Preboarding and unloading

[Jsmjeff]

I recently traveled from phx to dtw. Bought upgraded boarding passes for my wife and I. 17 preboarder and their company. We had A5 and A13. By the time we boarded we had to go to the middle of the plane. After the flight we when to luggage,  low and behold one of the preboard passengers had a luggage cart and loaded 2 large suitcases and a full size cooler with no physical problem. Why pay an extra $100 for upgraded boarding. Also when we were unloading the 17 wheelchair attendance were plugging the jet way by turning wheelchairs around in the narrow jet why. May be time to search for a new airline.

[DancingDavidE]

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@Jsmjeff wrote:

I recently traveled from phx to dtw. Bought upgraded boarding passes for my wife and I. 17 preboarder and their company. We had A5 and A13. By the time we boarded we had to go to the middle of the plane. After the flight we when to luggage,  low and behold one of the preboard passengers had a luggage cart and loaded 2 large suitcases and a full size cooler with no physical problem. Why pay an extra $100 for upgraded boarding. Also when we were unloading the 17 wheelchair attendance were plugging the jet way by turning wheelchairs around in the narrow jet why. May be time to search for a new airline.

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A person's disability doesn't have to be physical only. 

If you saw someone using a wheelchair to board and then they were loading the luggage cart that would be suspicious but if the person walked on as a preboard and walked off as a preboard then likely their accommodation wasn't based on a physical disability.

Plugging up the jetway would at least indicate that people were using the chairs on both ends of the flight so at least the system seems to be working in that regard.

It may just be bad luck on this particular PHX-DTW flight that it was popular for people that requested accommodations. That volume of preboards is certainly not my experience. I just had two flights to MSP this weekend that each had one preboard with one companion.

[bballflyer]

No, but let's not pretend that people don't take huge advantage of the policy.  

[Jsmjeff]

That preboarder was in a wheel chair. I fly quite abit from phx to dtw so this is not my first rodeo. At some point I will change airlines.

[floridaguy]

I've been telling Southwest for two years to sell tickets priced based upon the boarding position.  Yes, preboard would still go first but you'd have to at least buy based upon the boarding position.

Now they have a mess and my guess is that they will be gobbled up and become part of another airline.