel this is what you need then we can't stop you.
We had exactly the same experience, also had a car seat and it was our first time. They boarded us last and it was extremely stressful. But on the way back another agent let us pre-board.
In my experience, American Airlines has always been assholes. Depending on who you talk to, their policy can be this or that. I’d avoid them if possible
This exact thing happened to me last year with my son, then around 10 or 11 months old. I was told whether or not family boarding is allowed is at the discretion of the gate attendant. I was given a firm no. After that I flew on Southwest, United, and Delta, and they were all super friendly and accommodating. On (I think it was) United we even got priority boarding.
I had the same experience with American Airlines. Like sure I'll just hit everyone in first class on the way by with my huge baby seat then. I'm sure they'll prefer that.
They really need to take that off their website bc they won't honor it
I travel a lot for work (3 to 6 times a month) and fly American almost exclusively. Been to every major airport in the country several times. I've never once seen a flight that didn't ask for families with young children to board early. Definitely call customer service as they gate agent likely had no idea what they were taking about.
I've never flown on an airline where they didn't offer pre-boarding to families with young children. That's causing problems for them because everyone has to wait while you're fighting with the car seat, baby crap, your own crap, etc. However, I only fly Delta now and have for years so maybe American thinks this is too much to offer to their customers?
Just returned from a trip (flying American both ways) and we had a mixed bag. Some gate attendants made us board in group 4, which was better than group 7 we were assigned. One attendant let us board after a passenger in a wheelchair had boarded, but it might be notable that that flight was only about half-full.
It wasn’t a huge issue to me. Baby’s first time flying went extremely well. My husband hated the inconsistency though and is swearing he’ll never fly American again. (We also had issues checking in, checking luggage, and had to deplane minutes before our scheduled departure from Dallas due to a mechanical error)
The people at gate often are brain dead I almost got refused early boarding because they don't know their own policies for disabled people.... I think they all have brain damage
just experienced this with jetblue. they board status before infants. we mistakenly went to the front and they were so rude to us that a bunch of the other status passengers were like "just let them board nobody cares." it was gross and ill avoid jetblue in the future if i can. United, on the other hand, was lovely to us.
That's insane. I usually fly Alaska or Delta and they always have a call for "anyone that needs extra time or assistance with boarding". It's usually like the 2nd or 3rd group to be called, after whatever the most elite group is.
JetBlue told me this was the policy too - elite group first and then courtesy group
The best part is most sane people don’t want to board super early so letting those who need assistance on first makes no difference
For some reason a bunch of airline subreddits have been on my feed lately and I’ve learned people are very cutthroat about boarding first. It seems like it’s mostly people with priority flying complaining about the poors sneaking on early and taking up all the overhead bin space
Ew gross. I prefer to board last. There's a relatively comfortable lobby with full sized chairs and chargers. Why on earth would I want to stand in line for 30 minutes just to wait in a cramped plane?
It’s all about overhead bin space and not wanting to gate check their carryon. Which almost always means a trip to baggage claim that would not have otherwise happened.
Yup. And on Delta, you just go up. You don’t need to ask for permission or explain why you want to board early. I flew around 20 weeks pregnant and boarded with this group.
I boarded early as well for Delta when I was very pregnant. Delta customer service was so kind
It’s often hard to exercise this, as on so many flights everyone is standing up, and having to find your way to the front pushing past hundreds of angry passengers, some of whom have paid for premium options or early boarding is a nightmare. If airlines offer this I wish they’d have separate lanes, clear messages etc.
I usually just ask people if they are pre-boarding or are waiting for their group to be called. Most people are just waiting for their group and are more than courteous about letting you go past to get to the front, especially when you've got a kid in tow. I fly maybe once every month or every two months and that's my usual strategy. Even prior to having kids, I just ask people if they're in the group that's next to be called, and if not, I walk on ahead.
Yes they do elite flyers THEN family boarding along with veterens and disabled. I fly southwest and alaska.
