(As a side note, I'll bet, with that philosophy, you're also one of those sweethearts that brings three bags on board and makes sure they are all in the overhead, because, you know, .... the rest of the flyers.)

It is more ethical to follow the rules for the benefit of the greater good than to ignore them for your own personal gain.

If we agree that it's ok to disregard the rules, then the rules effectively hold no meaning, and everyone goes when he/she wants (which is FIRST in everyone's mind) causing mayhem, and essentially reduces those who get overhead space to the most assertive/strongest/douchiest. How is that fair to, say, the grandma flying coach, who just can't maneuver as fast as the college kid on the way to spring break? Or, to the average flyer who is, in the end, fairly passive and nonconfrontational?

The boarding rules are there for two reasons: First, to make boarding relatively efficient: People are loaded onto the plane, giving priority to sections or to seat column, or to both in an attempt to minimize the amount of step-past maneuvers flyers have to do, each of which essentially doubles the aisle-to-seated time of each passenger, and is a serious impediment to on-time pushback.

Secondly, the boarding order is there to maintain some sort of order in the passengers themselves. Passengers are NOT in the nicest of situations, and putting them in a tight environment with other humans almost always causes the .......s to rise to the top. The boarding order establishes at least some sort of external structure to the process and goes some way toward avoiding potential conflicts of the "hey, I was here first" variety.

A SIDE benefit of the boarding order, if you are aware of it, is to get you in a position for overhead space. *IF* you are aware, and have chosen seats in the appropriate position (or if you were assigned seats in the lucky sections), then your boarding order is higher, and you will have a better chance of getting your crap on the plane. If not, or fate has frowned upon you, you will have to gate check (which, other than the whole stand-in-the-jetbridge thing, is honestly NOT a bad way to go, and is free)

Now, airlines are aware of the intangible value of overhead storage, and have attached priority boarding (and the subsequent near-guarantee of overhead stowage) to frequent fliers' benefits for a long time in an effort to reward loyalty (read: retain business). Like many others here, I spend a lot of time and money on airlines, which affords me that status and the benefits thereof, and I often take it as a personal affront when somebody jumps the boarding order.

Somebody's undercutting my legitimate history of flights and my (frankly distressing) amount of creditcard action in the name of same to claim that intangible benefit that is rightfully mine.