Queuing for the priority queue? What the?

[Milboo]

I tend to leave the lounge shortly before boarding is announced and wander to the gate (rushing in heels is never fun). I like to board early to ensure space above and also because I always take a window. And hate it when you encounter people in the aisle seat who think you'll squeeze past rather than move out into the aisle.

I then pull out the iPad and start watching the next episode of whatever series I am watching. I have some series I save for my flying hours so am keen to hook in as quickly as possible.

 

[Warks]

I know well enough if you sit there waiting for the boarding announcement in the Lounge you may not hear it at all. I've done that in the past and then looked at the board which says "final call" even though there's been no announcement. There's often a rush of other Lounge guests but the staff always say that they did make the announcement. Whether they had the microphone on is another matter I guess.

For that reason I usually head to the gate at around the expected boarding time rather than waiting.

 

[Denali]

My husband and I are the ones that are at the gate before boarding because 1, Im never late for anything. Ever and 2, My husband thinks that his seat 1A means he should get on before everyone else (I joke). Hes left me at the gate as he races for the beeper thing to get to the plane to get to his seat and Im an after thought.

He loves the entire experience, get on board, bags put away, get yourself settled, have a light drink while others are still lining up, prepares his tablet or phone to watch the shows hes already picked out, meet his FA for the flight and gets to check out the menu to decide what hes having before everyone else.

The two times Ive forced him to stand back and not rush the gate ended up him having to stand behind a lot of Y pax with status which caused a delay - he wasn't happy with me so I don't even try to change him anymore.

Obviously we travel for fun, its not a work grind for us.

Edit: God help the person that gets in his way on 23rd Dec for our first flight in "The Business". Don't let the cute Santa tshirt fool you, he will be Mean Santa if you delay him from checking out the seats and menu.

 

[marki]

One of life's great mysteries to me-why people que to board a plane with pre designated seating and why they bolt like horses from a start gate as soon as the seat belt sign is turned off.

I guess people are inherently impatient and...stupid? What's the rush to get on, only to wait 30mins for the door to close, what's the rush to get stand up only to wait for the door to open, what's the rush to bolt to the baggage carousel only to wait for the bags to arrive...

Very broad strokes there bean.? Vis a vie calling people stupid. This subject is not new and has been discussed before in detail why people do what they do. Calling them stupid and impatient shows complete lack of any understanding on your part.

 

[Quickstatus]

One of life's great mysteries to me-why people que to board a plane with pre designated seating and why they bolt like horses from a start gate as soon as the seat belt sign is turned off.

I guess people are inherently impatient and...stupid? What's the rush to get on, only to wait 30mins for the door to close, what's the rush to get stand up only to wait for the door to open, what's the rush to bolt to the baggage carousel only to wait for the bags to arrive...

Rush to get on: want to settle into seat and relax?, get some overhead space for hand luggage?. Some people like airtravel? Is this stupid?

Rush to standup: eager to get off the plane? So what if it makes little difference. Is this stupid?
Rush to carousel: maybe that can't walk as fast as some?. Maybe they think that there is a chance their luggage will come out first?. Maybe they have hand luggage only and want to minimise wait time at taxi rank. Maybe they have to rush to the toilet?. Maybe they need a last drink at the lounge before their next destination. Is that stupid?.

maybe some are impatient but what would I know as they may have a perfectly good reason to do so. Stupid?- that's a long bow...I may or may not necessarily do any of the above and would be happy to give the benefit of doubt to these passengers.

The observations seem to suggest there is only one endpoint and defined in terms of only time efficiency. However there is a lot more to airtravel than the maximisation of time efficiency.

Does not affect me if people want to do this. Sometimes it's futile but it's not illegal and does not negatively impact anyone.

If the observations were couched as "interesting" , I would say yes, it's interesting that people do this with arguably minimal time efficiency benefit. Human nature is often illogical and that's why Commander Data (Star Trek) never could be truly human, although he tried hard.

 

[JohnK]

I know well enough if you sit there waiting for the boarding announcement in the Lounge you may not hear it at all. I've done that in the past and then looked at the board which says "final call" even though there's been no announcement. There's often a rush of other Lounge guests but the staff always say that they did make the announcement. Whether they had the microphone on is another matter I guess.

For that reason I usually head to the gate at around the expected boarding time rather than waiting.

