nutwpinut

You presume it is an entitlement to board early. As I have mentioned, I don't like to board early and find it to be an annoyance to have to board early. That's why I don't fly Southwest or avoid budget airlines. I like having an assigned seat and board later.

Visconti

Agreed.

For me, I'd much rather board last. However, there are times when I prefer not to check my bag, and because of (1) FA's not consistently saving F bin space, and (2) this idiotic notion that bin space is first come first served forces me to be amongst the Gate lice.

Now, for a leisure trip, no problem. I'll check bags, or just leave the plane if I'm not comfortable with the arrangements.

Segments

Often see 20+ people preboarding on flights to/from Florida. Last trip included 3 wheel chairs, a motorized scooter and 2 service animals --- which really caused a headache when we landed since the aircraft required valet check for rollerboards (CRJ). Wheel chairs were staged where the handlers normally off load the carry on that was valet checked. Attendants stayed there until their pax retrieved their carry ons. No - allergy allowance wouldn't fix that flight scenario, but yes, there are many flights with already large preboard volume. Large preboard volume also common over the holidays and during school breaks.

If legitimate, then fine. It is what it is. But to paraphase an elite axiom, "if everyone preboards, then no one preboards".

rjw242

Incorrect. Ticket prices are determined by the market. This might eat into AA's profit margin by a completely negligible amount, or (more likely) have no real effect as they're already paying the employee who will ultimately deal with this.

PHLGovFlyer

+1


Brilliant! I'll get an ESA and then lobby to have people with ESAs pre-board before the peanut allergy pre-board group!

LovePrunes

New game to pass the time away on flights
instead of rock/paper/scissors it's peanut/latex/gluten

agreed, ridiculous all this micro-segmenting of people and their special needs.

to the poster who said there won't be 50 people preboarding, you're right. But look at how carried away people have gotten with their "emotional support animals." Thay whole "accommodation" has gotten out of control and this will likely be no different. I love dogs, but you see them EVERYWHERE in airports and on planes now, and I doubt that THAT huge of a number of people have suddenly gone crazy that they legitimately need them for emotional support. It's not about being "less elite" than me, it's the obnoxious "give them an inch and they'll take a mile" mentality that many people seem to have.

We've got blogs on how to thread the loopholes on getting more points, blogs on how to fly your dog for free, and on and on....

LINDEGR

That is simply not true. if a beautiful woman walks naked in front of an old man she knows to have weak heart, is she responsible if he has a heart attack? No! Its called personal accountability. If your allergy risk is that great, then but an entire row of coach seats or don't fly. Don't infringe on my rights!

Visconti

It's definitely gotten way out of hand.

However, any private enterprise can deal with it as they deem fitting. We as consumers can just spend our money elsewhere. I'm no one of significance, but aside from (burning UA Miles accrued from my Corp days), I will never spend money on UA again, lest they improve their product.

Naturally, it's of no consequence to UA, but we as consumers do have choices.

LINDEGR

Except that is not true. All of these ridiculous laws requiring accommodations mean they have to dole out all of these favors for people with supposed disabilities/issues/etc. Its sad that we elites (and the rest of the flying public) suffer the consequences...

JDiver

This thread has jumped the track and serves no useful purpose at this point, so it will be closed.

/Moderator