Originally Posted by
fly18725
What the boarding group is called is irrelevant - you could name the boarding groups after animals (i.e. 1 = Hippopotamus) and get the same results.
If you really want the most efficient boarding process possible, you'd eliminate elite boarding, by-pass lanes, carpets, etc. and have a free-for-all.
i disagree with both of your statements to some degree.
it is harder to justify in ones conscience to cheat the system when boarding groups are named, "hippopotamus" or otherwise. 2 is kind of close to 3, 3 is kind of close to 4, etc. "hippopotamus" and "zebra" are not at all close together. by extension, most folks in groups 3-5 know that they are not 1K, Global Services, Premier Plat, etc as much as they know they are neither a hippo or a zebra. plats know they are not golds, golds know they are not 1Ks, etc.
that being said some of the worst boarding behavior takes place in groups 1 and 2, i will agree. in those cases it comes down to penalizing people for boarding early, not having appropriately sized carryons, or licing the boarding lanes. that is up to the GAs and until they have a directive to enforce such penalties and consequences against themselves for not doing so, they'll keep being lax about it.
finally, i fail to see how a free-for-all would amount to the most efficient boarding system. WN clearly has it and their process is far from a free-for-all.