This weekend my wife & i are off to see my Mom for Mothers Day weekend.  Mom & Pop moved from Indiana to Arizona after he retired.  They found a nice house in a Del Webb community outside Phoenix and made a home there.  Lots of friends, heck – my parents never met a stranger, and lots of involvement in their new community.  So, it’s off to the airport tomorrow morning and returning after a very fast weekend.

Being a frugal flyer, we are flying the airline that doesn’t charge for baggage.  You probably know which one I’m talking about.  They make a huge deal about not paying for baggage.  But ya’ know what they do instead?  They charge you $10 for the right to cut to the front of the boarding line.

In order to get on their flight, you need a boarding pass.  These passes are also used to get everyone in numerical order for boarding.  The lower the number you have, the better your seat selection.  You can get your pass on-line starting 24 hours before your flight and not a second sooner.  Unless, and here’s the $10 fee, you are willing to pay and extra $10 per ticket to get your boarding pass early.

I was on line and logged in exactly 24 hours (to the second) before our flight.  I know because I started attempting to get the boarding passes 2 minutes early.  You keep hitting the submit key, they keep saying “Too Soon” until it’s the exact right time.  I got the 53rd and 54th boarding passes.  52 people were willing to spend the extra $10.  I thought about paying the extra, and I am glad I didn’t!  Imagine paying $10 and getting the 52nd boarding pass, kinda like getting cheated really.

What makes the whole early boarding pass thing funny to me is something that my dad taught me.  Doesn’t matter where you set, everyone arrives at the same time!

Personally, I’m gonna take that $40 dollars and treat Mom to a nice dinner to celebrate her efforts in raising 3 son’s.   Considering the raw material she started with, she really deserves to have an extra zero tacked on to that amount.  But don’t say anything about that to the airline……