Qantas to Introduce Group Boarding and Bag Tracking

[SeatBackForward]

This is infuriating when this happens. I had a Karen pull out my backpack from the overhead and asked who does the bag belong to and then proceeded to ask (demanded) that I put it under the seat in front of me.
I told her that actually I would prefer it in the overhead, at which point a flight attendant stepped in, put my bag back where it was and took hers to the hold.

I wouldn't have minded putting my backpack in the seat in front, but being sat in an aisle seat, the seat struts limit the amount of space to store bag under the seat in front. My backpack would not have fit even if I wanted. The middle seats seem to have the most space to store luggage.

The real question is - was it your only bag above you? If so then yes 100% agree you shouldn't be asked to move it.

 

[Rayesfeg]

The real question is - was it your only bag above you? If so then yes 100% agree you shouldn't be asked to move it.

Absolutely, I am, what seems like a minority, and actually respect the size/weight and baggage allowance when it comes to carry on items.

The Karen I referred to had a roller suitcase and some sort of wrapped package that she had got on holiday that looked very heavy.

I think these situations would be avoided if Qantas would better enforce carry on limits.
I even saw one guy with a massive backpack as if he was going hiking. There’s no way it would have met the carry on limits that the airline sets.

 

[Trigona3966]

So will the thread title be changed to "Qantas doesn't care about the order of boarding groups" ?
Edit: this post was moved from the 'Qantas doesn’t care about priority boarding' thread



Can you imagine the s*** show that would occur if there was even 5 calls ... wait till they come forward, send back interlopers ... "and now we welcome ... no, not you ..." ... "and now we welcome ... not, not you ... " rinse, repeat.

Two scanners for each group, groups called in series, or 1 scanner for first group, second scanner for second group etc, groups called in parallel?

Do you hold the first scanner exclusively for Group 1s, and all the other groups go sequentially to the other single scanner?

I'm sure Qantas have some highly paid consultants to figure it out

all is foretold in prose here :

 

[kgreenuq]

I've only experience boarding groups in the USA on domestic flights; and always thought it was organised such that rear seats boarded first - does status trump the seating order?

I know that southwest which doesn't do allocated seating allow you to pay more to board in an early group because of the inevitable bin space shortage.

Rather than boarding groups prefer they just police carry-on allowance (so overhead bin Tetris doesnt delay flights), clear the priority lane (and strictly police who is in priority) first.

With boarding groups there is a risk of all the overhead bin space being taken by bronzes sitting in last 10 roes before a WP sitting in row 6 can even board. Plus number the bins and do not allow breachers to use more than their allocated bin space (plus penalty if they have to check a bag because it doenst fit).

Agreed, Lynda2475. I've got sick of watching passengers putting their cabin baggage in Economy rows 5-12 before heading down the back of the bus to their seats. Under this new system, when Groups 3 and 6 come on board, overhead space for their seats will be at a premium -- or non-existent. And will it still be possible to have non-status folks, travelling and seated with you, board with you? Or do they have to wait until their group is called forward? Will their boarding passes be linked to yours if you make the booking?

 

[rhjames]

Fine, but they have to enforce it, along with luggage size. I regularly see people jump from a long economy queue into the short priority queue and get through.

 

[outthere1000]

What's the male equivalent of a Karen? On a recent domestic flight I encountered a classic example. He started by abusing the "people with children board first" announcement, by boarding with three children aged about 8, 15 and 17. QF staff didn't stop him. I was next (front of the Priority line), seat 4D, and found that Daddy, sitting in 5E (his kids were in Row 6) had placed a sweater and a small packet directly above my seat. Overhead lockers at this point were otherwise empty. As 4D is right behind J, there is only enough underseat storage for a small purse. Rather than touch this guy's stuff, I asked him politely if he'd mind moving it to above his own row. He gestured towards the back of the plane and said, "Put your bag back there". I said I would be going against the flow to collect it and would he please move his stuff. He made an entire production out of getting out of his seat, moving his stuff back to his row, then waved his hand up and down, indicating an imaginary dividing line in the locker, and said in a scornful, ridiculing manner, "This is MY area…… and this is YOUR area…"
At this point an elderly couple who had come up behind me said in a very cross and aggressive manner, "We want to get past! We want to get past!" Why are passengers so bloody rude and selfish these days?

The real question is - was it your only bag above you? If so then yes 100% agree you shouldn't be asked to move it.

 

[Blackadder]

Agreed, Lynda2475. I've got sick of watching passengers putting their cabin baggage in Economy rows 5-12 before heading down the back of the bus to their seats. Under this new system, when Groups 3 and 6 come on board, overhead space for their seats will be at a premium -- or non-existent. And will it still be possible to have non-status folks, travelling and seated with you, board with you? Or do they have to wait until their group is called forward? Will their boarding passes be linked to yours if you make the booking?

If in a group, can't see why the highest status of the group doesn't apply. Already the case with luggage limits.

 

[FFFan]

I (Silver) travel with my spouse (Gold). We are also in the 70+ age bracket, which usually sees us in the first boarding group if we wave our walking sticks!! Overseas, airlines include families with children under a certain age in the first group as well as those with mobility issues or special needs. Status boarding will see us separated, unable to assist each other. I know we’re in a minority group but we hate being the cause of delay.

