Flying With Kids: Can I Pre-Board With My Child?

Child Pre-boarding Guidelines for Airlines

“We’ll now pre-board anyone needing extra help and parents traveling with small children.”

Before my son came along, these words didn’t really mean much to me - I knew and assumed there were other passengers who should hop on the plane and get to their seats before the rest of us crowded the plane and boarded. Pretty simple.

Fast forward to becoming a parent traveling with our infant son for the first time and waiting for the pre-boarding announcement and… crickets.  The American Airlines plane boarded first class, elite flyers and then proceeded to go group-by-group with the rest of the plane. The ‘Group 5’ on our boarding pass meant we would be waiting a while and head to our seat, infant in tow, with the rest of the crowd. Turns out it’s inconsistent

According to its website, American Airlines says that “Families with children under 2 years old can ask to board early at the gate.”    

JetBlue, on the other hand (which, by the way, shows traveling parents some love on their website)  does, indeed pre-board, which helped quite a bit on our recent trip to Mexico with a 15-month old in tow.

As it turns out, each airline has a different policy for boarding with kids, I’ve added the latest info we have below (as of March 2019 per the airline site and our experience) - but let us know if you have an update or experienced something different than what I’ve outlined below:

US Domestic Airlines

Airline	Policy	Site Link
Alaska Airlines	Pre-boarding for families with children under the age of 2	Our Boarding Process
​American Airlines	​No specific pre-boarding; Families with children under 2 years old can ask to board early at the gate.	​Traveling With Children
Frontier Airlines	Families can board directly after Zone 1/ Priority boarding	Families First
JetBlue	Pre-boarding for families with children under the age of 2	Traveling with Kids
United Airlines	Pre-boarding for families traveling with children age 2 and younger	Boarding Process
Southwest	An adult traveling with a child six years old or younger may board during Family Boarding, which occurs after the “A” group has boarded and before the “B” group begins boarding.	Boarding the Plane: FAQ

International Airlines

Airline	Policy	Link
Air Canada	Board after Zone 2 and before “General Boarding” ​	Boarding by Zone
British Airways	Our experience on BA was that we needed to ask the staff proactively to board early. Per their site: “We invite families with infants under two and young children in pushchairs to board first, so that you and your family can settle in. Please get to the gate at least 40 minutes before departure so that you are ready to board and we have enough time to load your pushchair in the hold.”	Boarding
Emirates	​Emirates says on their site that they ‘make sure families board first’  (Bonus: they also have special family check-in desks at Dubai Int’l Airport!)	Traveling with Children
Etihad	Families with young children are invited to board first.   Oh, and they have a Flying Nanny! Definitely helps with those 10+ hour flights.	Family Travel
Iberia	Families with children can board just after Priority, in Group A	Boarding Procedure
Japan Airlines	‘Step 1’ Pre Boarding for families with small children, they recommend contacting a staff member if you wish to preboard ​	Boarding Sequence
Lufthansa	No specific information available - please let us know your experience!	N/A
Qatar Airways	Priority boarding for parents traveling with children.  They also offer a ton of amenities for kids for their long flights - check out their site!	Children on Board
Qantas	No specific information available - please let us know your experience! ​	N/A
Singapore Airlines	No specific information available - please let us know your experience! ​​Value	N/A
Swiss Air	No specific information available - please let us know your experience! ​​	N/A
TAP Portugal	Our experience both from US--> Europe and within Europe was that we had to ask to board early; no specific info on their site	​N/A