Bye Bye, Preboarding…

Back in January, we published an in-depth piece about the challenges of flying with twins, a task that demands high attention, lots of preparation and an extreme amount of patience. For parents, traveling with twins just got a little harder – at least for those of you that choose to fly United.

This week it was declared that United Airlines has ended their coach preboarding for children. But United is only one of a handful of airlines who have put this policy into effect. It was such before that parents with young children were able to board before the general boarding. Now, that luxury is only available to those sitting in first class or business class. Some have even gone so far as to declare this new policy “anti family.” Says Kate Hanni of flyersrights.org:

“There are very few things a parent can count on when it comes to air travel these days, but one of those things was always the ability to board first to get your children settled in and all of their needs met before the throngs of people board the plane,” said Hanni in an e-mail to CNN. “I hope United changes their mind.”

There are multiple sides to this story, and endless opinions on what is right — from the airline to parents to children themselves. Airlines that still do allow preboarding for families include: JetBlue, Delta and Virgina America.

If you didn’t get a chance to read our article and still need quick tips on how to travel with little ones and “under policy,” visit the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for details.

Tags: children, coach, Flyersrights, flying, Flying with Twins, preboarding, Transportation Security Administration, twin life magazine, United Airlines

Category: Columns, TwinLife Parent