Okay, nice thread - let me tell you how it goes in Brazil. Here, there are laws that give the preferential treatment to certain groups in society. Banks and shops are obliged to provide a preferential attendance line to the elderly, disabled, pregnant women and anyone with small children. This applies to all services, and obviously that would encompass airlines operating in Brazil. Last Saturday I was waiting in the First/CW/Status line to board BA248 to LHR and on the other side stood the general passengers inc. those with preference. All the elderly and people with kids boarded first. (and elderly in Brazil means 59 years or older!). The Brits in my line were somewhat perplexed to see this. There were quite a few elderly First/CW/status passengers standing close to me and I felt obligated to point out that under Brazilian laws, had they foregone the First/CW line and gone with the Brazilian preferential line, they could have boarded much sooner. Funny old world!