Early boarding is an airline perk granted to passengers who have either booked a higher fare class or earned status through frequent travel. The same goes for gaining seat upgrades and having the option to change one's flight without penalty.
But the convenience of not having to wait in the bottleneck of passengers putting away their carry-on luggage is hard for many to pass up and so some dishonest people look for workarounds.
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In the last year, both airlines and other travelers have been reporting a spike in the number of people trying to board early either by rushing to the gate before their zone has been called or, in some cases, resorting to outright deception.
Passenger account: 'Guy demands pre-boarding for those who need special assistance'
"I saw it recently while I was getting on a flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, to São Paulo," USA Today's travel columnist Christopher Elliott described earlier this year. "A man with a cane cut to the front of the line, exclaiming, 'I have a cane!' [...while] I wondered why he hadn't pre-boarded with the other passengers with disabilities."
At the boarding gate, agents typically open up pre-boarding to passengers with disabilities, small children or other issues that may require additional assistance — inspiring people to take advantage of the situation since the industry standard is to not question someone's claim of having a disability.
This is the scenario which prompted a traveler to describe on Reddit an incident that occurred on a United Airlines (UAL) flight between Pittsburgh and Chicago a few days ago.
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"Guy demands pre-boarding for those who need special assistance," the writer under the /wrathofthefonz username describes. "No wheelchair but says he he needs special assistance as he just had knee surgery. The gate agent says fine [but then] notices it's an exit row."
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In the U.S., Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) laws require that anyone who is seated in an exit row be older than 15, free of disability that would prevent them from aiding in the opening of the door during an emergency and be able to confirm one's ability to do this in English.
Sitting in an exit row if you have certain disabilities is against the law
Since the traveler admitted to having a disability, a gate agent could not place in him in the exit row that typically comes with extra legroom. He then found himself in a situation in which he had to either admit to having lied about having gone through knee surgery or give up the seat that he had schemed to get.
"Dude changes his tune and indignantly insists he’s fine and can sit in the exit row after all," the Redditor wrote further. "End result: his wife sat in her original seat in the exit row and he got a middle seat in the back."
He also did not get much sympathy on the internet once the fellow United passenger's account went viral with nearly 1,000 upvotes in the /unitedairlines subreddit.
"I think the proper term for a guy like this in Pittsburghese is a 'jag off,'" wrote another Reddit user under the /FlyingSceptile username. "Good on the GA for enforcing rules."
While there is no specific criminal penalty for falsely claiming a disability to board a plane, according to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), which the DOT is responsible for enforcing, there is a risk that the DOT could ban people who lie from flying. In extreme cases DOT or airlines could charge deceitful individuals under fraud laws.
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