Priority Boarding - What exactly is it?

[Ausbt]

Arrived at the gate for my SYD-MEL on Wednesday and observed the dichotomy of the usual 40 pax in Y while the PB line had zero at the gate. This particular gate (T3, gate 13 I think) had two separate doors to the areobridge and they were using both. Being a VA Plat but only QFF SG, naturally I just headed into the PB line, as you (well, I) would. But what's this? Before I could reach the scanner and claim my undeserved prize the attendants closed the Y line completely, advising "we need to close the right-hand doors" and asked all remaining pax to move into the PB queue and get scanned there. Egads! I'd only managed to push-in about 2/3rds of the way up the queue! Ahhh ...easy come, easy go I guess

On another matter, I noticed that 3 seats in J were being taken up by uniformed Q staff. No chance you can tough it out in Y with the rest of us, huh? Enjoy your flight.

 

[tuapekastar]

i think others have already covered these points, but for me, priority boarding is about not having to queue, and being recognised as I approach the podium of special services if they are applicable.

if I arrive at the gate early, then I want to be amongst the first to board so I can stow my hand luggage. works well for dual lane boarding.

if I arrive after boarding has commenced, I expect an empty PB lane that I can walk straight to the front and move down the air bridge.

i

I have no idea what PB is BUT I WANT IT! BADLY!

Actually I think the quoted bit of Mel_Traveller's post sums up the spirit of PB perfectly (well, re the second point, maybe one or two in the PB lane, as long as they're entitled to be there). The actual rules/procedure could probably be written several ways and still achieve the desired outcome. Part of the rules/procedure must include policing and enforcing.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Two issues observed today while in SYD T3:

1. It is clear where the PB lane is but the 'general boarding' sign could do with some enlargement



2. Watching PAX board at G10 tonight there were 5 PB pax waiting in the PB lane and 30+ Y pax in the regular lane. Boarding commenced with the PB lane being cleared very quickly at which point the FA then called the Y lane pax over to the PB lane - now both lanes were full and thoughts go to the poor Business/WP pax who arrived at the gate 2 mins after boarding - get to the back of the line.

 

[samiam]

Thanks for starting this thread munitalP, I became bored with the similar one after the first couple of thousand posts.

You should not have to que for priority boarding, and if you do, it should only be behind a few people. You should not have to arrive early just so you beat the scrum.

Sometimes there are 20 other pax in the PB queue - sometimes you simply have to queue, even in the PB lane, particularly when a herd of loungers all arrive at the same time.

For me, it's as others have described; PB lane for those eligible - if at the gate early/at the boarding call, it may have 8- 30 other pax (who may or may not be in the correct lane - but policing is a whole other thread!).

If arriving mid-boarding it should have next to nobody and I should be able to walk through that lane to the next available FA to be scanned (even if that means halting the general boarding lane momentarily in the case of only one FA scanning BP's).

If arriving late, well there's often only a handful of pax left to board and the chance for overhead locker space is greatly diminished - so my loss.

The above is my impression of PB, and seems to occur 8-9/10 times, from my personal observations.

 

[samas]

The first time I was entitled to and used PB was not long after VA started doing it in Nov 2011 ex PER. It was poorly signed and not very well separated at the time. I got there from the lounge just after boarding had commenced. They momentarily stopped processing the normal queue, scanned my pass and then went back to the normal queue. Because there was so much congestion from a line that had just formed there wasn't a clear walkway through the and even after being scanned I sort of had to merge with the queue to get through.

As I was seated in 3C I had three people comment on the way to their seats about how rude it was that I pushed in. I never used PB again for the next ~6 months or so until PB was more defined. I didn't want to cop that abuse again. I was worried these people that didn't know about PB were going to make a complaint to my work as I had my company logo on my shirt, but thankfully that never came through!

I go to Adelaide at least once a quarter and there has been a substantial improvement with PB over time there. At one stage they were announcing the flight in the lounge and for people that walked straight to the gate could walk straight on the plane as they hadn't announced boarding yet so no queue had yet formed. When I was there in Dec '12 they had the two queues and it worked quite well.

I am happy to use PB again without the fear of people accusing me of pushing in

 

[samas]

The best ever PB experience though was flying J for the first time PER-DRW on DJ.

