When you’re a parent, you’d understand immediately the need to pre-board small kids. For us, avoiding the crowds keeps our kiddo in his happy place. He stays excited and not anxious, which crowds sometimes does for him. He gets to explore a near empty plane and gets to speak with the FAs, which he loves. For us parents, it helps us get all his “keep him happy stuff” out of bags and ready for use, without having to worry about holding up the line or accidentally nailing someone in the face.

My kids were fine flying as long as the plane was moving! I always boarded as late as possible when they were small.

Boils down to preference. We like to get our son situated and comfortable before the flight starts. As well as get all of our go-tos for him where we need them etc. Some parents like to wait til the end, it’s just really preference and what their child needs or doesn’t need.

It’s carryons, but also, it just takes longer to get settled with wee ones, especially if you need to install a car seat on the plane. That’s a whole THING 😂

I presume it’s that they assume people with young kids need the extra time to get everyone settled and comfortable? We always divide and conquer, send one person ahead with the hand luggage and to set up the kid seats - keep another back in the terminal to wear out the kids in an open space as long as possible.

It’s so the strollers can be loaded in cargo. Same with wheelchairs

There’s been testing hey proved it’s not faster to board from the back. It was tested again during Covid & again proven to not be faster because people start stowing luggage in the front & then front passengers have to still go to the back to find room for luggage

Maybe for safety purposes. So the families can be together and child not getting trampled by people with all their stuff and not looking

It’s easier to get everyone and everything settled before the plane is filling up and chaotic. In our situation we also bring a car seat and I hate installing it after the aisle seat is already filled. 😅 Oh and our kids do better when they have time to transition vs boarding and then leaving soon after. Lots of reasons but ultimately I think it depends on each family’s individual needs

I let mine run around. The airport and like the extra time to organize while she could check out the joint without the pressure of a line. Everyone’s kids are different though. It’s good to have the option.