if there are less than 5 people'ish in the regular line, i will use the regular line. if not, i will use the red carpet. i usually wait to board until group 2.
also, i do feel weird when i go up and they break up a family or something. i want to say it's okay, go ahead and do them first, but the ga usually is very nice and like oh, he's 1k, we need to let him through, please stand back.
i usually undo the strap myself. i figure it saves work for the agent.