Originally Posted by DLmedalliongold

I believe we can squarely blame DL for this phenomenon. Remember 10 years ago when it was free to check a bag, and everyone stayed seated until their zone was called (as there was little chance of running out of bin space)? We could all collectively thumb our noses at the Southwest cattle call and speak of a more civilized experience over at Delta.

That is no more. Delta's boarding process starts with a well meaning gate agent instilling panic when making an announcement about bin space that is interpreted by passengers to mean bin space will fit maybe 10% of the bags in the boarding area. Reaction to this creates a cloud of travelers confused by First Class this and Elite Plus that as they push closer to the boarding door as if their proximity would make the bins bigger. Maybe 50% of the time the actual zone shows up on the GIDS, but even if it did, nobody is watching, and there is no path for those in the current zone to get up to the gate.

The gate agent interprets this lack of passengers in the current zone to mean everyone in that zone must have boarded thus they call the next zone which creates further hysteria and a thicker wall to penetrate. By the time zone 1 is called, it's an all out assault towards the boarding door and all hope is lost to find space, even if you are Sky "Priority".

Southwest, in complete contrast to the boarding process that is Delta Air Lines, is completely civil. People watch the screens above the boarding area intently to wait to line up, usually remaining seated. They don't try to do the "Southwest Pole Dance" until they see their letter and number on the screens. Their passengers even look to make sure they didn't accidentally jump ahead of anyone in the respective group of five. I kid you not, several times I've had someone with a higher number than me within the same group of let's say A25-A30 offer to let me go ahead because I was maybe A26 and they were A27. What's their hurry other than finding a seat? They comfortably checked their bag at the counter earlier for free... Can you imagine a double diamond DYKWIA saying, no please, go ahead of me, I see you're in F class and this time I'm in SKY...

I shared this irony with a Delta gate agent in Denver a few weeks ago. I pointed to the Southwest gate across the concourse that was in the process of an orderly boarding while showing her my battle scars from fighting through the throngs of zone 1 and zone 2 to get on a packed MD-90 to MSP. Even though I technically boarded with "Sky Priority", my bag was still 6 rows behind me and I wonder if it was worth the effort to even try to board in my zone.

In conclusion, I say that Delta's process is broken. It's a pain in the #@%# and completely uncivilized and totally disorganized most of the time. I hope they can modify to make it a little easier to navigate.