Priority Boarding led to threats of violence to me from another passenger

[rockyroad]

I can't find that this is always true. It does seem true for pre-boarding on single class airlines or for airlines that do not have elite priority boarding lanes. But for every airline I can find that offers an elite boarding lane, non elite pax with children or other pax with special needs get priority in the general boarding lanes.

My son was 6 weeks old when he did his first RTW. By the time his sister came along and they both grew out of the ankle bitter stage, we missed many a pre boarding call due to not well timer "nappy change toilet run". My kids grew up in airplanes and airports, so they got accustomed to delays and we always had something for them to do. Even so, kids like to move about and are not good standing still or moving slowly in a line. Airlines know this and normally try get them to the front of the boarding queue and into their seats with a "goodie package" as soon as they can.

I have flown FJ, on the Syd/Lax/Syd route in J quite a few time, so I do know what boarding in Fiji can be like. As a +3 million mile FFer, who at one time was not a WP and flew with 2 children, I do know what standing in a slowly moving boarding line with cranky kids can be like. Gotta say that if 20 or so paxs cut into the line ahead of me, well I would probably have been a bit upset. Good boarding line management should have seen those with children pulled out of the line and given what was needed to get them seated and settled on the aircraft as soon as possible. Lets trust your letter to FJ will help them to manage the boarding process with a little bit more attention to paxs with children and other special needs.

BTW it does not matter if there is one child or 50, they should board first.

 

[medhead]

Sorry I've read the OP a couple of times and I don't get anything about cutting into a queue. What's read is that the OP cut through 2 queues to get to the 3rd empty line. So I can't see the point in getting onto our high horses about this cutting in thing.

Perhaps, the OP could confirm or deny my interpretation?

 

[Hvr]

M

BTW it does not matter if there is one child or 50, they should board first.

Why? To commence the sense of overblown and unwarranted sense of entitlement they'll never grow out of?

Priority boarding should be reserved for passengers travelling in premium cabins and with status. If children meet those criterion then join the queue, otherwise wait your turn.

 

[straitman]

BTW it does not matter if there is one child or 50, they should board first.

From my experience on that flight you have now given half the aircraft (or possibly more) priority boarding.

Not a practical option IMHO.

 

[bossreggie]

From my experience on that flight you have now given half the aircraft (or possibly more) priority boarding.

Not a practical option IMHO.

Absolutely right Bill!

 

[Austman]

Lets trust your letter to FJ will help them to manage the boarding process with a little bit more attention to paxs with children and other special needs.

BTW it does not matter if there is one child or 50, they should board first.

My letter to FJ hopes that they will implement boarding processes so that passengers who are entitled to use the advertised and sign posted Express Lane that FJ offers to "Tabua Club and Business Class Passengers Only" can do so safely without the risk of physical violence from other passengers.

There is no excuse for a passenger to use their child or their possible state of pregnancy as the reason for their threats of violence to another passenger (eg to 'deck' them unconscious) who was just following FJ's signs.

No excuse. None. Zero.

 

[Austman]

From my experience on that flight you have now given half the aircraft (or possibly more) priority boarding.

Not a practical option IMHO.

Quite right and probably the main reason why FJ has the Express Lane. So that status pax can avoid all the families with kids!

 

[rockyroad]

From my experience on that flight you have now given half the aircraft (or possibly more) priority boarding.

Not a practical option IMHO.

Not practical? If half the flight paxs were families with young children, then that was what would happen. Guys, if those children were at the gate when the "families with young children" boarding announcement is made, are you saying that it is OK for 1 or 2 to board first but 50 children boarding first is too much? :shock:

Airlines set the boarding rules and families with young children or pax with special needs are given priority and board first.

 

[rockyroad]

Quite right and probably the main reason why FJ has the Express Lane. So that status pax can avoid all the families with kids!

Are you saying FJ should not give priority boarding rights to families with young children or other paxs with special needs? If you agree that families with young children and paxs with special needs do have priority boarding rights (as they do) given to them by the airline, then why do you think they can't use the priority boarding lane?

