I walked over and had a look at this new "Innovative Gate" G7 yesterday. As it happened, I arrived just as CX was in full swing processing the pax for a flight to HKG.

I noted the following:

The seating area before the gate proper has a variety of seats, but not enough capacity to handle even a single-aisle shorthaul flight.

There is a biggish area in front the the GA desk which is, well, simply empty. Not sure what purpose it serves.

The GA desk is huge, can easily accommodate half a platoon of agents.

Checkpoints are on either side of the desk. One was reserved for elites, and despite a complete lack of premium flyers, all Y pax were funneled through the second one, presumably in line with CX policy. The Y checkpoint being on the window side, this meant that a very long line of pax snaked its way through the innovative seating area and then as far back as the moving walkway, thus blocking traffic across almost the full width of the pier.

I could not see the security checkpoints (opaque windows) but the innnovative waiting area beyond them was remarkable only for the new seats and bigger video screens. There was a separate area marked "Marco Polo / First Class / Business Class" positioned just in front of the jetway entrance, which should make priority boarding easier. However, the seating consisted of 6 two-seater sofa. Almost enough for an airline wishing to reserve the area for F pax only, but totally inadequate for those wishing to cater to F, C and elites.

My impression is that the improvements and changes are largely cosmetic, and will do nothing to solve the real problems, i.e. BC scanning/security chokepoints and long lines. The boarding experience will still depend on whether the operating airline will staff the gate adequately, have proper procedures in place, and ensure that the GA actually follow said procedures.

Johan