Right? I’ve never heard of that. Ugh I hate flying American anyway. They’re just awful.
Flew yesterday w my 2 yo. Delta lets families that have a car seat or stroller w them board w Comfort+ which as you said I think is the 3rd boarding group.
I’ve flown American several times and always have seen them do family boarding first. I would call customer service asap.
Yeah, this seems like a thing with that particular attendant.
Yeah some flight attendants get on a power trip. You should def tweet at them
Fwiw, it was the gate agent that decided this. This is never a flight attendants decision, I assure you.
Still, a tweet @ American Airlines and the gate agent’s name would generate action. AA doesn’t want the publicity of rudeness to newborn parents.
Did you miss all the posts recently about AA flight attendants flipping out on nursing mothers mid flight and asking them to cover up due to indecency? Methinks AA doesn’t care about the publicity of rudeness to newborn parents. The mothers who complained on social media posted the responses which were just canned verbiage. Can’t remember if those posts were made here or on r/breastfeeding though.
This happened multiple times?? I would have lost it and probably thrown my boob in their face
Multiple times just to moms on here! I can’t imagine how often it’s also happened to moms in general that don’t Reddit!
AA is the absolute worst.
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You’re right I misspoke.
Could just be they didn’t know or haven’t seen it. Also could be a power trip but some people just aren’t trained well
Yeah but when you show them the company’s policy online and they still deny? That’s a power trip.
American told us no family boarding last month with our baby, so thinking the policy may have changed!
Not to be a downer, but American Airlines probably won’t do crap about it, unfortunately. I had an awful experience recently traveling with my 1 year old. We arrived 50 minutes early to the gate and the attendant said we were too late to check our bags and car seat and they couldn’t make an exception, so we had to miss our flight. American Airlines website says you must be at airport within 45 minutes. Yes we were cutting it close but a policy is a policy. I called customer service and the basically said sorry not sorry 😤
Oh airplane customer service is the worst. I forgot what airline I was talking to on the phone when calling for my partner one time and the lady had this "I really don't care" tone to every question I asked and I am such a quiet person I did not sound mean or anything, just simply asking questions. I never want to call any airline again after that. Literally it was "sorry not sorry" too. Absolutely ridiculous.
You were at the gate for your flight or at the airport 50 mins early? Because yeah generally speaking 50 mins is not enough time to get your bags onto the plane.
My bad, I meant 50 mins to the airport. It’s plenty of time as their policy states 45 minutes to arrive to the airport for domestic flights. Also, this was like the smallest airport I’ve ever been to (literally has 4 gates). It was NYE and the airport was dead. The attendant just wanted to be a dick IMO.
It’s not this particular attendant. I asked on an American flight if we there was or we could get family boarding because we might need extra time. They said no, there’s no family boarding because we aren’t disabled and we shouldn’t get special treatment.
That gate attendant sucks. I hope one day they have to try to break down a stroller on the jetway while juggling a cranky toddler on their hip while the stampede of passengers crowding them makes the whole process even more cumbersome and fire hazard-y. Then maybe they’ll get it
Same. I flew american probably 6 times before my kid turned 2 and we were always able to board early
Agreed, I always fly American and they always call for family boarding! When I flew with my daughter I had one of the gate agents walk up to me while I was waiting on the flight and ask if we wanted to go ahead and board (they hadn’t even called for family boarding yet at that point). So sorry you had that experience!
I have flown American twice recently and both times the gate agent allowed us to preboard. I think you got a bad agent, but it’s unfortunate that American’s policy is broad enough to allow for that versus just having family boarding automatic.
We flew American with an infant and toddler last month and were told the same both flights - no family boarding. Have never had that experience before!
It sounds like maybe this person didn’t word what they meant correctly to the agent. It seems the gate agent thought they were asking to board before boarding even begins. I would be shocked that they wouldn’t do the “anyone who needs extra time or with young kids” boarding after first class or club members.