 

[Moody]

From my experience on that flight you have now given half the aircraft (or possibly more) priority boarding.

Not a practical option IMHO.

So pre-boarding of families with young children should be limited to the first 10 only? Or should that be the youngest 10? Or is there another criteria you can think of?

For Qantas the convention is "If travelling with infants and young children, you will be invited to board the aircraft before other passengers whenever possible." I think most airlines have a similar policy - even Ryanair.

It doesn't say "before economy passengers" so it is possible that the man assumed he had equal rights to the queue as the poster and got hot under the collar. Doesn't excuse threatening language, but sometimes it's not worth maintaining the status highground

 

[rockyroad]

My letter to FJ hopes that they will implement boarding processes so that passengers who are entitled to use the advertised and sign posted Express Lane that FJ offers to "Tabua Club and Business Class Passengers Only" can do so safely without the risk of physical violence from other passengers.

There is no excuse for a passenger to use their child or their possible state of pregnancy as the reason for their threats of violence to another passenger (eg to 'deck' them unconscious) who was just following FJ's signs.

No excuse. None. Zero.

Of course the threat of violence was a bad value call by the father holding his tired child. Likewise it was also a bad value call to cut in front of a pax that you did not know if they had or not the right to be in that line. Two wrongs do not make a right.

I would add that he wanted to get on the aircraft as quickly as he could so he would be able to get his tired child in their seat and settled down. You needed to get on the aircraft quickly so your carry on would be in the locker above your seat. Might I ask if you have ever travelled with a tired child?

 

[samiam]

Might I ask if you have ever travelled with a tired child?

No thank goodness - and not likely to

 

[medhead]

Are you saying FJ should not give priority boarding rights to families with young children or other paxs with special needs? If you agree that families with young children and paxs with special needs do have priority boarding rights (as they do) given to them by the airline, then why do you think they can't use the priority boarding lane?

Your getting very confused between pre-boarding and priority boarding. Simply put the families cannot use the priority lane as that is for business passengers not pre-boarding of young children and those needing assistance. You also seem to extend young children to include all children. Wrong. I haven't preboarded since my youngest child turned 3.

Of course the threat of violence was a bad value call by the father holding his tired child. Likewise it was also a bad value call to cut in front of a pax that you did not know if they had or not the right to be in that line. Two wrongs do not make a right.

First it is not clear that the OP cut in front. As I read it they were moving through the queues to get to the empty priority lane. Second consider the order, the threat was the second wrong here. So you are absolutely correct the threat of violence did not make the situation right.

 

[Austman]

For Qantas the convention is "If travelling with infants and young children, you will be invited to board the aircraft before other passengers whenever possible." I think most airlines have a similar policy - even Ryanair.

This is incorrect for airlines that have priority boarding lines. It is also incorrect for Ryanair.

Likewise it was also a bad value call to cut in front of a pax that you did not know if they had or not the right to be in that line. Two wrongs do not make a right.

You keep saying this. I did not do anything wrong. I was initially in a long line when I saw the other business class passengers up near the GA on the other side of another line. Then I saw the Express Lane for "Tabua Club and Business Class Passengers Only" sign beside them. So I left my position in the line - went through the line beside me (saying 'excuse me, please') and went to the sign. I thought there would be another separate lane there (as was the case at security and migration). But FJ had either forgotten to create one or had decided not to have a physically separate lane. I had already given up my position in the first line and didn't see why I'd have to go back to the end again. So I followed the example of the other business class passengers and cut-in with the explanation that I was using the "Tabua Club and Business Class Passengers Only" benefit as per the sign (which was now right beside me). The other pax simply could have said they were also Tabua Club or Business Class, and I would have gone behind them. But they didn't say that and they weren't Tabua Club or Business Class. And according the the FJ staff I spoke to, I did the right thing.

 

[straitman]

Maybe it is time to rethink the topic a little.

