What is 'priority' worth to you?

[WilsonM]

All interesting and valuable comments, thanks everyone!

I guess for me, it depends very much on the flight itself - I would 100% pay for priority boarding on a low cost carrier, as overhead space is at a premium and being able to travel with just a carry-on (and subsequently leave the airport ASAP) is valuable to me. Priority boarding on full-service is worth less to me IMO, but the amusing catch is that you pay more for it (either by paying in advance or by spending cash to get status).

Cathay narrow body seats departing from MEL come in close second (felt I was squished in a can of sardines for 8 hours)

What aircraft was this on, and when? I never knew CX to fly narrowbodies except for really short intra-Asia flights, so you've piqued my curiosity!

And whereas I’d previously paid for ‘meet and greet’ at Bali airport, is that’s been discontinued, the ‘e-visa’ line is apparently just as quick. So I’ll be doing that next time.

Did this a few days ago - it's a bit misleading, but you skip past the VOA payment queues and just roll up to the e-gates. It's super fast, and some people who do it online queue up anyway.

Priority check in at SYD/MEL can be nice Int'l during busy flying QF period but is nothing like sky priority for MU where theres 200+ chinese economy flyers who all have maxed luggage and comes 4hrs early to the airport. That saves you a lot of time in line.

Flew QR out of MNL, and had the exact same experience as what you described re. MU. They flew their 24-Qsuite 777, so about 380 Y seats, and most passengers had boxes or multiple bags. Was flying J anyway, but was so so glad for priority then!

 

[jokes128]

What aircraft was this on, and when? I never knew CX to fly narrowbodies except for really short intra-Asia flights, so you've piqued my curiosity!

I guess they mean the narrow seats on the CX 777 that has a configuration of 3-4-3 in economy, rather than a narrow body jet with 1 aisle only.

 

[SOPOOR]

oh and sometimes for checkin, there is virtually zero people quueing up ( and no i dont get to the airport 7 hours early) so priority would mean nothing,, unfortunately

 

[trippin_the_rift]

$40 for priority everything -- and airlines wonder why people are less brand loyal today than ever before.

Make it $400 for priority everything and another $400 for lounge access.
Make it a giant advertisement for "FLY MORE -- EARN STATUS".
Those who want to pay -- will still pay.
Make legit status holders + biz/first pax feel good about the value in their status as they see non-status holders gotta pony up $400 for lounge access.

Cultivate brand loyalty instead of whoring the product out a fraction of what the true value to the traveller is.

 

[GoldenTouchdown]

Charging for these benefits standalone just seems so ratchet. Seeing the ME3 to different degrees monetise benefits like these including lounges devalues their brand perception for me.

Say what you want about BA (which I’ve never seen as offering an exceptional experience) but I feel at least they have some class keeping most of these benefits and lounge access for the enjoyment of premium cabin + tiered FF pax only.

What would be the point of maintaining status if any Y pax could buy almost all Elite FF benefits?

 

[Beano]

My issue is getting overhead locker space as I need access to my bag in flight. Priority boarding helps. Some J class passengers sometimes struggle to get overhead space too if they leave boarding too late. This is for when I travel for work. When flying longhaul it is not so critical as I have checked bags and am light on carry-on. I had one trip on EK where, for some reason, boarding from the DXB lounge was delayed so a lot of non-priority passengers had already boarded so I thought I would struggle to get a space. On some EK A380's where there is no Premium Y seating the front Y seats have small overhead space. I struggled to get my small bag located.
In summary, as a Y passenger, priority is almost essential, though it helps to get to the gate early. On some flights it sometimes looks like half the aircraft is filled with priority passengers!

 

[Blinky]

Priority boarding is valuable, but on some VA flights, like MEL-SYD, the priority queue can be almost as long as the general boarding queue.

 

[BrockF]

I agree with Beano that priority boarding direct from the EK lounges doesn’t work. Especially the first lounge. They are usually last to board and I have often boarded from the first lounge in terminal A, only to find either the Y or Y+ cabin all-ready full and no-where for luggage overhead. Even worse when they double dip on the stupid LAG screening at both the exit of the lounge and then again just before boarding either Y or Y+. Nothing like unpacking and repacking your bags twice within 100m!

 

[muppet]

Charging for these benefits standalone just seems so ratchet. Seeing the ME3 to different degrees monetise benefits like these including lounges devalues their brand perception for me.

