Originally Posted by
bdemaria
I've often had my BP checked when boarding AA, however, it is usually when traveling on a wide body plane (which I assume would be the type of plane the OP was on). It speeds up the boarding process immensely b/c it keeps all the pax from walking down the same aisle and then having to cross to get to their seats.
I entirely agree it's nice and efficient for the crew to greet passengers at the door and help them to their seat. Of course it is.
I was however referring to
mandatory BP checks on entering the aircraft. AFAIK, UK is the only country that imposes them though there may be others. US doesn't AFAIK - your crew would have been in violation of federal regulation otherwise.
If you enter an AA plane and tell the crew you're in 16J, for example, they'll ask you to cross the aisle and turn left or right. You do the same on a BA plane at LHR or anywhere else in the world and they'll say that they still need to see your boarding pass. Theirs is not a curtesy check. It's mandatory. That's how it was explained to me by crew many times. Maybe some of our resident crew can enlighten us?