Virgin priority boarding fail

[Milefest]

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?

Yeah I've started using the general boarding queue when there's a long priority boarding queue. I've found general boarding faster if you're at the front of the queue now that they call both general and priority at the same time.

 

[tdimdad]

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 an equal fail in the process, just the other way.
I want to join Mel_Traveller in his box, please make some room. Being in the queue 2 or 0 mins early is ideal, instead of 20...

 

[Milefest]

Delayed, late night departure out of HBA last night resulting in a frustrated, rowdy crowd with pax trying to sneak their way into the PB queue.

Good to see enforcement of PB with ineligible pax being knocked to the back of the queue.

 

[AIRwin]

Delayed, late night departure out of HBA last night resulting in a frustrated, rowdy crowd with pax trying to sneak their way into the PB queue.

Only 15 minutes behind schedule?

 

[Milefest]

Only 15 minutes behind schedule?

Yup, HBA is a henhouse even when things are on time though

 

[jakeseven7]

Yup, HBA is a henhouse even when things are on time though

It’s a fowl airport.

 

[JuzzyFlightBoy]

PB at MEL last week was choked - it appeared every 2nd person on the flight was either platinum or gold.

And no one was enforcing the PB queue, one scanner alternating between PB and general.

I did see them checking weights of carryon though

 

[Mattg]

And no one was enforcing the PB queue, one scanner alternating between PB and general.

Why was the single scanner alternating between the priority and general queues? The whole point of "priority" is that they have priority!

 

[qantas21]

Yup, HBA is a henhouse even when things are on time though

When will this airport ever see a reasonable upgrade?

 

[MooTime]

When will this airport ever see a reasonable upgrade?

It's a small city / state predominantly visited by Melbournians, I don't think it deserves or will ever get a reasonable upgrade.

Great they getting an AFL side though, finally. That should get a few more down there to beautiful clean fresh Tasi.

 

[jase05]

It's a small city / state predominantly visited by Melbournians, I don't think it deserves or will ever get a reasonable upgrade.

Great they getting an AFL side though, finally. That should get a few more down there to beautiful clean fresh Tasi.

Albo is about to give Tasmania $240m for the new stadium so I’d suspect there won’t be any funds in the budget for Tasmania for some time

 

[Milefest]

Why was the single scanner alternating between the priority and general queues? The whole point of "priority" is that they have priority!

Not sure if there's been a change on internal policy but I've observed this occurring more and more recently.

I suspect it does speed up turnaround but diminishes the value of the PB benefit. As I mentioned earlier it can be faster to use the general boarding lane (if you can make it to the front) when there's long PB queue.

 

[jakeseven7]

Why was the single scanner alternating between the priority and general queues? The whole point of "priority" is that they have priority!

It seems like this is becoming the norm and upthread it’s hypothesised that Virgin are using it to try and improve on time performance which has not been good the last few months.

 

[lovestotravel]

Flight called early in the MEL lounge again today, nearly 10 min wait to board.
Flight called perfectly in the ADL lounge today, boarded had just commenced and straight on

 

[pauly7]

Not sure if there's been a change on internal policy but I've observed this occurring more and more recently.

So interesting piece of information. N=1 so take with pound of salt but here it goes;

According to a Virgin ground grew I was chatting too, they said it’s ‘at their discretion’ now and they board as they see fit.

Interesting point followed from them. They also said ‘most priority people sit at front and we almost always board from front and back doors these days so most gate staff scan both lines at same time now because it’s much quicker as we find most non-priority people take the back stairs anyway’.

This kinda makes a little sense to me in terms of potentially being faster…(although I do disagree from a premium FF benefit dilution point of view of course!).

So, this new method as others have indicated may well be to try and speed up boarding, and try to improve OTP…

Just passing on, don’t flame the messenger!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So interesting piece of information. N=1 so take with pound of salt but here it goes;

According to a Virgin ground grew I was chatting too, they said it’s ‘at their discretion’ now and they board as they see fit.

Interesting point followed from them. They also said ‘most priority people sit at front and we almost always board from front and back doors these days so most gate staff scan both lines at same time now because it’s much quicker as we find most non-priority people take the back stairs anyway’.

This kinda makes a little sense to me in terms of potentially being faster…(although I do disagree from a premium FF benefit dilution point of view of course!).

So, this new method as others have indicated may well be to try and speed up boarding, and try to improve OTP…

Just passing on, don’t flame the messenger!

Well… that sorta makes sense?

With a few trips under my belt now, by far the biggest the biggest three problems with boarding are:

(a) boarding passes on mobile devices… every second person mucks around to get the reader to connect with their phone
(b) people blocking the aisles during boarding to put bags in the overhead or ‘get organised’. Some stand in the aisle rummaging through their bags to get out items they need during the flight.
(c) people patiently waiting for (b).

Most times there is room to pass the person standing in the aisle but people don’t say ‘excuse me, can I get past’. They just stand there… waiting. Haven’t worked out the psychology in that one.

Many airlines make announcements to the effect of ‘please don’t block the aisles’, or ‘please take your seat as quickly as possible’. But not VA.

 

[clifford]

Many airlines make announcements to the effect of ‘please don’t block the aisles’, or ‘please take your seat as quickly as possible’. But not VA.

I think they've figured out that it probably doesn't make one little bit of difference.

 

[flyingfan]

MEL-CBR. Called efficiently as always, assistance pax followed by premium. But then as people started going through, they told us to shift to the other side of the Tensa barriers and then became a lot more interested with helping lost and other pax wandering around the gate. This is while the queue was filling fast. Finally after a few minutes they finally turned their attention to scanning people through.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Boarding worked perfectly in SYD yesterday..l called from the lounge as ‘now boarding’. Walked to the gate, main queue had been processed, walked straight on board! No queue in jet bridge or rear stairs.

Perfect!

 

[Harrison_133]

Priority boarding in Melbourne was a total failure this morning. Again the lounge called the flight too early, and then they started boarding general and priority at the same time despite the priority lane being rather long.

Maybe this is the new Melbourne speciality. The other ports I’ve flown to over the past few weeks don’t seem to stuff it up this much…

One positive though, the priority security screening lane in T4 was being enforced, with boarding passes checked and ineligible pax turned away.