pre boarding rules (2024)

FAQs

What conditions qualify for preboarding? ›

"As a carrier, you must offer preboarding to passengers with a disability who self-identify at the gate as needing additional time or assistance to board, stow accessibility equipment, or be seated."

By federal law, anyone who claims a need to pre board must be allowed to pre board. That's it.

Preboarding is the period of time between an employee accepting their job offer and their first day. Essentially, it's a subsection of the overarching onboarding process.

Preboarding is the step before onboarding, when new hires get to meet the organization and take care of some bureaucratic details before their first day. The preboarding process usually covers simple things: tax forms, health declarations, insurance paperwork, and anything else that can be handled over email.

A Customer Service Agent at the ticket or departure gate counter can help with this accommodation, and you'll be asked questions to determine if you qualify. You'll receive a new boarding pass marked with PRBD if you qualify, which lets the Operations Agent at boarding know that you can preboard.

All U.S. carriers and gate agents should aware of the preboarding rules, but if you have a disability such that you need extra time or assistance to board, have self-identified this need at the gate (ideally ~30 minutes or more before boarding) and are denied the opportunity to preboard (or preboarding occurs after ...

Can the air carrier require me to provide proof of my disability? An air carrier must not require any kind of proof as a condition for the provision of transportation, except in some very limited circ*mstances.

There are zero qualifications for pre-boarding other than needing extra time, so in essence anyone could just walk up to the gate, claim they need extra time, and get on the plane. Yes, they aren't supposed to but some gate agents do make snarky comments if you're a person that does not look disabled.

While onboarding is the process of welcoming and introducing a new employee to the organization, pre-boarding is the period invested with the new hire even before that. Pre-boarding is the time that starts when an employee accepts the job offer to the first day at his job.

How long does pre-boarding last? ›

Preboarding is typically short, but the specific length can vary. Since it encompasses the period between a job offer and the start day, it could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. It depends on when the new hire accepts the offer and when they actually start working.

Think about it this way: preboarding is the stage between the day the candidate signs a new job offer and their first day on the job. Onboarding starts on that first day going forward. We've talked about this elsewhere, including in the 30-60-90 day onboarding framework – download our ebook on that now!

Some Customers with disabilities may preboard at the very beginning of the boarding process prior to general boarding. Preboarding is available for Customers with disabilities who need a specific seat to accommodate a disability, need assistance boarding the aircraft, or need to stow an assistive device.

Preboarding starts right after a successful job offer is accepted by the candidate, continuing until their first day at work. This interactive phase acts as a bridge between recruitment and actual onboarding, enhancing employee engagement and preparing new hires for their roles.

So what exactly is pre-boarding? While onboarding is the process of introducing a new employee to your company and their role after they start, pre-boarding is any engagement that happens during the time period between a signed offer letter and an employee's first day at your company.

purchasing a higher fare class (first class, business class, etc.); having a co-branded credit card with the airline that offers priority boarding as a perk; being a corporate traveler with an eligible travel agreement with the airline, etc.