I'm seeing a bit of inconsistency about closing off the lanes, although that could be down to the gate layout, number of lanes etc. e.g. recently:

EDI, they had 2 lanes at Gate 11 for 1/2/3 and 4/5 and these were roped off at the entrance, which allowed them to call Group 1 only with no issues, although did cause a bit of milling about.

LHR, they had 3 lanes at Gate A8 for 1, 2/3 and 4/5 (actually same gate/day as Telecasterman photo earlier in thread) and they were actively calling for people to queue into the lanes.

Now, on one hand I can see there is sense behind this. Where you have a dedicated Group 1 lane, you can ask them to queue (and precheck to enforce) with the knowledge that when they call Group 1, there won't be a bunch of people stuck behind Group 2 and 3 pax. Further to this, they were asking groups 2 and 3 to join their queue, but only group 4 (not 5) to join their queue. I don't know if they have access to relevant numbers at the gate which would indicate why 2 and 3 were being merged but 4/5 not.

On the other hand, I can see a bit of passenger confusion (and maybe frustration) at the inconsistency. E.g. a silver automatically joins a Group 1/2/3 lane because last time they were told to queue in the relevant lane, and ends up blocking Group 1 boarders?

Very much agreed. Haven't done a huge amount by FT standards - 8 segments - since it was brought in, and one was from an outstation yet to adopt it (YUL) but overall I think it is a most welcome change.