Being a mid morning flight the lounge was very quiet, we were going to head up before the call but the reception desk said there was a small delay and advised we should stay in the lounge till the call. About 20 minutes later the call came that our aircraft was ready for boarding. We promptly made our exit from the lounge and there was no queues at the gate. Scanned on and warmly greeted to our seats with the plane already fully seated and the cabin door closed about 20 seconds after we were seated. Best PB experience ever, even if not a traditional PB.

 

[JessicaTam]

The best ever PB experience though was flying J for the first time PER-DRW on DJ.

Being a mid morning flight the lounge was very quiet, we were going to head up before the call but the reception desk said there was a small delay and advised we should stay in the lounge till the call. About 20 minutes later the call came that our aircraft was ready for boarding. We promptly made our exit from the lounge and there was no queues at the gate. Scanned on and warmly greeted to our seats with the plane already fully seated and the cabin door closed about 20 seconds after we were seated. Best PB experience ever, even if not a traditional PB.

To digress slightly, how full was the flight, and did you still have room for your carry on?

 

[straitman]

On another matter, I noticed that 3 seats in J were being taken up by uniformed Q staff. No chance you can tough it out in Y with the rest of us, huh? Enjoy your flight.

A little OT but I'll answer. Depending upon where they were going and why J may be appropriate. Could be standby pilots being sent to MEL to fly the MEL-SIN (or where ever sector) in which case it is completely justified IMHO.

 

[flyingfan]

To me priority boarding is an eligible passenger being able to board ahead of non-eligible passengers whether they are the first at the gate, some point afterwards when they wander down from the lounge or the last. It means that regular passengers are processed only after every eligible passenger utilising priority boarding has gone through, not some clumsy hybrid implementation.

While this benefit is advertised it should be the experience for an eligible passenger making use of it to have a dedicated priority lane that has only other eligible passengers in it, and for the agent/s to only process passengers from that lane until it is empty.

at which point the FA then called the Y lane pax over to the PB lane - now both lanes were full and thoughts go to the poor Business/WP pax who arrived at the gate 2 mins after boarding - get to the back of the line.

:shock: :evil:

 

[munitalP]

... It means that regular passengers are processed only after every eligible passenger utilising priority boarding has gone through, not some clumsy hybrid implementation.

I take it you mean processed as in the ones waiting at the gate.

 

[flyingfan]

I take it you mean processed as in the ones waiting at the gate.

Yes.
......

 

[eastwest101]

As said in the other older thread - the three key ingredients in succesful priority boarding are:

1. effective signage of a PB lane
2. enforcement of PB
3. ruthless and consistent enforcement of PB

 

[ozbeachbabe]

SO flew out of BNE on EK and he reports that there is a separate walkway from the EK Lounge at BNE to the aerobridge so you obviously can't use that unless you're an eligible pax.

Naturally this set up has to be factored in the planning stages before a lounge is built or it could be a tad expensive to implement at a later stage.

 

[oz_mark]

As said in the other older thread - the three key ingredients in succesful priority boarding are:

1. effective signage of a PB lane
2. enforcement of PB
3. ruthless and consistent enforcement of PB

All well and good, if you can agree on just what PB is

 

[samas]

To digress slightly, how full was the flight, and did you still have room for your carry on?

Flight looked about 90% loaded. We were fine with our carry on as thankfully there were no Y bags above our J seats and we had the J cabin to ourselves.

 

[SQ421]

Absence of PB when I was entitled to it would only bother me if/when I was flying Y, and the flight was full. In that scenario, boarding early would give a much needed couple of minutes to put away the carry on, grab the stuff I need from my carry on and "settle down" before the hordes stream in.

Flying J, finding overhead space or taking a moment to settle down is much less of an issue.

 

[ashleyn]

I've followed this thread and the other war and peace one and noted the comments, reasons for wanting PB and so on. What amazes me is that in my experience of flying, lets say 40 years and not infrequent is that I have never had a problem finding overhead locker space. I'm not disputing the stories of Y pax dumping luggage in J on the way past but have never seen that. When push comes to shove, the FAs will find a place for your carry on. Mine is always in the locker above or on the other side of the aisle. Mind you, PB aside, I'm never the last person on the plane and that person deserves to have their carry on taken down the back IMHO. I also bring on board only the allowance which I'm sure all the AFF community can relate to.