Say what you want about BA (which I’ve never seen as offering an exceptional experience) but I feel at least they have some class keeping most of these benefits and lounge access for the enjoyment of premium cabin + tiered FF pax only.

What would be the point of maintaining status if any Y pax could buy almost all Elite FF benefits?

I’d take an EK lounge over a BA lounge any day. Maybe letting the riff-raff pay (frankly obscene amounts) to access is the revenue needed to provide quality F&B.

 

[stm1sydney]

Priority check-in - massive value on international flights.
Priority boarding - very high value on narrow-body flights (locker space).
Priority baggage - no value.

 

[Forg]

@stm1sydney - would priority baggage mean something to you if it were reliable?
I’ve picked my better-half up from the international airport only 15-ish minutes after the ‘plane parked at the gate, due to a combo of luck & baggage-priority actually working, and someone flying a lot would surely get value out of that if it were consistent?

 

[stm1sydney]

@stm1sydney - would priority baggage mean something to you if it were reliable?
I’ve picked my better-half up from the international airport only 15-ish minutes after the ‘plane parked at the gate, due to a combo of luck & baggage-priority actually working, and someone flying a lot would surely get value out of that if it were consistent?

Well, I am almost always HLO, so not really. But the fact is that it is not reliable, so still of questionable value.

 

[tdimdad]

Well, I am almost always HLO, so not really. But the fact is that it is not reliable, so still of questionable value.

I'd happily take also the priority luggage. But even more I'd like to see a fast delivery of the luggage to the belt, to start with.

Last time I was with a checked-in bag, it took 30 mins for it to appear. Yes, it seemed to be the first bag on the belt (well done, ground handlers!) from that flight but I would rather have taken bag #50 within 15 mins.

 

[elanshin]

@stm1sydney - would priority baggage mean something to you if it were reliable?
I’ve picked my better-half up from the international airport only 15-ish minutes after the ‘plane parked at the gate, due to a combo of luck & baggage-priority actually working, and someone flying a lot would surely get value out of that if it were consistent?

I would say that priority baggage is generally quite consistent - just that baggage handling in general is relatively slow in Australia.

That being said my record (set late march this year) was arriving at SYD on a REMOTE stand and being out in the parking lot 14 minutes from disembarking. (About 22 minutes from turning off the runway where I messaged my brother to pick me up). Priority baggage came through exeedingly quick and the bus drops you off at the start of immigration.

At other ports, I've gone from Gate to train platform at NRT in 21 minutes too (luggage came out just as I walked to the carousel with a no queue immigration). Similarly at HKG I've had my luggage spinning on the belt 12 minutes after getting off the gate.

On the flipside priority luggage means nothing if you have a 1 -2 hours immigration queue.

 

[MARTINE]

I value priority for…

- security screening as its the part of the kinetic chain I loathe. Traveling within Europe to smaller airports eg Leeds to anywhere hot in summer can involve q’s of hundreds of pax no matter how early you arrive. Paid a few pounds each I think and went to the front.

- boarding (absolutely) usually in same circs as travel HLO and even in J want to secure my bags. Remember Catania to Paris once and with easy checkin/boarding saved a lot of heartache with the experience changing from negotiating a dog fight to waltzing on board from the back. This is very much related to the skill and confidence of the gatekeeper in enforcing
- priority luggage cannot be guaranteed and rarely check bags so not of interest

As most of my travel is in J the big international flights from here with baked in priority (check/board etc) are expected and welcome but its those other smaller crowded high intensity places where -if it works - it really comes into its own.

 

[RealtimeY]

Priority check in is an underrated benefit... those lines can be an absolute nightmare depending on how many flights are going out.

Priority boarding depends on the route (if you need to fight for baggage space) - but an aircraft can only fit so many people and they usually want to board as quickly as possible - not so for check-in.

 

[Flashback]

Priority check in is an underrated benefit... those lines can be an absolute nightmare depending on how many flights are going out.

Priority boarding depends on the route (if you need to fight for baggage space) - but an aircraft can only fit so many people and they usually want to board as quickly as possible - not so for check-in.

If you're flying J/F and it's not "Euro" premium (or perhaps American, too); then overhead space is never an issue. So priority is only really worth it for check-in I guess. No point boarding super early, you're just going to be sitting longer....... board last.

 

[drron]

Sir Peter Cosgrove on QF820 to Darwin.

 

[GoldenTouchdown]

I’d take an EK lounge over a BA lounge any day.

That goes without saying