My family and I flew from Orlando to Laguardia on Sunday Dec 30. I have three young children; 3 year old twins and a 2 year old baby. Our flight was delayed nearly one hour that day so my young children were restless and tired from waiting for the flight to leave. I asked the gate attendant behind the counter if we would be able to board a bit earlier with the folks in wheelchairs since we had two strollers and was hoping that we would be offered some consideration for the difficulty my wife and I would have in boarding with our three carry-ons and three children.

Unfortunately, the AirTran gate attendant did not agree that we merited any such consideration and asked us to wait in line till our zone was called.

While waiting in line to board the plane, two of my children began to cry since we had to take them out of their strollers while they were half asleep. The gate attendant, who was the same woman that had refused my earlier request, appeared more annoyed than helpful.

When I handed all five of our boarding passes to her, for some unknown reason she refused to take them, stating that each individual had to hand her their passes separately.

I think it is completely outrageous to expect toddlers to stand on line and hand in boarding passes individually not to mention the inconvenience to the other passengers who had to wait while we explained the process to the children.

Considering not only our time, but the additional unnecessary delay & frustration to the rest of the flight's passengers, this represents the height of unprofessionalism and pettiness by your employee. With so many alternatives to your airline, I will be actively discouraging friends, colleagues and acquaintances from flying AirTran.

(By the way, the gate attendant is the gal who worked at Orlando airport at gate 97 between 2PM and 4 PM on Dec 30, 2007. I wish I had her name so I could post it as well)