Originally Posted by
Recreation
Allowing gold and platinum AMEX SkyMiles members to board early is a brilliant marketing scheme. Because we all know that there are plenty of passengers aka "gate lice" who want to get on as early as possible in order to nab an overhead bin for their carry-on that they over-packed in order to avoid paying the $25 fee.
Now gate lice are feeling the squeeze. And many will go ahead and get the card.
What's interesting is that the other great benefit of the card is a free checked bag. I know that given the choice between lugging a 50 pound carryon and checking in a bag, I always go with the latter. Having the gate lice enroll in the card may have the unintended (or perhaps intended) benefit of actually freeing up overhead space for the non-card members.
The problem is in the numbers. As an earlier poster correctly pointed out there are 183 billion AMEX gold card holders. They now see this as there god-given right and will rush the gate at zone 1 figuring they are "priority" and will NOT give up that "perk". This is a horrible movefor us but I agree Delta made a good marketing move.