I do a lot of business flying. I'm on my second companion pass. Every business flyer to whom i have spoken prefers your old policy of allowing families with children four and under to board first. Knowing where the families with children are sitting allows subsequent passengers to select a seat away from the children if that is their preference. I have seen several unhappy flyers who boarded first and selected the emergency row seats dismayed by having crying babies seated directly in front of or behind them when children board at the end of the Group A.
Your new policy of boarding by numbers within the A, B, and C categories unintentionally disadvantages your best customers, those flying with a person on a companion pass or a rapid rewards ticket. The companion pass and rapid reward ticket holder must have a separate confirmation number from the primary flyer. By the time you log in a second confirmation number for the companion several numbers within the category have been issued resulting in the primary flyer and the companion being in separate boarding numerical groups. Your policy should be amended to allow the companion to board with the primary flyer, even though their number may be a little higher.
I recently used my companion pass and 6 rapid rewards tickets to fly the family from Sacramento to Orlando and return. Even though we started the boarding pass log in process exactly 24 hours prior to departure the family was separated because each person had their own confirmation number and other numbers were assigned between each log in.
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