Virgin priority boarding fail

[ferntree]

At Hobart it's a bit ofa lottery these days ..

 

[Sprucegoose]

I've flown 5 times this year and each time they have ensured Priority is provided first. On one occasion a passenger was in front of me which didn't have Priority, and was ever so kindly asked to join the other queue.

It seems this is unique to VA terminals. It doesn't happen in other terminals.

 

[jakeseven7]

Giant mess out of Melbourne yesterday, both lanes boarded almost simultaneously (priority given literally a 5 second head start). Really wish they’d go back to the old system.

 

[jase05]

Really wish they’d go back to the old system.

They do quite often. It’s just the inconsistency that is annoying. My my experience it was strictly enforced 80-90% of the time but the last month it’s dipped to about 60%. On my travels I’ve found MEL to be closer to 30%

 

[AIRwin]

Giant mess out of Melbourne yesterday, both lanes boarded almost simultaneously (priority given literally a 5 second head start).

Was flight already running late?

 

[jakeseven7]

Was flight already running late?

Is that Dorothy Dixer

 

[luckypierre]

Giant mess out of Melbourne yesterday, both lanes boarded almost simultaneously (priority given literally a 5 second head start). Really wish they’d go back to the old system.

My experience departing Melbourne last Saturday somewhat different, Priority Boarding process observed, even though flight was 40 minutes behind schedule.

 

[AIRwin]

Is that Dorothy Dixer

Please explain?

 

[jakeseven7]

Please explain?

Very good

To answer your question seriously, boarding was 5 mins late, but then flight was 50 mins late as they held us on plane due to late arriving crew sigh.

 

[QF WP]

I'm like most others above - I generally leave Lounges when flight is called (which means they are usually well into general boarding), join the Priority queue and dealt with first before the next Economy pax.

The couple of times where I've had no Lounge time, PB calls made at Gate and I'm in the queue. Generally I'm in the aerobridge when I hear the general boarding call.

Not had any issues (fingers crossed) - the majority of flights are ex-BNE and they generally run a tight ship

 

[Stealthflyer]

PB enforced on all recent flights. However, HBA can be a bit of a scrum at peak times. It can be a real battle to simply reach priority boarding. The airport desperately needs expansion.

 

[Poss]

Most of my flights this year so far (home base Melbourne) have been calling priority first and ensuring that any not entitled are redirected to the general boarding queue. On one occasion they were called almost at the same time with both lines boarding simultaneously. Though there was a slight delay in flight time due to aircraft arriving late, so this may explain.

On 2 occasions where it hasn't happened in the past few months, has been when there have been a few requiring extra help whilst boarding. These people have been ushered through with their required assistance, then it has been a free for all for everyone else. I suspect time constraints have necessitated that.

I don't stress too much. We all arrive at the destination at the same time and generally don't require overhead space. Overall, I think the staff do a great job.

 

[zoraya_lane]

Piss poor enforcement of priority boarding in Hobart this morning on a HOB-MEL. Basically everyone lined up at the priority lane— no announcements or discouragements that it’s priority only… and then they started scanning the general lane first on top of it all! I’ve noticed it’s been pretty poorly done at most airports lately at least on all my recent trips over the past few months

 

[Ade]

Piss poor enforcement of priority boarding in Hobart this morning on a HOB-MEL. Basically everyone lined up at the priority lane— no announcements or discouragements that it’s priority only… and then they started scanning the general lane first on top of it all! I’ve noticed it’s been pretty poorly done at most airports lately at least on all my recent trips over the past few months

I had a couple of VA flights in the past few weeks and PB was enforced and done well. Ex-CBR, I usually go late for boarding, so no more priority pax left to board. Even the the staff will halt boarding general queue and scan me thru. YM has certainly V'ed

Also,

Hobart this morning on a HOB-MEL

Hobart is HBA.

 

[ben95]

Pretty well enforced priority boarding from a few flights I took this month. The staff even stopped non-status pax trying to use the priority lane and sent him back to the back of the general lane.

 

[Harrison_133]

Very consistent enforcement on all my flights over the last few months. The only recent anomaly I've had was in Launceston just this week which was an epic fail.

In my experience, Melbourne have even picked up their game. I've also noticed they've started roping off the front of the general boarding lane in MEL as a matter of habit.

 

[flyingfan]

IME they've gone back to boarding priority first, without the strange/silly simultaneous general boarding too. Good to see it's returned to how it's used to be, and quite effective for the most part.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Departure from SYD last week saw PB get a 30 second head start. Once again, just a few steps past the BP reader priority get to join a long queue, inching its way down to the aircraft.

Turing the final corner to see the entrance of the plane… could clearly see cabin crew craning their necks and standing on tippy toes to see the cause of the frequent and multiple hold-ups. Not a single announcement to ask passengers to be seated quickly, to not block the aisles, or to allow others to pass.

Once I was seated the line continued move slowly. I turned around to see a member of cabin crew was standing at about row 8, watching as a passenger in row 6 fluffed about, arranging the contents of their bag, then finally got out of the aisle to take their seat. The cabin crew member was just standing watching.

Boarding started on time. But we ended up closing the door late because pax were so slow. This isn’t a problem on either qantas or rex. VA could really speed up departure and on time performance by some simple announcements during boarding.

 

[eastwest101]

Very consistent enforcement on all my flights over the last few months. The only recent anomaly I've had was in Launceston just this week which was an epic fail.

In my experience, Melbourne have even picked up their game. I've also noticed they've started roping off the front of the general boarding lane in MEL as a matter of habit.

I don't really understand the logic of this, if they rope off the general boarding lane then people start congregating and forming a queue in the priority lane, so then when priority boarding is called they either have to send all the non-priority and non-status people away? And from the tone of this thread the staff aren't really enforcing priority boarding as much as they did pre-covid.

The other theme seems to be at airports and gates without sufficient room and space in departures areas i.e. HBA, TSV, OOL etc people pretty much expect priority boarding to fail. The return of lite fares without checked baggage has no doubt slowed down boarding with the kitchen sink brigade on lite fares resulting in overhead bin tetris. I have given VA lots of feedback about sloppy/slow boarding and priority boarding fails,so its just a matter of telling them to do what do previously without too much trouble. I keep on telling them if they want to be Jetstar then drop your prices and enforce the cabin baggage limits.

 

[dk4]

VA could really speed up departure and on time performance by some simple announcements during boarding.

VA does have a pre-recorded announcement to this effect - on most of my flights (when I have boarded early) the CM usually presses the button on it a couple of times during boarding... it says exactly what you are suggesting. On QF however, the CSM usually gets on the PA and mentions the same things using their own voice.

So, perhaps you mean that a personal announcement from the in-flight cabin leader over the PA, is more effective than a pre-recorded PA announcement?