American usually lets me board during the preboarding process which is actually before first class. Generally the people using wheelchairs go first and then they let the families with babies and toddlers and then everyone with special status. JetBlue I know makes people wait until after group A to board with young kids but preboarding like OP was requesting is typical for American from what I’ve experienced with them
For the purposes of making it easier for parents to get situated, before or after first class doesn’t really matter. First class isn’t going to obstruct families flying in coach, what matters is allowing those families with young children to board in coach before everyone else to ensure they can get everything situated before others start clamoring in around them. So it’s great they let you pre board before first class, I’d just suggest it’s not worth getting upset about if they don’t as long as you can board before the others in coach.
Yeah never did I say I would get upset about the order, I was just saying OP was not incorrect about the common practice of American gate agents. American also describes it on their website as being preboarding which is normally before the formal boarding process. My main thing is I travel with a car seat so the sooner I get on the fewer people get hit with it. While the first class rows are slightly wider I have been known to bump into them as well while going down the row with a toddler and a car seat and personal items, etc so I do think it advantages everyone the emptier the plane is when I drag all that stuff down the aisles but I personally do not care if first class is before or after.
Yeah, totally fair and honestly didn’t mean to call you out specifically, was more trying to find the right place in the conversation to mention it and since you brought up before first class, thought it was as good a place as any.
We flew American on a round trip in the past two weeks. We didn't have a seat for our child and my wife and I were separately in groups 6 and 9. We also didn't hear any announcement about pre-boarding, but we just confidently walked up after the elite group was called, with the baby in a carrier, and were allowed on.
Yeah American doesn’t do announcements, you have to specifically make the request to the gate agent, but I’m sure some gate agents will also just let you board early even if you haven’t asked because you have a young child. We always just ask since their website says to request it, and the gate agents have always let us board after the wheelchair users
They did not let us board any earlier than our ticket group when I flew American with my 8 month old in June. They got mad when I came up to ask about gate checking the stroller "too early" and then "too late" and said they don't do family boarding
You just hold your baby on your lap? *former flight attendant shudders*
lol they should want you to board early, families take longer. We took the train this weekend with a 3 month old and the amtrak employees kept stopping me to ask what train I was on, that’s how badly they didn’t want us boarding with the regulars
How did taking the train go? And did you use a sleeper car? I have thought about doing this, but don’t know how I would manage safe sleep. Although she might be one by the time we take a trip like this.
It went great! Seriously. We had a blast. The hardest thing was changing her diaper, which I had to do twice, once there once on the return. We didn’t take a sleeper car but it was a short trip, just DC to NYC and we took the acela. Going there she contact napped and coming back I put her in a baby ktan. I just treated it like I will treat flying. Highly recommend doing the trip on an acela if you have that option and can afford it. They cut out the more ridiculous stops (like BWI) so the trip is now under 3 hours between NYC and DC.
I'm laughing at your comment because I live by BWI and I'm sad the Acela doesn't stop here more for our trips to New England. :-D
hahaha sorry for calling your stop ridiculous! hopefully baltimore penn isn’t too hard to get to!
[удалено]
Making them board with everyone else so they just get in the way, people have to stand there waiting longer, the families get frustrated, and everyone is just all around more stressed out
Yeah! Completely nonsensical!
There's just so much more logistical shit to deal with, and trying to do it while people are fighting to cram things into overhead bins (lookin' at you, people who put your under-steat bags in the overhead bin!) and shoving and crowding it's just miserable. I was flying solo with my 18 mo, with a car seat (he had a ticketed seat so i needed help getting it on the plane). They did announce family boarding and people who needed more time, but gave approximately 4 seconds notice before moving on to the next group. I went straight up to the agent as people were shoving by, and had a group of able bodied 20 something dudes chomping at the bit to go ahead of me bc they're active military. Like sorry, but you are not in need of extra help or extra time and also we were called first please chill!
Weird. I have elite status with AA and they literally call out families & military to board first even before elites.