The discussion 'was' about being threatened by another passenger but has wandered around quite a few variations of this. The argument has wandered between pre-boarding 'entitlements' and 'priority' boarding entitlements, who is entitled to what and who's fault it is.

To me it looks like there are a few who are defending the moral high ground and a few others who are simply being argumentative because they are able. Whilst everyone is entitled to their opinion it would be 'nice' to contain the argument/discussion within the original topic.

 

[drron]

Pre boarding for infants and young children is fine and should be encouraged.
But how do you define young?
And if a group of 10+ pax have 1 infant should all of them get pre boarding?
In LOTFAP basically all the legacy airlines have abandoned pre boarding for infants.I did ask an AA gate agent when travelling with an infant grandchild why is it so.The answer-because it was abused.I know UA and DL also do not have pre-boarding for infants.

However this case has nothing to do with pre boarding.Boarding had commenced.Priority queue is for priority pax-status or cabin.It is not for green eyed pax who cant/wont pay for cabin or status.The problem is that some airlines do not police their own rules.You cant blame it on the individual pax trying to get their entitlements.

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

I have often watched Singapore crew refusing pax in the priority lanes and sending them back to the correct line. If they can do it why not
the others - although I am not unhappy to allow families with young children (and I mean Young ) to board first, but this does not excuse threats
of violence under any circumstance.
The same threat to Cabin Crew would have this passenger banned ! and possibly locked up !!!!

 

[Austman]

Might I ask if you have ever travelled with a tired child?

While I think the question (and my reply!) is a bit beside the point, the answer is Yes. 10 days earlier on my flight SYD-NAN.

The mum and baby were seated beside me in 1J (I was in 1K). Mum was on a work paid ticket and dad was back in Y. The mum told me that ticket sales had said the baby was too old for the bassinet. But the baby seemed small so I said let's ask the crew and see what that say. The mum was too scared to ask. The crew thought it fine, so after the seat belt sign went out we had this scene :

 

[tuapekastar]

The OP appears to have done nothing wrong. While I was not there, it appears FJ was at fault (and I imagine they're hardly Robinson Crusoe among airlines in this regard) for not having had clearly marked and enforced priority boarding lane(s). They should never put their supposedly valued J class pax in the position of having to cut in or past anyone (not saying that's what the OP did either). It's laziness, poor organisation and penny-pinching by the airline in question (and maybe whoever runs the airport has also contributed to the difficulties).

I'm not sure why young children/infants have pre-boarding, but if that's what they have, then pre-boarding it is. Once general boarding has commenced then pre-boarding is over and it's back to 'normal' rules, including J priority boarding queues, used only by pax entitled to use them.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

This is incorrect for airlines that have priority boarding lines. It is also incorrect for Ryanair.

You keep saying this. I did not do anything wrong. I was initially in a long line when I saw the other business class passengers up near the GA on the other side of another line. Then I saw the Express Lane for "Tabua Club and Business Class Passengers Only" sign beside them.

So I left my position in the line - went through the line beside me (saying 'excuse me, please') and went to the sign. I thought there would be another separate lane there (as was the case at security and migration). But FJ had either forgotten to create one or had decided not to have a physically separate lane.

I had already given up my position in the first line and didn't see why I'd have to go back to the end again. So I followed the example of the other business class passengers and cut-in with the explanation that I was using the "Tabua Club and Business Class Passengers Only" benefit as per the sign (which was now right beside me).

The other pax simply could have said they were also Tabua Club or Business Class, and I would have gone behind them. But they didn't say that and they weren't Tabua Club or Business Class. And according the the FJ staff I spoke to, I did the right thing.

I think your comment "I was initially in a long line" possibly explains why the guy holding the kid got aggro & I'm not excusing his behaviour in any way. I think he wrongly assumed that you were en economy passenger that just didn't want to wait & pushed in. I realise that you showed him your J boarding pass etc but by then I think his mind was made up.