Yesterday board said my flight was Closed a few minutes after boarding was announced in lounge. Rushed downstairs to see people still boarding then heard my name and another paged as the only 2 people left to board. So boarded only to see a queue of 15-20 people in aerobridge. Queue moved ever so slowly and I may have been in aerobridge for ~5 minutes. I don't like queues. I despise queueing in aerobridge. I try to avoid queues at all times.

Not sure what the issue was yesterday but I am guessing overhead locker space? It was a full flight and my sequence was 174. My laptop bag went into empty overhead bin above row 3/4 but I have been known to have it at my feet.

Wish the airlines would solve this issue by not allowing the kitchen sink in carry-on. Would be nice to just walk onboard and get to my seat without fuss.

 

[Caversham04]

Last time I was boarding at Sydney they turned away non status pax.

On an ADL-SYD trip on Qantas a couple of weeks ago (mid-afternoon on a Friday), there was only one member of QF staff at the boarding gate. There must have been 30+ people in the Priority Boarding queue but the QF staff member took alternating people from the Priority and Regular Queues for scanning.

As a NB who was 3rd or 4th in the regular queue, I had to suppress a snigger at the looks on the faces of several people in the PB queue as the QF lady invited me to board before them

 

[ozbeachbabe]

They were certainly milling into a queue while the disabled folks were being taken care of, edging towards the gate... just a few more steps... maybe I can get on...

Only slightly related but I found it odd that they seated the woman on crutches in the aisle seat in row 6 (my row). I had to get her up to get into my window seat. Then later the middle seat guy turned up and she had to get up again. Then on landing I was worried about her having to stay seated until she could get her crutches because I had a train to catch to get to parent-teacher night (yes!). But she was good enough to get up when the row in front of her cleared and sat down again in row 5. I thought she should have been seated in a window seat or maybe in one of the extra legroom seats. Perhaps she didn't have it on her profile though.

Are there 'extra legroom seats' that aren't also emergency exit rows. If she was on crutches then she would not be a suitable candidate for an exit row anyway as you have to be able bodied. As VA charge extra for exit row seats, not all pax are prepared to shell out extra dollars for the privilege of sitting there.

It's always advisable to actually pre-allocate a seat than rely on getting your preferred seat solely from having that particular seat request in a frequent flyer profile assuming their ffn is even in the pnr.

On an ADL-SYD trip on Qantas a couple of weeks ago (mid-afternoon on a Friday), there was only one member of QF staff at the boarding gate. There must have been 30+ people in the Priority Boarding queue but the QF staff member took alternating people from the Priority and Regular Queues for scanning.

What's the most people you've ever seen in a VA PB queue? I've never seen more than a handful so PB is relatively easy to deliver.

 

[Caversham04]

What's the most people you've ever seen in a VA PB queue? I've never seen more than a handful so PB is relatively easy to deliver.

Best guess would be 20 people or thereabouts in a PB queue

I'm not sure how the number of people in the PB queue makes any difference - a clear announcement that the PB queue will be handled first + a statement on who is entitled to use the PB lane + clear policing by sending non-entitled people to the (back of the) regular queue and voila; Bob's your uncle! In the example I gave, it would have been trivially easy to process the PB queue first; she just chose (or was given instructions) not to do so.......

 

[Ausbt]

Boarding I'm generally milling at the PB queue when called, with whatever I'm taking to my seat in-hand and backpack ready to be pushed quickly into a bin.

I'm window by choice so never get up at seat-belt sign off, but my gripes are pax who are slow to remove from the overhead and aisle-standers who don't let all pax ahead of them get out first. Of course if they get stuck behind an afore-mentioned slow-remover I feel their pain.

But its the rare times I use a baggage carousel that rile me. I stand well back and like to shoot in quickly when I see my bag. To those who stand right up against it for a solid 10 minutes - I just don't understand you at all.

 

[grubbidok]

Last time I was boarding at Sydney they turned away non status pax.

Both I (VA WP) and my wife (VA SG) have been told "Sorry, this queue is for priority pax only" before handing over our eligible boarding passes (guess we don't 'look' like elite pax). So I assume they are turning away others who don't have elite status

 

[Ausbt]

guess we don't 'look' like elite pax

...unless the name grubby-dok is putting them off!

 

[Warks]

Are there 'extra legroom seats' that aren't also emergency exit rows. If she was on crutches then she would not be a suitable candidate for an exit row anyway as you have to be able bodied. As VA charge extra for exit row seats, not all pax are prepared to shell out extra dollars for the privilege of sitting there.

