So after finally getting our seating sorted, I was amazed to find out the airline we were flying no longer does early boarding for families. (I don’t generally like to talk negatively about people but okay, it was United. I feel it is my motherly duty to help out other mommies who may be planning trips). AND we were booked in boarding zone 5 out of 5 zones. What does this mean exactly? Well let me give you a play by play:
Zone 1 boards first which is all the “elite” passengers (ah the days when that was me…and someone else was buying my tickets!). Zone 2 is first class and other “special” people. Zones 3 and 4 are…well, I’m not really sure who they are but clearly more important than me. Zone 5 is the leftovers.
By the time our zone 5 got called, there were very few people left to board and thankfully a FEW were compassionate enough to let us cut in line but we were still among the last to get to our seats (row 24 with a pregnant mommy managing a car seat, bags and two little girls). Well, guess what…by the time we get to our seats there is hardly any overhead bin space, which we luckily didn’t need a whole lot of. But what really irked me was when the flight crew insisted I clear the aisle so the other passengers could board while I was trying to get my car seats installed. Excuse me? “Well ma’am, if you had allowed us to pre-board we would have been settled in our seats long ago.” Snotty flight attendant’s response? “I did not keep you from boarding.” Wow, customer service at its finest right there!
I had set the girls in the row across where there were some open seats while I got our gear settled and when I was finally ready there was still a long row of passengers trying to get to their seats. I again stepped into the aisle and was AGAIN told to move out of the aisle which really pushed me over the edge and to which I replied “Will you allow me to get my children, please!?!?!” (at least I said please, right?)
So long story short, I delayed the flight leaving because it takes me longer than a solo “elite” passenger to stow baggage as well as install car seats into plane seats and children into car seats not to mention having to negotiate a change of seats because the very helpful gate agent was unable to get my girls and I in 3 seats together (lukily there was a very nice gentleman in the seat we needed who gladly moved across the aisle next to a mommy with a toddler on her lap).
Did I feel bad for delaying the flight and inconveniencing the rest of the passengers? Not one single bit (except for the gentleman who changed seats with me and I later found out had a tight connection). If an airline is clearly not concerned about their family passengers then I will not think twice about their “elite”, first class or “special” passengers either. (Note: At no point during this saga did any flight attendant–two of which were hovering in my area the entire time, bossing me around–offer me help of any kind.)
