I don’t follow TMZ, and didn’t know who Scott Disick was. But I do now.
Kourtney Kardashian’s boyfriend flies Southwest.
He’s apparently the worst kind of gate lice, instead of waiting to board he tries to bribe the gate agents to let him on first and shoves ahead of families with small children. (Maybe he got confused and thought he was on United, thinking he had purchased ‘premier for a day’..?)
His representative, howver, denies both the bribe and pushing ahead of the kids. But his representative lacks credibility, also claiming that the Chicago-Midway to Islip flight was diverted to Detroit, which didn’t happen.
And yet for some reason Southwest reserved an exit row seat, and no F16s were scrambled.
The headline is incorrect. Families with small children don’t even line up until after all 60 A positions have boarded. He must have had a B or C if he was trying to pass a lady with 2 small kids. He could have offered the bribe before boarding started, but if so the story is scrambled. Probably he tried to join the family “mid-boarding” after A60. That would have gotten him an aisle seat but definitely not the exit row that the FA saved for him.
FWIW, I’ve never seen this happen in some 1200 short-haul flights on Southwest. I thought the “Do You Know Who I Am?” syndrome appeared mostly on carriers that have the first class seats those people crave.
You should try Southwest’s sequential boarding process even before you become famous. It’s quite civilized compared to Zone boarding scrums. Line jumping attempts are pretty rare these days. Ops agents are audited to ensure they enforce the numerical order reasonably well.
“‘Yes, a flight lady did save him an exit row because she was a fan. ”
“flight lady?” seriously? He and his rep appear to be schmucks. I’ve never heard of the guy until now, but I do wonder how many of those Kardashians there are. I still don’t know what they’re famous for.
Cattle Call boarding civilized? Hardly. It’s a very unpleasant process. Of course elite boarding on legacy carriers is a lot nicer, but even when I lacked status boarding somewhat at my leisure with my seat already reserved was much, much more enjoyable than the WN cattle call. I really don’t get the appeal of being queued up in a corral and unleashed onto the plane to claim whatever seat you can get. I don’t want the quality of my seat assignment predicated on arriving at the gate early and spending more time in a metal tube.
Zone boarding is plenty orderly and efficient, and lets you hang back if you’re not carrying on baggage and still want a reasonable seat.
Considering Southwest offers Business Select with faster security line and A-list boarding for $20 beyond the price of their standard fare, his sin was not really cutting in line, but rather not understanding how to pay to do it, which he could have done online or at the checkin counter or kiosk. I am not too outraged that a celebrity got confused about payment protocol. If someone on a southwest flight wants to pay the gate agent $20 for priority boarding ahead of me I can deal with it, since I think if they just want that feature alone they could have got it for $10 online.
Being totally honest, the whole families get to board first is pure BS. I had a child, so i’m better than you. Especially all of you who fly often and give the airline far more money than I ever will.
Yeah. I LOVE families.
There is a whole lot of confusion here on WN and its boarding process. If you guys want to know the facts, come to the WN forum on Flyertalk.
I disagree on the family rant. If a family has young children with a stroller, car seat, etc. it takes them a little more time to get on board and settled. Allowing them to board early reduces the stress level for everyone – you don’t get pissed off because they are blocking the aisle and the parents don’t feel over-pressured to shove their kids and gear into place to prevent being trampled by the horde. Potentially, because the kids haven’t been subjected to such stress, their behavior might be a little better on the flight. It’s just a nice common courtesy like allowing the wheelchairs to board first.
Notice that I qualified my statement about families – if your kids are 4-5 years old or more, walking and carrying their stuff just fine, then you can board in the regular cattle call like everyone else.
If you never took a flight with a pair of kids under 3, it might be hard to understand. Before I became a parent, I might have shared your view, but having gone through this flight experience several times, I get it and am thankful for the airlines that have such policies (even though it wouldn’t matter for me because I have top elite status in Star and SkyTeam). And I’ve always had my wife with me to help…which means I certainly have the utmost respect now for those poor single moms who have 2-3 kids in tow.
@Matt–I don’t fly Southwest much, but I’m pretty certain that your seat assignment has nothing to do with how early you show up to the gate. Your boarding pass has a letter and number on it, and that’s your spot in line. This number/letter is based on factors like fare purchases (business select etc), whether you have “A-list” status, and check-in time.
In fact, I think it goes a long long way toward eliminating the gate lice problem you see on legacy carriers. With Southwest, there is absolutely no reason to crowd the gate 20 minutes before boarding, because your exact place in line has already been determined.
Tenmoc: Families do deserve some priority, especially on an airline like Southwest with no assigned seating. What do you think will happen if a family with small kids boards towards the end? Do you really want to have a 4-year-old in the middle seat next to you, with mom/dad in a middle seat 12 rows to the back?