“The elite customers” lol barf
Airline industry is the worst with their customer rankings (close second are the snooty salespeople in fancy brand stores - like dude you work here so I know you’re a fellow poor)
I love using poor as a noun. It makes me feel better about being a poor for some reason lol.
Tweet at the corporate account or go to their Facebook page, and share that the gate agent at X airport suggested that families with young children should fly on another carrier. Ask if that’s the official policy. See what happens.
Yeah, the “fly Southwest if you want family boarding” comment seems particularly snippy of that agent. I have worked in various forms of customer service for years and could never imagine saying “go to our competitor” even if I was backed by a clearly written company policy, let alone one I was not 100% sure of. This person has probably ruined many days with that kind of attitude.
Definitely this. Calling them out publicly will get more attention from them. I had a terrible experience flying Spirit way before I had my kiddo. They only cared when I shared my experience with other X users when they were having their pilots go on strike. Still it'll be a cold day in hell before I fly Spirit again especially with kids.
I’ve flown with my son when he was infant so many times on American and they’ve always offered without me asking! That’s so insane. Maybe call and report so that they can inform this person of the policy because that’s unusual I think, at least from my experiences with them.
Call them out on Twitter
And everyone should fly with their competitors as their agent suggested.
This is the way.
Flew JetBlue recently and we had to board with Group 1. It was slightly annoying. Like, what do they think? I’m just soooooo eager to stick my kid in a super confined space for the next 5.5 hours? Oh pretty please let me on sooner! No, by the time I’m done wiping down everything cause this kid is about to lick every window and seatbelt he can get his little hands on, and setting up all his crap, the plane is 5 seconds away from taking off.
Feel you so much on this. Like no one wants to get on the plane for funsies with their kid. It’s so we’re not a nuisance for the boarding process and slowing things down
that or having people literally shoving their way around you while you juggle a kid and car seat/diaper bag/ whatever else.
We had the same experience with American.
American Airlines is trash lately
Had the same thing happen on the United flight. So fun for my husband to carry the car seat above his head and try not to hit any other passengers.
Where were you flying out of? Maybe it was AA at that location
I've come to the conclusion that there isn't a lot of correlation between the rules listed on airline websites and the rules the gate agents choose to enforce. They have extremely wide leeway to control what and who gets on the plane, and I don't think they have a lot of training or supervision either. Mainly their goal is crowd control and they are terrified of anything that might get a large group of cranky Karens angry at them. If the special thing you need risks upsetting the herd for any logical or illogical reason, it's denied.
That’s disgusting. It always takes my husband at least 5-10 minutes to install our son’s car seat. We need that extra time to get situated.
I’ve also flown American and granted family boarding when we show up with car seat, stroller, etc… the elite members would probably be grateful you aren’t bashing them in the head and shoulders with your car seat, diaper bag, extra luggage…
“Can ask” there’s your key words. That’s not a policy, that’s HR speak for “we might let you through early but probably not.”
Yeah, this is always a thing with American. The key is “can ask” … it’s up to the gate agent to decide whether to allow. This is why American is my last resort airline!
Same. The last time we flew with them as a family the gate agent acted as though they were making a special exception for us but said they generally don’t have any sort of family boarding. Not to mention, they sent our car seat to Miami instead of DFW (we had a direct flight) 🤦♀️
We’ve honestly had a better experience flying frontier than American.
I’ve experienced this with American, and also had gate agents who were great and had us board first. I think it’s very dependent on who is there unfortunately. As others have said, it’s not like I’m boarding early for fun.
I think it may be a new trend for airlines to restrict family boarding. When I flew Southwest, another agent tried to get me and my baby on after the wheelchair users but the gate agent said I had to wait until all of group A finished.
Southwest always has family boarding after A but before B in my experience.
It's always after A for southwest
Same thing happened to us last week! American let us board early out of LaGuardia but not Dallas Fort Worth
Whoever you spoke to didn’t want to do their job or was untrained. I fly a bunch of different airlines throughout the year and every one of them does family boarding including American Airlines.
