Shame on you, Southwest! Part 1

I fly a lot!  Most of our family lives 900+ miles away so we fly to see them.  I've also been to California 7 times in the past 2 years to see Daron.

Since becoming a parent 6.5 years ago, I have flown at least 2-3 times a year.  So each of my four kids has flown as a "lap child" close to 5 times during the first 2 years of their life.  4 kids x 5 round trip tickets x 2 check-in per flight = 40 check-ins with one of my kids as a lap child!

What is a "lap child?"

A lap child is any child under the age of 2 that is flying for free.  They are not assigned a seat, instead they travel on your lap.

I believe I have checked in with a lap child close to 40 times in 6.5 years.  Never, have I ever had any issues with this.

Well, last week Friday we were traveling on Southwest/Airtran.  Victor had checked in all of our luggage and the three kids.  He went to park the car, then I went to check Kyle and myself in, before going through security (all 4 kids were with me).

When I printed my ticket, I realized that the infant wasn't marked on my ticket.  So, I went to the nearest gate agent and asked if they would add him to my ticket.

Normally, I would have done that on my own, but you can't do this online when booking through Southwest (at least I couldn't figure it out) and with the chaos of my brother dying and traveling to Kansas a few days earlier to visit my Grandma who had a stroke,  I had forgotten to call and add him to my seat.

Anyway, I get to the counter and the gate agent refused to add him to my ticket because I didn't have his birth certificate.

I fly with my kids, a lot!  This was the first time (unless we were traveling internationally) that I had ever been asked for any kind of ID for my kids.

When I asked why she needed that she said it was Southwest's policy for all lap infants.  The reason for the policy is to verify that the lap infant is indeed under two!  I looked at her, and then looked at the 7 month old, non-crawling baby, in my arms and asked if there was anyway she could make an exception.

She said no, and calmly said, " You just need to run home and get the birth certificate."

I explained that I live 90 minutes from the airport and can not possibly "run home and get his birth certificate" and make it back for my flight that was leaving in 70 minutes.

She shrugged and said, "Well, you could buy him a seat without any ID but this flight is oversold, so you'll just have to go home and get his birth certificate."

I again explained that wasn't possible as I live a long way from the airport.  I then told her, that while I understand the policy, I was still hoping she'd make an exception, as it is very obvious my non-mobile 7 month old is under two.  I also explained to her that I was not taking a vacation, I needed to get home for my 31 year old brother's funeral.

She stared back at me and again suggested I go home and get his birth certificate.

A little exasperated I stepped away and tried to think of an alternate plan.  I thought of a few options that might work...
1) Take all four kids through security and hope the security agent doesn't stop me without the infant tag on my ticket
2) Call southwest and have them add Kyle to my ticket over the phone, which is done without ID, and then print my boarding pass out again.  (I could do this since I didn't check luggage.)
3) Since this is only a Southwest policy and I was actually flying on an Airtran plane (although booked through Southwest), I asked them to reissue my ticket through Airtan.  They refused.

I was really short of time and hopeful I could still convince the ticket agent to make an exception so I didn't try the security option.  I did call southwest but accidentally hung up before getting on the "call-back" list.

Out of ideas, I asked to talk to the manager.  They called her and then I waited and waited and waited.  After 5-10 minutes of quiet, but anxious waiting, my ticket agent who had stepped away from the counter came over to me and held a paper up in my face.   She explained, "Here's a copy of Southwest's policy regarding "lap infants."    I was so irritated when she did that, I shouted at her saying, "I understand the policy, I am asking you to make an exception to it!"

That's when the "helpful" supervisor showed up.  She had apparently told the gate agent to show me a copy of their policy.   She had no intention of helping us get on the flight and was even less helpful after I got frustrated when the gate agent help up a copy of the policy in front of my face.

I did immediately apologize for getting frustrated and explained the situation to her.  She would not budge.  In fact, when I pulled up a copy of my brother's obituary online (in case she thought I was making up the story), she put her hand on top of my phone and said, "I'm not interested in your story."

I then asked her if she would be able to sleep okay that night when she knew what terrible distress she was adding to an already terrible situation.  She looked me in the eye and said, " I sleep just fine."  Haha!

At that point, it was clear we were not going to get on that flight.  There were no flights, with 5 seats available, anytime in the next 24 hours.   The next flight with one seat open wouldn't leave for another 24 hours.

So, with no other option available, we canceled our flights.  Of course, all of our luggage and 4 car seats were on the plane already.  Helpful supervisor said we wouldn't get them back until the next day.  I looked her straight in the eye and said, "Well, then we won't be able to leave the airport until tomorrow so I suggest you let us on the flight or hurry up and get our luggage."   She got the car seats and luggage off the plane. 

We reloaded 4 carseats, 3 bags, 4 kids and 2 adults and drove a total of 1810 miles round trip.  We missed a nice, private family dinner that had been arranged for Friday night, but did get there in time for the funeral.

I am now aware of Southwest's policy but disagree with parts of it and am hoping, maybe, somehow I can get them to change their policy so no other family is forced to drive close to 2000 miles or miss an important event because they weren't aware of the policy.


Part 2 click HERE...