United not boarding families first anymore

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry if my overstuffed bag of toys, crayons etc...offends you..I think you would be happy that I have prepared ahead of time
and have enough things to distract my children so that they won't bother the people around them on the plane.

Flying with kids is stressful and if I could have a few extra minutes to get my stuff together before all of the other people crowd onto the plane
that would be nice..

For all of the inconsiderate people on this post..I have a child with special needs..I hope that we are on a plane with you one day..I will make sure he kicks extra hard
and is extra loud....

I long for "non-kid" flights and the same thing for restaurants. Also, "Special Needs" has now become the catch phrase for all children who misbehave, brats, tantrums, and generally obnoxious children at any age. I consider "Special Needs" to be children who are mentally and physically challenged, not ADHD. Control your kids.

Please look up Phelan McDermid Syndrome and tell me if you consider that "special needs"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ Give me a break. You are in the minority and you know it. Normally I would thank you but you are way too obnoxious. We are all well aware that with airlines charging fees for baggage, families each bring a wheelie luggage full of crap and then check maybe one bag. Please don't be so dense.

This makes zero sense. So a family of four brings on four rolling bags... And a business traveler brings one.. Let's see, if they paid for and occupy four times as many seats, how exactly is it a problem for them to bring four times as many bags?? They are NOT bringing more than their share. Not to mention they most of them (like me) bring fewer than we are allowed bc my two year old can't pull a suitcase and big backpack through the airport yet.

[b]

You make zero sense. I guess I need to spell it out??

1) Airlinrs charge fees to check bags.
2) Families get around checked bag fees by each bringing a wheelie carryon, that they do not use during flight.
3) Families board first, therefore they get all the overhead bin space.
4) Normal non-rude travellers like me bring a small backpack on the plane, not a giant wheelie bag.
5) Becayse families take up all the bin space, I get to sit for 10hrs with my bag on my lap or where I should have legroom.
6) Never once have I ever seen a family use all their wheelie bags during flight. They bring these bags to save money on checked bags fees.

I hope you can understand now. I put it in very simple terms.

[Anonymous]

You're really that dumb?

My toddlers get their own seats that we pay for but 4 of us bring only a backpack with the kids stuff and one carry on with emergency stuff in case we get delayed or canceled. I've never seen families bringing all ur claiming. who wants to lug all that while trying to manage the kids???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ Give me a break. You are in the minority and you know it. Normally I would thank you but you are way too obnoxious. We are all well aware that with airlines charging fees for baggage, families each bring a wheelie luggage full of crap and then check maybe one bag. Please don't be so dense.

This makes zero sense. So a family of four brings on four rolling bags... And a business traveler brings one.. Let's see, if they paid for and occupy four times as many seats, how exactly is it a problem for them to bring four times as many bags?? They are NOT bringing more than their share. Not to mention they most of them (like me) bring fewer than we are allowed bc my two year old can't pull a suitcase and big backpack through the airport yet.

[b]

You make zero sense. I guess I need to spell it out??

1) Airlinrs charge fees to check bags.
2) Families get around checked bag fees by each bringing a wheelie carryon, that they do not use during flight.
3) Families board first, therefore they get all the overhead bin space.
4) Normal non-rude travellers like me bring a small backpack on the plane, not a giant wheelie bag.
5) Becayse families take up all the bin space, I get to sit for 10hrs with my bag on my lap or where I should have legroom.
6) Never once have I ever seen a family use all their wheelie bags during flight. They bring these bags to save money on checked bags fees.

I hope you can understand now. I put it in very simple terms.

[Anonymous]

I flew United about 4 yrs ago with my 8 mo old and they didn't let us board ahead of time either, even though we were hauling a giant ass carseat with us. Their first class passengers even told the gate agent to let us pre-board and they still refused. Made absolutely no sense to me. DH and I were traveling together, one of us could have boarded and the other waited until everyone was on board and get on last minute with the kid but noooo.

Assholes.

I haven't flown with the kid since but I will consider Virgin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand these nuts who bring car seats onto airplanes.

It won't save your child's life if the plane crashes, you know.

Airline executive here. The FAA and every single air safety expert strongly disagrees with you:

http://www.aviationnews.us/articles.php?art_id=16133&start=1

http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/

[Anonymous]

BTW, airline exec here. I don't work for United. Their whole deal is that they've screwed over their FF so much with the merger, and are so worried about the pilot contracts they have open right now, that they're throwing shit at the wall desperately to see what sticks. This is a bad call. Families who don't fly constantly and bring a carseat on board (which all airlines and the FAA recommend they do) may take up to 10 minutes to get that carseat loaded. Sometimes they need a seat belt extender to get the job done right. So trying to do that quickly while managing a child (if you are flying alone) is very hard. Harder still if someone is wanting to get past you. If you're flying on a small aircraft it is even worse because you may be installing while standing in an aisle. But as I said, United's FF's are pissed off at real things like not being able to ever use FF because of oversold flights and overly restrictive blackouts, and seeing their miles disappear, that the airline thinks they can just push FF's in front of families to make it look like they're doing something to reward FFs. And yes, many FF's are that horrible that they think it's okay to stress out a family so they can board first. Me first, me first, me first. Talk about entitled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand these nuts who bring car seats onto airplanes.

It won't save your child's life if the plane crashes, you know.

