Virgin priority boarding fail

[TMP]

Not sure if it’s just me but my last few flights out of OOL have seen the priority line swamped with non-status PAX. It seems to be a problem since they’ve moved the boarding lines into that hallway that leads to the tarmac as they’re poorly signed.

I usually just walk past the existing line up to the front

 

[jakeseven7]

I agree it is a pain when they do it that way and can’t understand why they would do it

I also don’t understand why they’ve made the change when they do it that way and why also it’s no longer consistent. Next time if I get a friendlier gate dragon with more time to spare I will ask!

 

[liamsal]

I've found the new setup really good. All general pax to one side so we wandered up the empty lane and were seen to quickly.

There’s been lines on both sides and I always board a little while after its first called to avoid the bull rush

 

[tdimdad]

Hopefully we’re back to normal programming with priority boarding. Simultaneously calling rows 15-30 through general was causing too many inconsistencies with it in my experience.

Last week, SYD-BNE-CNS and back, IIRC three flights called and started scanning general boarding rows 15-30 right after the priority boarding was called. This would work OK and theoretically shorten the boarding time *if* all priority pax were in rows 1-14. But for those priority pax who travel in the back half of the plane, it dilutes the benefit.

I'm no expert in this at all but one would think the boarding time would be pretty optimal if there were three queues: 1) all priority pax processed first with two scanners (1.5 scanners worth of pax would form a temporary bottle neck at the plane entry); 2) then start general boarding rows 15-30 on scanner A; and 3) after a minute or two start general boarding rows 6-14 on scanner B (i.e. wait for the first bottleneck to nearly clear and then send a new group of pax down the bridge).

 

[BRIS_VA_HAWK]

Mrs Hawk has asked me several times why VA was boarding 15-30 as well as priority - the best I could give her was that boarding 15-30 would be back of plane and most of the priority pax would be front of plane...

 

[Harrison_133]

Seeing some family off from MEL T3 this evening, observed a few VA flights boarding. All were strictly following the old procedures of clearing priority first before starting general.

 

[marty_gc]

BNE-CNS-BNE last weekend. Both ends enforced the priority boarding - even when I arrived late.
Priority baggage was a different story - it seems the orange priority bag tag means your bag will be last out at CNS. BNE was a different story - first bag off the carousel. Not sure if the issue is with the departing airport and their loading order of bags, or the arriving airport and their unloading order of bags?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Dunno what to do about this…

There used to be a ‘problem’ with the lounge announcing boarding and you’d get to the gate to find boarding hadn’t actually started.

They seemed to have fixed that problem and for the last few weeks all was good… lounge makes the call and you get to the gate and could go straight on if you wanted to.

Last night the lounge called boarding and got to the gate to find it packed and everyone standing around. Thinking the lounge had slipped up I approached the gate agent who said ‘yes, I called the lounge and told them we were boarding’.

When asked why we weren’t, she replied ‘we will be shortly, but I wanted to give people time to get here’.

What are people’s thoughts on this? Good to call it early, allowing lounge members in the main cabin to get on early and stow cabin baggage, or call it when it’s *actually* boarding so people can maximise lounge time? (and those who want to board early can leave the lounge at a time of their choosing)

 

[AIRwin]

Last night the lounge called boarding and got to the gate to find it packed and everyone standing around.

MEL?

 

[kyle]

Dunno what to do about this…

There used to be a ‘problem’ with the lounge announcing boarding and you’d get to the gate to find boarding hadn’t actually started.

They seemed to have fixed that problem and for the last few weeks all was good… lounge makes the call and you get to the gate and could go straight on if you wanted to.

Last night the lounge called boarding and got to the gate to find it packed and everyone standing around. Thinking the lounge had slipped up I approached the gate agent who said ‘yes, I called the lounge and told them we were boarding’.

When asked why we weren’t, she replied ‘we will be shortly, but I wanted to give people time to get here’.

What are people’s thoughts on this? Good to call it early, allowing lounge members in the main cabin to get on early and stow cabin baggage, or call it when it’s *actually* boarding so people can maximise lounge time? (and those who want to board early can leave the lounge at a time of their choosing)

Think I'd rather be a few minutes early as with other things in life. Those extra minutes in the lounge won't mean much.