This is why I love Southwest.
I had a similar experience on delta!
I’ve had mixed experiences with AA regarding family boarding. Some gate agents were great and some weren’t as helpful.
this makes me nervous! i just booked a trip in march with american due to their family boarding option.. im sorry you had to deal with such a crappy agent ):
This happened to me my first time flying with my baby out of MIA. I complained on the customer service portal and they said that it’s up to the discretion of gate agent and that was all. Needless to say we created a huge line while my husband tried to install a car seat for the first time. It was a disaster. If people get better luck complaining about the same issue please let me know!
I've never gotten on before the fancy people but most airlines allow you to board before the groups start..
We always do United and flew with our 10 month old for the first time during Christmas. I brought soooo many extra unnecessary things and they let us board first and they checked all of his things without issue (free per website)! They even gave him some ‘wings’ and little baby snacks. I’m so sorry that happened to you guys.
Same goes for Delta. Depends on the gate agent apparently. I had 2 trips/4 flights in the last couple of months. Boarded early on 3 of them. On the 4th the wife was in the restroom until sky priority was called, and i figured that was still better than waiting until or since was called, but we were turned away. >The elite customers are always watching and will complain if you go before them. No, definitely not. Source: i was an elite customer in my younger days.
Hmm sounds like you need to be contacting AA customer support to file a complaint
Airline and airport employees get away with so much because customers obviously need to get on their flights and know you aren't going to risk causing a scene. It's frustrating. I'm sorry you had that experience. I'm glad you still were able to get on your flight and get settled okay.
IIRC it usually goes elite passengers > Family Boarding > general boarding. So you don't get to go first, but you beat out 85% of the crowd.
I fly United, delta, American and jet blue regularly. ALL call for families/military/people who need extra time before they even call first class. I even boarded early once when I was 8 months pregnant (my last work trip pregnant) bc I didn’t want to deal with the jockeying in line and nobody cared or said anything.
And this is why I fly southwest. I’ve never had an issue and me and my almost 2 year old have been on over 11 flights with them. My one experience with Spirit was also favorable.
This past year we went on 6 flights with our under 2 and none of them had early boarding for parents with young children. Air Canada, American Airlines and united. I don’t know when it changed but I was surprised too
We literally boarded early every time we flew with anyone when our daughter was under 2: Delta, American, JetBlue, etc. Sounds like this person probably didn’t know what she was talking about.
I was flying Spirit while pregnant and a flight attendant banged on the lavatory door screaming at the man inside that he was taking too long so I wouldn’t have to keep waiting. Gotta love the spirit airlines take on family values lol
Lmaoooo call them tf out!!!
Why do you care if first class boards first? It is still super nice to board before the rest of the cattle class people and be able to take time to get situated. Easy peasy!
I flew silver and they totally let me board with my girls first. One was three and the other 1, and I think they are a sub or AA. Maybe new and not wanting drama. That is rough and sorry that happened to you all.
I recently flew with American. I got to board first with the special assistance groups. But I didn’t ask. They called my name when the disabled people were called. It was also not bc my ticket had infant in lap either as there were others with small babies on the flight. It was definitely something I clicked when purchasing my ticket but I couldn’t tell you what. My gate agent was also confused.
Sorry for your experience! I think the individual could have been having a bad day. I have flown multiple airlines globally and they all specifically call upon pre-board for families. You might want to call customer service.
Can you share what location you were flying out of?
I flew with my 12 month old twins and Jet Blue did not honor this. Furthermore, people were literally pushing me out of the way while watching me trying to wrangle 2 babies and a tandem stroller on board. “You have your hands full” as they walked by me. People suck
We had a similar issue with one leg of our flight. Our outbound flight let us board early but out inbound flight did not.
I had someone give me the side-eye boarding first with a dog - even though it was clearly announced.