Airline executive here. The FAA and every single air safety expert strongly disagrees with you:

http://www.aviationnews.us/articles.php?art_id=16133&start=1

http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/

so if the plane crashes from 30,000 ft or lands in the ocean and everyone dies, the kid in the carseat will live? Hmm. Not buying it. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand these nuts who bring car seats onto airplanes.

It won't save your child's life if the plane crashes, you know.

Airline executive here. The FAA and every single air safety expert strongly disagrees with you:

http://www.aviationnews.us/articles.php?art_id=16133&start=1

http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/

so if the plane crashes from 30,000 ft or lands in the ocean and everyone dies, the kid in the carseat will live? Hmm. Not buying it. Sorry.

Please do everyone the courtesy of not posting until you've read the links. You're an idiot, so feel free not to "buy" it.

[Anonymous]

Fact: most plane crashes have survivable (no, these don't make the news in the same way)
Fact: during severe turbulence, people can be injured or killed - if they are not properly restrained
Fact: (do not read this if you are already using a CRS - I don't mean to depress people for no reason) a former flight attendant has spent her life fighting for CRS requirements on board airplanes after experiencing a plane crash with survivors. Mom survived the flight but her baby did not, because during the landing the child's little body flew around the cockpit and they could not find it to escape before the plane went up in flames. Child's body was later found beneath the seats many rows behind his.

That little factoid has always haunted me. Your arms, no matter how buff you are, can't compete with g-forces.

Buckle up.

[Anonymous]

Gosh, so many things to say about the pp's.

First, when I fly with my kids, I check in everything and take one bag on board with all our crap. We even check the car seat now. So we are not hogging the luggage bins. How the heck would I ever manage to drag my kids, their car seats, and all our bags on board as many pp's have suggested is beyond my comprehension.

Second, we don't just fly once a year on the cheapie flight to Orlando. We prefer nonstops, yes like the business travelers, and we pay a premium for those tickets. $600 for one ticket cross-country, and we buy a seat for each kid. Families do give plenty of profits to United.

Finally, not that I have an ADHD child, but it is a mental health disorder as it is described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM].

[Anonymous]

Who wants to lug four rolling carry-ons, carseats and strollers around an airport? We are a family of five. We check two large bags for the family. DH carries a backpack with the car seat in it; I carry a backpack with the things we'll need for the trip. The older kids carry small backpacks. The only item that goes in the overhead bin is my husband's backpack. The rest of us keep our bags under our seats because we'll need the items during the flight.

Aside from that, perhaps if the airlines didn't charge baggage fees, more people would check their bags?

[Anonymous]

Personally, I wish the airlines would charge people for carrying on those rolling bags. They are huge and take up all of the bin space. Business travelers, the ones who perhaps really don't have time to claim bags, would probably pay it because their employer pays the ticket anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[You make zero sense. I guess I need to spell it out??

1) Airlinrs charge fees to check bags.
2) Families get around checked bag fees by each bringing a wheelie carryon, that they do not use during flight.
3) Families board first, therefore they get all the overhead bin space.
4) Normal non-rude travellers like me bring a small backpack on the plane, not a giant wheelie bag.
5) Becayse families take up all the bin space, I get to sit for 10hrs with my bag on my lap or where I should have legroom.
6) Never once have I ever seen a family use all their wheelie bags during flight. They bring these bags to save money on checked bags fees.

I hope you can understand now. I put it in very simple terms.

And why *shouldn't* families do this? They're being economical. You would be economical if you were spending your own money, too. But business travelers aren't spending their own money, so it doesn't bother them to pay to check a bag. I hope that's simple enough for you to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[You make zero sense. I guess I need to spell it out??

1) Airlinrs charge fees to check bags.
2) Families get around checked bag fees by each bringing a wheelie carryon, that they do not use during flight.
3) Families board first, therefore they get all the overhead bin space.
4) Normal non-rude travellers like me bring a small backpack on the plane, not a giant wheelie bag.
5) Becayse families take up all the bin space, I get to sit for 10hrs with my bag on my lap or where I should have legroom.
6) Never once have I ever seen a family use all their wheelie bags during flight. They bring these bags to save money on checked bags fees.

I hope you can understand now. I put it in very simple terms.

And why *shouldn't* families do this? They're being economical. You would be economical if you were spending your own money, too. But business travelers aren't spending their own money, so it doesn't bother them to pay to check a bag. I hope that's simple enough for you to understand.

OP here. DD is a frequent flyer and any other business traveler will agree with me - these guys are so in a hurry all the time that they'll pack everything they have in those humongous rolling bags PLUS bring their laptop bag in flight because they're always running late for something and they don't want to deal with check in. Also they constantly get their flights changed so they don't want to take a chance to miss the opportunity to get an earlier flight because their stuff is coming on a later flight so they stuff everything into their carry on.

When they board they bring it all with them stuffing everything up on the compartment including their jacket because all they need for the flight is their iPad/iPhone and an earphone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand these nuts who bring car seats onto airplanes.

It won't save your child's life if the plane crashes, you know.

what an idiot. it will save my child me and you in case of violent turbulence. also my child has a place to COMFORTABLY sleep and let you enjoy your silent flight.

Seriously. The FAA recommends carseats for small children: http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/

Many serious injuries have occurred from turbulence.