Priority Boarding Line Etiquitte

[EmilyHoward]

It could be that the old lady was related to Mrs. Richards from "Fawlty Towers" perhaps?

EH

 

[Sprucegoose]

QF have absolutely no idea in HBA whereas virgin has this caper cracked.

I have litte tolerance for anyone who doesn't understand status.........

 

[dfcatch]

Good point, didn't think of this as a reason for upsized carry on and you could well be correct. Not sure what AA charge for baggage as I flew F all the time, I guess your valid point, together with Y pax perhaps avoiding a second bag charges by using carry on baggage, means that there is a heavy reliance, much more noticeable than here in AUS, for bin space, guess the time of year also, seemed to be a lot of overcoats being stuffed into the bins, to the extent that the FAs physically removed them and said "who owns this - could you please place it on your lap"

As someone who has flown AA regularly for 12 years now - I can confidently state that the issues with AA carry on occurred at the same time as AA introducing checked baggage charges. People are not avoiding the "second bag charge", they are avoiding "all" baggage charges. The fact that other airlines have introduced bag charges has led to the development of a "carry on" mentality amongst travelers generally.

This is why the problem is developing in Australia, notwithstanding that QF doesn't charge, the fact that JQ and DJ do has led to the creation of the same "carry on" mentality (thankfully not to the same extent yet).

On AA - if you are traveling F with a rollaboard - then it's a good idea to board at the commencement or close to (if not - the FA's will take care of your bag). If in Y - it's a must.

I'm midway right now on an 11-flight run, and a couple of times they started boarding early - luckily AA knows how to work a PB line, so as soon as I show up - straight through the PB line (which is of course empty and clear), and I still beat 90% of the pax onto the plane.

This is how it should work.

 

[TonyHancock]

As someone who has flown AA regularly for 12 years now - I can confidently state that the issues with AA carry on occurred at the same time as AA introducing checked baggage charges. People are not avoiding the "second bag charge", they are avoiding "all" baggage charges. The fact that other airlines have introduced bag charges has led to the development of a "carry on" mentality amongst travelers generally.

I can't say that I have noticed a massive increase in carry on from the time I lived in the USA 15 years ago. Mind you I flew DL in those days, and US flyers always seemed to take the kitchen sink on board with them.

 

[dfcatch]

I can't say that I have noticed a massive increase in carry on from the time I lived in the USA 15 years ago. Mind you I flew DL in those days, and US flyers always seemed to take the kitchen sink on board with them.

Fair point

Perhaps I should have used the word "relative"

 

[Carlous Moochous]

LOL So what was your response to her?

I decided to go for the cop it on the chin option - with the addition of a rolling of the eyes just for good measure.

Was it a 734 by any chance?

Did they make a PB call with the usual "J, WP & OWE may use the Premium boarding lane to the right" spiel. Perhaps the elderly lady didn't have her hearing aid turned up loud enough. :shock:

Yep was a 734... Not sure what the boarding call was as was in the lounge at the time - I'm guessing not as the grumpy old lady was actually sitting in J so presume no announcement was made (or hearing aid wasn't on) although the signs were there so I used it.

It could be that the old lady was related to Mrs. Richards from "Fawlty Towers" perhaps?

EH

LOL - nice call - although now that you mention it she did look a little like Mrs Richards... Perhaps she didn't want to waste the batteries.. The funny part is that I was trying to be polite and allow them to go first, and she still got her grump on lol.. Oh well.. no biggie really.. Just funny more than anything else

 

[kempvet]

I'm midway right now on an 11-flight run, and a couple of times they started boarding early - luckily AA knows how to work a PB line, so as soon as I show up - straight through the PB line (which is of course empty and clear), and I still beat 90% of the pax onto the plane.

This is how it should work.

This is my experience, recently I finished two SC runs in the US over a few weeks, about 20 F flights in all, at no stage, were there Y pax in the priority line, for the few flights that I was late, when I arrived at the priority line, the staff simply placed their arm out across the Y pax line to block it and reach out to read my BP (like a get out of here - don't you know your place, you are Y and here is a F so let them through). Just about every FA who read my BP when I was late asked what I was drinking and as I was settled into the seat, there was the drink handed to me. At least with AA they seem to take status seriously. Also Y pax that tried to use the F loo were sent packing towards the back of the plane by the FA, even heard a couple of messages on the PA, for pax to use the loos before the carts block the aisles (which I took as a tacit message to keep away from the F loos).

