Originally Posted by
golfmad
AA is good at it but it still doesn't always work that well. The main problem is the congestion around the boarding area which can get tight in certain spots at certain airports/gates. Yes, I agree that they turn people away with the wrong boarding group number but it's sometimes such a faff to try to get past people that it's not worth the effort. There needs to be better way to keep the gate area clear. I quite like the Delta approach of 'boarding pillars'.
Yes, if there is space for 5 separate lines then people have to make a choice of which line to join, whereas AA has 2 lines, priority and non priority, with consequent congestion. However what was reported in AMS yesterday was interesting - a pre-announcement saying "clear the area please / remain seated" and then calling the Groups clearly batch by batch. With an interloper thrown out from Group 1, it probably deterred others from jumping into (e.g.) Group 2 ahead of time. The 5 separate lines simply won't work in congested airports. Looking at gate 3 at Newcastle, it's quite a reasonable size, but I can't see how they could fit in 5 lines there, let alone behind all the pillars at EDI, and the corridors of MAN.