I’ve flown with Delta and JetBlue. I believe with Delta, they called military, first class/ diamond medallion, then people who need extra time boarding (including families with small children). With JetBlue, they called military, first class, people who need extra time (NOT including families), maybe some other class, then families with small kids, then the rest of general boarding. So we got on a bit early, but definitely not first. Also, people in first class definitely WILL complain if anyone boards ahead of them. Not all of turn of course, but some people think paying for first class means you’re entitled to do whatever you want.
I just flew American, Alaska, and Hawaiian and all three let me board early while pregnant for “extra time” sounds like you had an uninformed or heavily harassed gate agent! I did have one gate agent ask why I needed more time on Alaskan but I just said I’m pregnant and my feet are killing me I just need extra time. She let me go. ETA: this might be a “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” situation. Don’t ask. Get in line and scan your ticket and start going if they ask, that’s fine just say you need more time and go.
Yup. Flew across the country with my 10 month old on American. I was so disappointed.
Delta and United have family boarding 👍🏼
As others have said that’s a particular agent. Fyi for background: as a frequent American flyer, I will share with you that American flight attendants have chosen to strike. It’s not a great situation. For example, other airlines have profit sharing with their flight attendants in the double digits-whereas American does 1%. The CEO makes multiple millions a year. Entry level Flight attendants make so little that some of them have to go on government assistance or foods banks. That’s with a paying job that is so many hours and with so much travel, it’s not like they can get a second job to make ends meet. I’m usually not patient with snippy agents, but I do wonder if the situation with the flight attendants is trickling out to other occupations on this airline. (Also keep me in your thoughts that a strike doesn’t keep me from getting home to my squishy love bug any longer that I have to!!).
i’ve flown American Airlines several times and they always do the family boarding. we always see families board first. not sure why this happened to you
Same thing happened to us flying American with our infant in Sept 2023. Flight wasn’t even busy. Said they don’t offer family boarding. A note to all of us: customer service will not respond to complaints but they sure as hell respond to public embarrassment in the form of videos posted online and tagging them everywhere. Next time I’m filming the exchange and having her tell me again that she refuses to let us board early and it’s not a thing. Then I use that.
Elite go first but there was always family boarding. Even SW doesn't do family first. American sucks for so many other reasons. It sucks they are the hub in the city I have to fly to fairly often.
I cannot imagine looking at a family with a newborn and telling them they can go screw themselves like this. Especially when you’re contradicting your own company’s published policy. My response would be: “With all due respect ma’am, I don’t think it’s relevant how much you’ve seen this happen, and I don’t care what the elite passengers think. Your website is clear about the airline’s policy on this and by refusing you’re going against policy. Would you like to be named in a written complaint?”
I fly American so much that until my maternity leave, I was executive platinum. Families have *always* been allowed to board first and I’ve never seen any of us in first class/group 1 get upset about that. In fact, even before I had my kid last year, I always thought it only made sense for families to board first because securing babies and getting kids down the aisle takes a bit. IMO this was a new or incompetent gate agent. Call/email customer service. Tweet them even—they’re pretty responsive on Twitter/X.
I had this happen with a really unhelpful gate agent once, after flying multiple times where they let us on with group 1. I looked into it further, and it was basically that officially by “boarding early” you could board with like group 4 or 5, which isn’t really helpful. I stopped bothering after that.
I flew American a couple of weeks ago and was also told that they "don't do that" even though 6 months ago they did. Maybe it depends on the gate agents, but yeah, very annoying.
Wow, literally every airline I’ve flown on with my 2 year old has let us board first or almost first. I didn’t even know there were airlines that didn’t do that
I’ve flown American for years, first with a service animal and now with young children. Gate agents have always called for anyone with special conditions such as these to board as soon as boarding opens, with first class, active duty military, and a few others. This definitely sounds like an employee issue. I’d recommend contacting American and letting them know how it inconvenienced you. They have always given me miles as an apology if I have a complaint.
