I’ve had very good group boarding experiences so far but flying to PHX from T3 yesterday wasn’t great. They did try to board by group but the gate area (one of the ones with boarding pass check then waiting room) just isn’t big enough for a fairly full 747 so the entrance to the gate was clogged with people. I was sitting only 10 metres or so away from the door and they allowed a minute or so for group 1 but I hadn’t managed to fight my way through by the time they called group 2 so I ended up queuing on the bridge behind 20 or so group 2s.

They could have asked people to stay away from the door to let group 1 through but honestly the holding pen wasn’t big enough for them to have anywhere else to go...