More surprised that you asked the gate agent.

 

[tdimdad]

What are people’s thoughts on this? Good to call it early, allowing lounge members in the main cabin to get on early and stow cabin baggage, or call it when it’s *actually* boarding so people can maximise lounge time? (and those who want to board early can leave the lounge at a time of their choosing)

You would think (or hope) that the timing of the lounge call would be scripted in their SOP.
E.g. "Stage 1: PA at the gate for pre-boarding groups (disabled, elderly, small kids, etc) + call the lounge to announce the boarding. Stage 2: Open the priority boarding. Stage 3: Open the general boarding."
Given that the pre-boarding usually take a few minutes, in most cases it'd be close to what it takes to arrive from the lounge to the gate. And if there are no pre-boarding pax, you'd walk from the lounge into an already shortened priority queue.

Though, since from about 1990's, you'd think this could also be handled via a system. A gate agent ticks the boarding to commence in their system, the system flags it at the lounge(s) and the lounge agents do a manual PA (could also be system driven but that might sound a poor option in the given environment).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You would think (or hope) that the timing of the lounge call would be scripted in their SOP.
E.g. "Stage 1: PA at the gate for pre-boarding groups (disabled, elderly, small kids, etc) + call the lounge to announce the boarding. Stage 2: Open the priority boarding. Stage 3: Open the general boarding."
Given that the pre-boarding usually take a few minutes, in most cases it'd be close to what it takes to arrive from the lounge to the gate. And if there are no pre-boarding pax, you'd walk from the lounge into an already shortened priority queue.

Though, since from about 1990's, you'd think this could also be handled via a system. A gate agent ticks the boarding to commence in their system, the system flags it at the lounge(s) and the lounge agents do a manual PA (could also be system driven but that might sound a poor option in the given environment).

The pre boarding call was followed immediately (less than 5 seconds later) by the general boarding call. Priority in the purple lane and rows 15-30 in the red lane.

MEL?

Yup!

Think I'd rather be a few minutes early as with other things in life. Those extra minutes in the lounge won't mean much.

More surprised that you asked the gate agent.

Well… if you’re working in the lounge in the middle of an email or whatever, the extra 5 minutes does sometimes matter. Or just on a phone call.

I asked at the gate because previously the lounge seemed to be calling boarding without checking at the gate. Was arriving almost universally before boarding commenced, sometimes 15 minutes early. And if you’re doing this every week the 5-15 minutes were becoming an annoyance (giving up a seat in the lounge to have to stand at the gate).

So I wanted to know if this had started again. Turns out it wasn’t the lounge this time, but the gate agent.

But that’s why I posted here, because i thought maybe some folk would appreciate the time to get on early and snag bin space. But then thinking about it, those wanting bin space could time their own departure from the lounge?

 

[mel-world]

Given the amount of luggage in Comfort X bins yesterday, I'm glad I arrived a little early. Also in MEL, you can be called to Gate 1 or Gate 19, at the end of T4 so tricky to get it right.

 

[Mattg]

Dunno what to do about this…

There used to be a ‘problem’ with the lounge announcing boarding and you’d get to the gate to find boarding hadn’t actually started.

They seemed to have fixed that problem and for the last few weeks all was good… lounge makes the call and you get to the gate and could go straight on if you wanted to.

Last night the lounge called boarding and got to the gate to find it packed and everyone standing around. Thinking the lounge had slipped up I approached the gate agent who said ‘yes, I called the lounge and told them we were boarding’.

When asked why we weren’t, she replied ‘we will be shortly, but I wanted to give people time to get here’.

What are people’s thoughts on this? Good to call it early, allowing lounge members in the main cabin to get on early and stow cabin baggage, or call it when it’s *actually* boarding so people can maximise lounge time? (and those who want to board early can leave the lounge at a time of their choosing)

I don't mind this, as long as it's a few minutes before they actually intend to start boarding - rather than 30 minutes before etc.