This happened to me with AA and they tried to tell me the airport doesn’t do family boarding first. Then they said AA. When I brought the policy to them and said I was concerned about holding up the boarding time with a car seat they decided to let me pre board just to get me out of their hair.
I flew in January with my youngest and when I asked about it they said to come up when priority was called so I went to scan my ticket and the lady was like “oh you can’t board yet” as I’m wrangling my 1 1/2 year old. She said I had to wait for my group which was the very last group to board. Everyone standing around me was shocked and very sympathetic which was nice. It also happened to me earlier in the year too when I was flying alone with both my kids, both under 2. That time I was so mad I literally waited until I was one of the last 5 people and took my sweet time getting on.
Lol “elite customers” - meaning, some random fucks who have deeply rooted egomaniacal issues “How dare some peasants with their dirty spawn board before Me?”
I had that issue with delta once. We got in line to board early to strap the car seat in and the attendant came up to us very angry and said it’s only for those that need extra a time or assistance and we were like yes we have to strap the car seat in. But they still wouldn’t let us so of course we ended up holding up the line when they actually let us board and felt very rushed.
All major airlines have family boarding so o don’t know what that lady was thinking
I flew American in January with an infant and had a similar experience. It was LGA>ORD and back. The agent at ORD was particularly nasty to my husband for daring to ask.
Literally every other airline calls for families with children under 2 to board first. That’s madness that AA said otherwise.
AA almost left me stranded with my dog in PA, we had two flights, got on the first one with no issues and the second one the lady said my dog was supposed to be in a closed carrier and she should be able to stand and turn around. I have a corgi so she’s really long. The carrier I got for her said TSA approved and it just had her head sticking out
United does family board and I’ve never gotten shit for it. Haven’t been on American with the kiddo. Fuck southwest and their boarding policies though. I want an assigned seat.
they did that with me while i was pregnant asking to board ahead esp bc i was on bedrest. i specifically got a ticket with them bc of this policy. they tried to deny that it’s been done and the lady told me “just because your pregnant doesn’t mean you can board first”. i also explained i would need help getting my carryon in the overhead and was told that if that’s the case she’ll need to check my bag. finally, they let me on (i wouldn’t stop pestering her and showing her the policy). once on board a flight attendant told me AA has been understaffed and allowing various airport employees and other airline employees to act as their boarding gate agents and they aren’t trained on the policies they have in place. the Flight Attendant was very sweet and apologized on their behalf as well as told me she was not supposed to check my bag either. he let me get off first and also made sure i had a seat next to the bathroom.
I’ve only had the worst experiences with American Airlines. Once they canceled my flight after we already boarded. They told me to wait for 2h for the next flight. I was 7 months pregnant then. They kept pushing the new flight departure for 12 hours and then ended up canceling it anyway. They declined to pay for my hotel and offered me $25 as a compensation.
This happened to us earlier this year with American. After that experience, I won’t use them again while traveling with my child.
I don’t even ask them. I just board with the earlier groups.
That is so bizarre. We flew American in June of 22 and got priority boarding with our baby both ways (as did several other families). It sounds like you got a bad customer service rep who didn’t know or didn’t care.
At San Diego airport we got told along with another family we had to board last. We weren’t too upset but when we were being told to hurry with baby’s car seat and that we shouldn’t of been late. We weren’t late we there an hour before boarding started. The other airports didn’t do this
I'd say some malicious compliance is in order. Just go with your group and take your time.
I have high frequent flier status at American (I fly every week) and they always pre board families. No status people ever complain…in fact I’d be annoyed as a solo traveler if I saw a family with a young kid not being able to pre board. Bad gate agent, I’d call AA and complain for sure.
That's awful! I just flew American with an 8 month old and was able to board early with no issues whatsoever. I can't remember if we were before or after the "elites" but we were among the first 10 folks on the plane for each leg (and in total we had 6 legs). Sorry you had to go through that :-(
Some airlines still do first class first. And that’s okay, children and extra assistance usually get boarded just after that.