I guess for the Americans status is a very serious issue, unacceptable under any circumstances to break the order, where as in AUS we are probably a little lax in this area and anything can be used as an excuse for a free for all.

 

[jamesatfish]

I guess for the Americans status is a very serious issue, unacceptable under any circumstances to break the order, where as in AUS we are probably a little lax in this area and anything can be used as an excuse for a free for all.

Indeed - the success of PB in the US is primarily due to the fact that American travellers have been long conditioned to there being different rules and procedures for different status levels.

I remember years ago (pre 9-11) flying J out of SFO with United - there was more security to get into the J lounge than there was to walk into the international terminal and onto the aircraft. US flight attendants and ground staff are hard-core when it comes to enforcing status rules which is why PB works so well.

 

[kempvet]

In addition there is now a status applied to the military in uniform in the US, they are applied the same boarding status as F,J and OW sapphire and emerald, so now when they call for boarding on the AA flights, the announcement includes them as well as the premium classes and OW status holders. Mind you, in 20 F flights, I didn't see one military person in uniform, so I guess that it is also a feel good issue within the US as much as a practical issue.

 

[kempvet]

US flight attendants and ground staff are hard-core when it comes to enforcing status rules which is why PB works so well.

Yes, I remember on a recent QF flight SYD-HNL overhearing the staff at boarding gate, when letting a few of the Y pax use the priority lane, as saying they will keep a watch for would be stragglers from the J Lounge, !!!!!!! this would never occur with AA in the US, no matter how long the Y line was, the priority line was always clear for the entire boarding.

And another factor which probably does make Y boarding more orderly in the US is that with AA the have GROUP 1, GROUP 2, GROUP 3 etc on the Y BPs in BIG writing - and they check that you are GROUP 1 and they will turn you back if you are not in the called group, so I guess this helps with boarding rather than calling for rows 23 to 45 etc.

 

[serfty]

As someone who has flown AA regularly for 12 years now - I can confidently state that the issues with AA carry on occurred at the same time as AA introducing checked baggage charges. People are not avoiding the "second bag charge", they are avoiding "all" baggage charges. The fact that other airlines have introduced bag charges has led to the development of a "carry on" mentality amongst travelers generally. ...

I disagree - it's only been 2 years or so since AA introduced checked baggage fees and the 'kitchen sink' problems existed long before then.

I can't say that I have noticed a massive increase in carry on from the time I lived in the USA 15 years ago. Mind you I flew DL in those days, and US flyers always seemed to take the kitchen sink on board with them.

I have noticed the same on AA, US, AS, UA going back eight years.

There are quite a few posts from last decade referring to kitchen-sink and USA travel.

 

[dfcatch]

I disagree - it's only been 2 years or so since AA introduced checked baggage fees and the 'kitchen sink' problems existed long before then.

I have noticed the same on AA, US, AS, UA going back eight years.

There are quite a few posts from last decade referring to kitchen-sink and USA travel.

Serfty,

While agreeing with you that it was a long term problem - you didn't notice a marked increase after the introduction of checked baggage fees??

I thought it was chalk and cheese (albeit bad to start with).

 

[pagingjoan]

Mind you, in 20 F flights, I didn't see one military person in uniform, so I guess that it is also a feel good issue within the US as much as a practical issue.

On ten or so US domestic flights in recent months, I noted uniformed military personnel on most, if not all. (Can't recall an exception but there may have been.) Mostly, they were seated well forward - and often in Row 1. The prevalence possibly depends to some extent on the routes you are flying.

 

[dfcatch]

On ten or so US domestic flights in recent months, I noted uniformed military personnel on most, if not all. (Can't recall an exception but there may have been.) Mostly, they were seated well forward - and often in Row 1. The prevalence possibly depends to some extent on the routes you are flying.

And the time of year - fly around Thanksgiving and you'll get an almost 100% hit rate on the main routes.

 

[pagingjoan]

And the time of year - fly around Thanksgiving and you'll get an almost 100% hit rate on the main routes.

True. I was not flying at Thanksgiving but it certainly is a factor around holidays.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

This is my experience, recently I finished two SC runs in the US over a few weeks, about 20 F flights in all, at no stage, were there Y pax in the priority line, for the few flights that I was late, when I arrived at the priority line, the staff simply placed their arm out across the Y pax line to block it and reach out to read my BP (like a get out of here - don't you know your place, you are Y and here is a F so let them through).