You are right, I wasn't thinking of the emergency exit rows but of course that's the extra legroom seating on these planes. On US planes there are areas of extra legroom towards the front.

 

[grubbidok]

...unless the name grubby-dok is putting them off!

I'd hate to reignite the famous AFF thong wars of 2016 but sometimes it may have been choice of footwear

 

[marki]

Boarding I'm generally milling at the PB queue when called, with whatever I'm taking to my seat in-hand and backpack ready to be pushed quickly into a bin.

I'm window by choice so never get up at seat-belt sign off, but my gripes are pax who are slow to remove from the overhead and aisle-standers who don't let all pax ahead of them get out first. Of course if they get stuck behind an afore-mentioned slow-remover I feel their pain.

But its the rare times I use a baggage carousel that rile me. I stand well back and like to shoot in quickly when I see my bag. To those who stand right up against it for a solid 10 minutes - I just don't understand you at all.

I cannot even retrieve my bag even saying excuse I need to get to my bag they look at you as if your not quite with it!

 

[medhead]

Not really a mystery solved-I've never had a overhead locker that wasnt within a row or two-hardly an inconvenience. .

You're lucky. I've had my hand luggage placed 18 rows away from me by a (un)helpful cabin crew member.

Re rushing to stand-lol in most cases you have been sitting for a couple of hours, what's another 5 minutes...

It's funny, you and the other bloke seem offended with your condescending responses. Either way you keep rushing, I'll sit and relax and meet you at the taxi rank/car park calm and relaxed and within 10 seconds of u

I have a disability that means I need to stand up to get myself moving. Am I stupid? Or am I just dealing with the hand that nature dealt to me?

As for impatience, getting up early is actually my way of making sure I don't hold up others when I'm just standing there trying to not fall over. I can agree that some people are impatient based on the huffs and grunts and push pasts that I've experienced over time.

I can guarantee you will not be arriving at the taxi queue within 10 seconds of me if you're collecting checked luggage.

What's the most people you've ever seen in a VA PB queue? I've never seen more than a handful so PB is relatively easy to deliver.

The number of people in the PB line is irrelevant. It is a question of actually processing the priority line with priority, i.e. first. There can be 1000 people in the PB line and 1 in the normal and it could still be processed first. Another Qantas furphy is that processing one line first, even by 2 FAs, somehow slows down boarding. the speed of scanning is not dependent on the line that people are standing in. Also worth noting that VA actually board the priority line before the normal line, hence why it might be empty when normal boarding starts.

Best guess would be 20 people or thereabouts in a PB queue

I'm not sure how the number of people in the PB queue makes any difference - a clear announcement that the PB queue will be handled first + a statement on who is entitled to use the PB lane + clear policing by sending non-entitled people to the (back of the) regular queue and voila; Bob's your uncle! In the example I gave, it would have been trivially easy to process the PB queue first; she just chose (or was given instructions) not to do so.......

 

[OzEire]

Boarding I'm generally milling at the PB queue when called, with whatever I'm taking to my seat in-hand and backpack ready to be pushed quickly into a bin.

I'm window by choice so never get up at seat-belt sign off, but my gripes are pax who are slow to remove from the overhead and aisle-standers who don't let all pax ahead of them get out first. Of course if they get stuck behind an afore-mentioned slow-remover I feel their pain.

But its the rare times I use a baggage carousel that rile me. I stand well back and like to shoot in quickly when I see my bag. To those who stand right up against it for a solid 10 minutes - I just don't understand you at all.

Yep, I concur with everything AusBT said.

Can I also add my bewilderment at why VA stow crew bags above row 3/4 on a 737 or E-jet ? It is almost certain to cause problems for status pax, and ultimately the crew when late boarders can't find space. Surely crew could stow their gear at row 25 near the rear galley ?

Same goes for the spare headsets/cups, etc stowed at row 17, ie. closest to the door, on the ATR, again this is platinum alley.

 

[JessicaTam]

[mod hat]
A number of posts have been removed or have had their content edited. Stick to the topic at hand please.
[/mod hat]

 

[Milefest]

I could be missing the point of this thread but what's wrong with priority pax queuing early in the priority lane?

 

[RooFlyer]

Nothing at all - for the various several good reasons that have been noted above. Who knows why some feel the need to post objections to others doing this?