 

[dairyfloss]

I (Silver) travel with my spouse (Gold). We are also in the 70+ age bracket, which usually sees us in the first boarding group if we wave our walking sticks!! Overseas, airlines include families with children under a certain age in the first group as well as those with mobility issues or special needs. Status boarding will see us separated, unable to assist each other. I know we’re in a minority group but we hate being the cause of delay.

Don’t worry - If you’re booked together; you’ll board together, regardless of individual status. The group of the highest status pax is assigned to all on the same booking

 

[VPS]

I (Silver) travel with my spouse (Gold). We are also in the 70+ age bracket, which usually sees us in the first boarding group if we wave our walking sticks!! Overseas, airlines include families with children under a certain age in the first group as well as those with mobility issues or special needs. Status boarding will see us separated, unable to assist each other. I know we’re in a minority group but we hate being the cause of delay.

and welcome to AFF

 

[thexplorer1989]

I had this experience yesterday with Qantas and can confirm it was chaos.
Families travelling with young children were not allowed to come forward at the start for travellers requiring special assistance/extra time to board. Mobility impaired travellers were also not allowed to board early.
This meant that families and mobility impaired travellers who boarded the front of the plane and needed to get to the back (e.g. row 25) had to push through against other travellers who had boarded via the rear stairs.
The families also delayed the plane taking off while they got settled and had the seatbelt demonstrations for infants.

 

[RichardMEL]

I had this experience yesterday with Qantas and can confirm it was chaos.
Families travelling with young children were not allowed to come forward at the start for travellers requiring special assistance/extra time to board. Mobility impaired travellers were also not allowed to board early.
This meant that families and mobility impaired travellers who boarded the front of the plane and needed to get to the back (e.g. row 25) had to push through against other travellers who had boarded via the rear stairs.
The families also delayed the plane taking off while they got settled and had the seatbelt demonstrations for infants.

Doesn't seem directly related to group boarding per se. Certainly QF will usually pre board wheelchairs etc as is. It may have been this particular gate staff who did not do that - or make a call for such - though in ky experience on domestic they don't do the "famlies with small children" boarding call (pretty sure I have seen it intl) but definitely wheelchairs and indeed I saw an older couple gerlt assisted just yesterday prior to general boarding.

 

[thexplorer1989]

Doesn't seem directly related to group boarding per se. Certainly QF will usually pre board wheelchairs etc as is. It may have been this particular gate staff who did not do that - or make a call for such - though in ky experience on domestic they don't do the "famlies with small children" boarding call (pretty sure I have seen it intl) but definitely wheelchairs and indeed I saw an older couple gerlt assisted just yesterday prior to general boarding.

One of the staff members tried to assist me with boarding early with a small child, however the system does not allow the boarding pass to be scanned if it is not part of the group boarding section that has been opened via the system.
So yes it is directly related to group boarding.

 

[TheInsider]

I had this experience yesterday with Qantas and can confirm it was chaos.

It hasn't been chaos at all tbf and has been working quite well.

Wheelchairs are usually boarded first and if added to their booking, will give them group 1 anyway, unless the passengers are not there or there is no staff to take them on.
The young children thing for preboarding I don't think is a thing anymore and hasn't been for domestic for a while, which is fair enough.

 

[Daver6]

It hasn't been chaos at all tbf and has been working quite well.

Were you on that flight that you're contradicting the posters experience? I think their experience on that particular flight is accurate. They didn't a sweeping statement about all flights.

Wheelchairs are usually always boarded first and if added to their booking, will give them group 1 anyway, unless the passengers are not there or there is no staff to take them on.

Which is it? Are they usually boarded first or always. It can't be both.

 

[TheInsider]

Were you on that flight that you're contradicting the posters experience? I think their experience on that particular flight is accurate. They didn't a sweeping statement about all flights.

Which is it? Are they usually boarded first or always. It can't be both.

There you go champ. Fixed for you.

They said it was chaos because they weren't allowed to board first. Even though they weren't entitled to board first as per the group boarding.

 

[RichardMEL]

One of the staff members tried to assist me with boarding early with a small child, however the system does not allow the boarding pass to be scanned if it is not part of the group boarding section that has been opened via the system.
So yes it is directly related to group boarding.

Ok, well that wasn't clear (to me at least) from your original comment. Perhaps you should have led with that?

Anyway, leeds creedence, at least with your difficult experience, that there isn't an iverrude and that the "out if group" boarding thing is actually real vs promise.

Though QF doesn't regularly do a special call for famlies with small kids etc as the US carriers do...

 

[sudoer]

The young children thing for preboarding I don't think is a thing anymore and hasn't been for domestic for a while, which is fair enough.

I'm sure I've seen gate announcements for preboarding less mobile passengers and those travelling with children on QFd earlier this year.

There's a mention of pre-boarding on the parent's info page on the Qantas site too:

 

[muppet]

I kind of want to book a flight to experience the chaos. Sadly no plans to fly for weeks.

 

[elanshin]

Speaking of boarding, I did see them half do it yesterday in MEL (for my flight) even though it wasn't launched yet. Basically made very clear announcements as to how they were boarding the planes and not to come forward until the next "group". I did miss seeing if they had anything besides "priority" as it was a long walk from the lounge so they were starting the Gold priority announcement.

It could be that the flight wasn't using rear stairs so they were trying to be clear.