Just about every FA who read my BP when I was late asked what I was drinking and as I was settled into the seat, there was the drink handed to me. At least with AA they seem to take status seriously. Also Y pax that tried to use the F loo were sent packing towards the back of the plane by the FA, even heard a couple of messages on the PA, for pax to use the loos before the carts block the aisles (which I took as a tacit message to keep away from the F loos).

I guess for the Americans status is a very serious issue, unacceptable under any circumstances to break the order, where as in AUS we are probably a little lax in this area and anything can be used as an excuse for a free for all.

I've noticed that on some US carriers, might have been a CO 737-800, they have a WC at the front of whY so elite pax don't have to walk all the way down the back of the plane. This helps alleviate the situation of them wanting to use the closest WC to them.

I know Virgin do it well with one F/A however I don't think they have as many pax entitled to use the PB as QF do, primarily because they haven't been around as long so it's not the same as comparing AN & TN. If QF (when boarding a 734 with one F/A) were to halt the general boarding queue & board Premium pax there's too many so the general boarding queue wouldn't move for a while & would result in too much bogan agro "this is (adjective) BS" ie a recipe for ground rage.

For QF PB to be a success they need 2 people to board pax regardless of aircraft type. If there is no paxing F/A on the 734 who can act as the second boarder they need to source a ground staff member like a CSA, Supervisor etc for 15 minutes to help out. If there are cries of 'no resources' ie don't want to spend the money for an extra staff member then that person should feel free to come and assist.

Indeed - the success of PB in the US is primarily due to the fact that American travellers have been long conditioned to there being different rules and procedures for different status levels. US flight attendants and ground staff are hard-core when it comes to enforcing status rules which is why PB works so well.

In Australia it's almost as though you have to apologise for having status that gives the the PB benefit & as a lot of the population are ignorant of the fact they treat you as a queue jumper or even tall poppy syndrome 'who do you think you are rising above your station' type thing. People in LOTFAP 'get' the process whereas the vast majority of Aussie don't or do but think hard earned status is somehow 'elitist'.

 

[serfty]

Serfty,

While agreeing with you that it was a long term problem - you didn't notice a marked increase after the introduction of checked baggage fees??

I thought it was chalk and cheese (albeit bad to start with).

While it was bad to start with there is only so much that can fit in the OHSB's and they seem to fill up just as quickly. Maybe there are a lot more gate checked bags these days - pretty hard to notice them from 3A or 2D I guess as I generally board First.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

On ten or so US domestic flights in recent months, I noted uniformed military personnel on most, if not all. (Can't recall an exception but there may have been.) Mostly, they were seated well forward - and often in Row 1. The prevalence possibly depends to some extent on the routes you are flying.

To say they take all things Military seriously would be an understatement. I noticed last year when in Hawaii some licence plates on cars had 'Combat Veteran' on them....overkill perhaps?

While it was bad to start with there is only so much that can fit in the OHSB's and they seem to fill up just as quickly. Maybe there are a lot more gate checked bags these days - pretty hard to notice them from 3A or 2D I guess as I generally board First.

I don't think Americans mind too much about their carry on having to go 'valet' or 'a la carte' ie taken from at the aerobridge or gate & put underneath the plane as it will be brought up to them & placed in the aerobridge on arrival. What they don't like doing is paying for bags to be checked in and/or waiting for them at the baggage carousel.

 

[dfcatch]

While it was bad to start with there is only so much that can fit in the OHSB's and they seem to fill up just as quickly. Maybe there are a lot more gate checked bags these days - pretty hard to notice them from 3A or 2D I guess as I generally board First.

I learned my lesson soon after checked bag fees came in - was tardy to the gate and had to have my carry on checked.

Perhaps i've noticed it a lot more since then

 

[kempvet]

Serfty,

While agreeing with you that it was a long term problem - you didn't notice a marked increase after the introduction of checked baggage fees??

I thought it was chalk and cheese (albeit bad to start with).

The situation is like a glass of water approaching capacity, when the water starts to spill over the top, people wonder where the water comes from and I assume that the new baggage rules are causing this situation. Talking recently to many of the AA FAs what was a manageable problem (although still a pain) now needs more aggressive management (hence the dimensions police at boarding) and endless carry on announcements at boarding. The problem is worse on the older MD80's.