Impatience, Singles with no understanding/compassion for parents with young kids in arms/tow, general lack of social graces are screaming out from the above posts, and are a digression from the OP’s rant. Road rage on way to the airport is followed by Flyer’s rage at the gate in all its glory? Does all this really matter in the grand scheme of things?
Ok, Gary, I totally heart you for your informative entertaining blog ANY day of the week, but your ‘gate lice’ reference had me doubled over with laughter. Scott Dicksik (I meant Disick) is completely entirely and wholeheartedly gate lice, and overall just a self entitled moronic infant in a three piece suit. Props for calling him out on it. Keep up the great work!
WOw I wonder if other airlines have these “flight ladies” that his rep spoke of! I barely know who the Kardashians are and have no idea why they’re famous…never heard of this guy before but judging by his pic and behavior, he strikes me as quite the d-bag.
If he thinks that he’s so big, rich and important, what’s he doing flying on WN anyway?
Kim Kardashian has a very large “behind”. Not a pretty woman at all, which proves that the “distribution” process of fame is out-of-whack.
Scott Dicksick on Southwest? I wonder how much debt Ms. Kardashian is really in….happily ever after…..LOL
Complaining about someone else trying a ‘bribe’ after you just posted how you slipped the agent a $100 bill at the Bellagio to get a suite is a strange contradiction.
@Andrew: Time arriving at the gate can affect your seating selection on WN. Assuming you check in early or otherwise get a low number, you still need to be at the gate and in line in order to board when you are slotted and claim your seat. If I have no express need to be on-board early I have no desire to arrive at the gate prior to boarding commencing, and no desire to board until late in the process. If I have a carryon and the flight is full, I might board a bit earlier.
I normally fly Delta. I routinely arrive at the gate after boarding has commenced – typically around the start of zone-3 boarding. If I did this on WN, I would not be able to secure a “good” seat, regardless of checkin time, status, or fare paid.
While at this point I normally use my status to bypass the line and DYKWIA through the “Sky Priority” lane, I used the same approach prior to gaining access to that option. I find this far more enjoyable than the WN approach. I have no pressure to get to the gate before boarding starts, no pressure to board early just to get a decent seat if I don’t want to, and my personally-selected seat waiting for me whenever I choose to board.
WN forces everyone to be a gate louse. The procedure may reduce traditional gate louse behavior like crowding the immediate boarding area, but if forces you to be at the gate on their schedule, rather than yours, if you want a decent seat.
@HUB Flyer context matters, and I didn’t ‘complain’ I thought it was silly, and as others pointed out he could have actually paid for the better boarding group.
@Gary,
You’re telling me Kim Kardashian’s bo has to “pay” to fly on……wait a minute……Southwest?
ED.
@Matt:
“Assuming you check in early or otherwise get a low number, you still need to be at the gate and in line in order to board when you are slotted and claim your seat. If I have no express need to be on-board early I have no desire to arrive at the gate prior to boarding commencing, and no desire to board until late in the process…
I normally fly Delta. I routinely arrive at the gate after boarding has commenced – typically around the start of zone-3 boarding. If I did this on WN, I would not be able to secure a “good” seat, regardless of checkin time, status, or fare paid.”
There is no “lineup” beforehand at WN. It is not 2003 any more. They call for A1-30 for example, and you can stand up from your seat 10 seconds before walking onto the plane, in your assigned place on your BP.
WN doesn’t take all day to board the way DL does. If you routinely arrive that late to the gate with WN, you will miss a lot of flights.
@Toomanybooks:
My experiences with WN are in the past couple of years, so I’m not basing my statements on an outdated idea of the WN boarding process, unless something has changed in the past month. If you’re not at the gate and ready to go when they board your group, you’re getting worse seat availability. If you’re not in line when they board your group, you’re getting worse seat availability. Sure sounds like a lineup to me.
If I don’t have motivation to get on the plane ASAP, I’d rather spend the time elsewhere and board late. WN forces you to have that motivation, which I do not enjoy at all. If I board early, I want it to be by choice.
I don’t fly WN much as I dislike the experience, but my recollection is that they (quite reasonably) start boarding before the cutoff in their contract of carriage they give for requiring you to be at the gate (and what I see online of others’ estimates matches up with this), at least when they’re boarding the whole plane. Thus showing up around that time, as I am wont to do, would result in not always being able to board with the early group.
I haven’t noticed drastic differences in boarding time, other than on bigger DL planes. Sure, there’s some difference, but the process is more civilized and you’ve got a choice on how long you want to be stuck in the aluminum tube. I’ll take that tradeoff any day of the week, even if I didn’t have status on Delta. With status, there’s no comparison.
How do I become a Kardashien?
Willing to bribe 🙂