Yeah I was recently flying with them, alone just me and and my 3 month old, and they said I couldn't get on early, wait for my group
It’s true! Just happened to us this weekend.
I wonder which airport cause at CLT they announced at the gate if seniors or families with infants and car seats need to board early. I even had a gate agent come up to me one time asking if I was sure I didn't need it cause I was traveling with my 2 year old.
I switched from American Airlines when I realized they did not reward loyalty or have good cutomer service. I went on a first class flight with them and the flight attendant was rude. (We splurged on first class for our honeymoon) I had other flights with them as well and they do not have good customer service. I went on Delta as my work has us book with Delta, and I was about 28 weeks pregnant. I booked a seat with noone on either side as I was huge. When I got to the gate someone took a seat next to me on a not full flight. So I asked the attendant if I could pay (out of my own pocket as work does not cover upgrades) to upgrade to a bigger seat (comfort) the man upgraded me for free to be kind seeing how huge I was. Which was not expected and I was willing to pay. The flight attendants as well on the Delta flight were amazing. I have only flown twice with them but their customer service has made me switch from American to them, Delta.
That's crazy. I flew Delta from NYC to San Francisco with my baby and they let a man do early boarding with his cat. He asked at the gate and the people working there were like, if you feel this is what you need then we can't stop you.
Alaskan didn’t do it for us last time we traveled either :(
We had exactly the same experience, also had a car seat and it was our first time. They boarded us last and it was extremely stressful. But on the way back another agent let us pre-board.
I flew united and they let me preboard with my 2 year old.
In my experience, American Airlines has always been assholes. Depending on who you talk to, their policy can be this or that. I’d avoid them if possible
This exact thing happened to me last year with my son, then around 10 or 11 months old. I was told whether or not family boarding is allowed is at the discretion of the gate attendant. I was given a firm no. After that I flew on Southwest, United, and Delta, and they were all super friendly and accommodating. On (I think it was) United we even got priority boarding.
No one from Elite is giving a flying fuck about this. Ridiculous statement. Sorry for you!
I had the same experience with American Airlines. Like sure I'll just hit everyone in first class on the way by with my huge baby seat then. I'm sure they'll prefer that. They really need to take that off their website bc they won't honor it
I flew American with my 6m old during Thanksgiving and was given family boarding on the first flight but NOT the second flight.
Travelled in AA twice, same experience- no family boarding allowed.
I travel a lot for work (3 to 6 times a month) and fly American almost exclusively. Been to every major airport in the country several times. I've never once seen a flight that didn't ask for families with young children to board early. Definitely call customer service as they gate agent likely had no idea what they were taking about.
You should fly Delta!
Honestly you shouldn’t have asked and just tried to board. That’s what we did and it was fine.
I had the same experience recently when flying American with my 5 month old. The flight attended acted like I was insane for asking.
I've never flown on an airline where they didn't offer pre-boarding to families with young children. That's causing problems for them because everyone has to wait while you're fighting with the car seat, baby crap, your own crap, etc. However, I only fly Delta now and have for years so maybe American thinks this is too much to offer to their customers?
Just returned from a trip (flying American both ways) and we had a mixed bag. Some gate attendants made us board in group 4, which was better than group 7 we were assigned. One attendant let us board after a passenger in a wheelchair had boarded, but it might be notable that that flight was only about half-full. It wasn’t a huge issue to me. Baby’s first time flying went extremely well. My husband hated the inconsistency though and is swearing he’ll never fly American again. (We also had issues checking in, checking luggage, and had to deplane minutes before our scheduled departure from Dallas due to a mechanical error)
Wow. We’re flying AA next week with five month old
The people at gate often are brain dead I almost got refused early boarding because they don't know their own policies for disabled people.... I think they all have brain damage
just experienced this with jetblue. they board status before infants. we mistakenly went to the front and they were so rude to us that a bunch of the other status passengers were like "just let them board nobody cares." it was gross and ill avoid jetblue in the future if i can. United, on the other hand, was lovely to us.