JNA

After all these years Delta still cannot figure a way to police their boarding process or maybe they simply don't care to do so. Passengers take advantage to this laid back policy and board out of order. I see it over and over again domestically and internationally. Does anyone know what is Delta's problem? They are not encouraging their loyal passengers to remain loyal!!!

Keith2004

So essentially this thread LOL

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ce-coming.html

All airlines except maybe southwest tend to have this problem
United with their Signs for each zone kinda has a little less
Delta has started to do this in ATL I believe, IMO it is the best solution to Gate Lice, People are more likely to board according to their zone if they are kept in holding areas respective of their zone. Works well on Southwest and UA.

Often1

This is also a function of poor management of carry-on. Once upon a time, F was boarded last. But, now, the mad scramble is caused by those with steamer trunks to jack hammer into limited OH.

I have recently noticed that AA has done a much better job of policing boarding zones and carry-ons alike. Grab a few scammer-sized carryons from those in the first 1-3 boarding groups and it sends a quick message down the line.

MSPeconomist

I don't know why the boarding pass scanners cannot be programmed to beep obnoxiously or refuse to board the passenger when the correct zone hasn't been called. Of course, there would need to be exceptions for those entitled to preboard or maybe the feature could be turned on when PREM zone is called. If GAs would turn people back, most would learn quickly.

It helpful when the gate monitors display the current boarding zone as not everyone can hear the gate announcements. Late arrivals also tend to not know the current zone and just go to the podium.

BTW my worst experience with gate lice was a 777 or 747 DTW-PVG flight where the entire gate area was one big mob, hot and with people pushing even before boarding started. Anyone suffering from claustrophobia would have had a major problem.

Also BTW, the same route in reverse, PVG-DTW, tends to have long but orderly lines at the gate, although with a single line for SkyPriority, it can be a bit of the mess if the GA calls just D1.

pvn

Of course they can, the reason they aren't is that this would almost certainly result in even more delays.

Oh, ok, you already realized why they don't do it. Because of all the exceptions. Every time there's a buzz, the GA will have to stop and figure out if it's a "legitimate" exception, and if not, waste even more time arguing with the pax.

GIDS has displayed the current boarding zone for quite a while.

This is a different problem. A strict, ultra-authoritarian boarding regime isn't going to prevent a big crowd.

KDCAflyer

Just station mean looking bouncers at every gate. Problem solved.

MSPeconomist

Isn't that what GAs are?

KDCAflyer

Maybe at some stations, but those MSP and SLC GAs aren't scaring anyone.

xliioper

Well, sometimes they police it -- with actual police even

http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...iego/95366536/

Okay, I suspect this won't happen again in the post-Dao era.

rylan

I haven't seen the GIDS showing what zone is boarding recently... just the screen behind the podium with a generic 'boarding'.

It would be good if the scanner did the triple beep to get the attention of the GA. With phones now they don't even see the boarding pass for what zone is indicated, so pax in zone 3 with a phone could board whenever and not get noticed.

RRDD

I'm going to take a wild guess:
- for 50% of the people on your flight, it's their only trip of the year.

I'm going to further guess that someone has advised them to board as quickly as possible so as to ensure they will find space for their bags.

I don't think such flyers will quickly learn anything.

apodo77

The root cause of the carry-on madness is the airlines charging for checked bags.

live5

Haha, true I love people who are not familiar with a process and feel as though they deserve special treatment because of it.

That said, I don't find it to be a huge issue honestly. Pretty much everyone here is boarding at the VERY LEAST in Zone 1, right? Even if some Zone 2 & 3's sneak in there, you're still going to have room for your bags. I haven't experienced many times where there's total anarchy with zero attention paid to the zones.

3Cforme

Rigorous enforcement of the rules won't make the OP happy, either. One day he will be on the wrong side of the rules and will complain about DL not bending them 'to serve a loyal passenger.' Communist Romania had hard-line enforcement of rules. It wasn't known for quality of life nor popularity among its residents.

live5 has it right. Develop some coping skills and accept it.

Often1

Rubbish.

While I can't claim to have conducted a peer-review study of the phenomenon, it's the DYKIA's who think that a shiny plastic card that says that they are "elite" really means that they are "elite" who are the scammers here. Those folks don't pay to check a bag and are not checking because they don't know how to pack and don't want to wait to check bags or wait for them at the other end. The nice little old lady who travels 1x/year probably obeyed the rules.

If there are people scamming bags aboard, the quick way to end this is to check the bags to the baggage office and let those with over-size bags pay the checked bag fee on arrival so that boarding isn't delayed. Somebody who is charged a fee + a nice penalty will adjust their behavior the same way Pavlov's dogs managed.