@floridaguy wrote:
I am really focusing on two of Southwest's policies and would like to know if people have observed them either following or not following the policies:
FAMILY BOARDING
CARRY ON ITEMS - TYPE AND COUNT
My last several flights lately involved me boarding somewhere in the A-Group; since Family Boarding occurs in between the A and B Groups, I have not been able to observe the process to give my input but I assume the gate CSA's do a decent job of ensuring the policy is followed whenever a family approaches the desk as I see the young kids and their parents entering the plane shortly after I sit down. I've never seen a major issue occur in this area.
Regarding Carry-on (1 Bag + 1 Personal Item), this is announced at the gate and I hear the policy just about for every trip. I've seldom seen persons try to board with 3 separate items. However, I noticed that these rules are enforced especially for full flights when the overhead bin space can fill up. FA's will announce and advise passengers aboard full flights to stow the small carry-on bags under the seat and not in the overhead bin. For non-full flights, I don't see this emphasized; however, FA's will still advise and enforce passengers to not stow anything on an empty seat.
On footnote: There was a case that I observed where the flight was full and a passenger ahead of me in the boarding line attempted to bring a hard carry-on suitcase that had dimensions that exceeded the maximum allowed for a carry-on. The CSA's caught this and the passenger was asked to place the bag in the sizing bin and was asked to gate-check it before passing through for boarding.