Last week I flew CBR-SYD on QF and left the lounge before boarding was called in the lounge. Got to the gate and the flight was "closed". They were still waiting on all the people coming from the lounge and the gate agent was still trying to contact the lounge staff for them to call boarding there. We ended up leaving 10 minutes late waiting for the last pax.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don't mind this, as long as it's a few minutes before they actually intend to start boarding - rather than 30 minutes before etc.

Last week I flew CBR-SYD and left the lounge before boarding was called in the lounge. Got to the gate and the flight was "closed". They were still waiting on all the people coming from the lounge and the gate agent was still trying to contact the lounge staff for them to call boarding there. We ended up leaving 10 minutes late waiting for the last pax.

That’s a ‘fail’ somewhere… gate should have called the lounge to let them know boarding had started!

I wonder if there is middle ground here? Build confidence that when boarding is called, it’s actually started (lounge and gate to coordinate) and (b) pax who want to leave early can?

Obviously there will be some unforeseen circumstances where the lounge/gate coordination might not work.., but building that confidence in the system would be a good start!

I will get back in my box now! Seems I’m the only one miffed about getting to the gate too early!

 

[MooTime]

I don't mind this, as long as it's a few minutes before they actually intend to start boarding - rather than 30 minutes before etc.

Last week I flew CBR-SYD and left the lounge before boarding was called in the lounge. Got to the gate and the flight was "closed". They were still waiting on all the people coming from the lounge and the gate agent was still trying to contact the lounge staff for them to call boarding there. We ended up leaving 10 minutes late waiting for the last pax.

lucky the aircraft door wasn't closed as that's the final 'flight closed', no more bets.
lucky you got on.

 

[flyingfan]

That’s a ‘fail’ somewhere… gate should have called the lounge to let them know boarding had started!

I wonder if there is middle ground here? Build confidence that when boarding is called, it’s actually started (lounge and gate to coordinate) and (b) pax who want to leave early can?

Obviously there will be some unforeseen circumstances where the lounge/gate coordination might not work.., but building that confidence in the system would be a good start!

I will get back in my box now! Seems I’m the only one miffed about getting to the gate too early!

I'll come stand in your corner on this one. I've had this a few times and it's a little annoying, more because they lied when they said "... is now boarding at gate 20," when they really mean "will start boarding soon so stop what you're doing and go stand in line at gate 20."

On the other hand, lounge users dragging their feet must be an issue hence these early morning PAs. To try to bring it back on topic, I'm not sure if people from the lounge belatedly joining the gate can just stroll through the empty priority lane (it should be kept clear of ineligible pax at all times). I prefer to board early and will leave the lounge before hearing any PAs, because I want to ensure I can use the overhead lockers if necessary (and I do put bags under the seat in front of me when possible).

 

[kyle]

Well… if you’re working in the lounge in the middle of an email or whatever, the extra 5 minutes does sometimes matter. Or just on a phone call.

I get you, but I've never travelled by plane for work.

 

[blackcat20]

I don't mind this, as long as it's a few minutes before they actually intend to start boarding - rather than 30 minutes before etc.

Last week I flew CBR-SYD on QF and left the lounge before boarding was called in the lounge. Got to the gate and the flight was "closed". They were still waiting on all the people coming from the lounge and the gate agent was still trying to contact the lounge staff for them to call boarding there. We ended up leaving 10 minutes late waiting for the last pax.

We had the same out of Melbourne on VA earlier this year. Left the lounge when boarding was called, only to find it was 'flight closed' and everyone was onboard except for lounging pax.

 

[pauly7]

We had the same out of Melbourne on VA earlier this year. Left the lounge when boarding was called, only to find it was 'flight closed' and everyone was onboard except for lounging pax.

That’s a little odd… the normal complaint about Virgin in MEL especially is that they call the flight wayyy to early and if you are stuck with a T3 gate (tiny tiny departure areas) it becomes a heaving scrum of people, that then make PB difficult for Virgin to execute properly.

That was certainly my experience yet again last night and then they did the ‘new’ style of PB that had both queues scanning at the same time. I’m guessing they are trying to improve their OTP?