MAH-LGW yesterday morning.

Ambling across the (small !) concourse towards the gate area for my flight, I could just about hear the initial “ ........is now ready for boarding” (around eight minutes earlier than stated on BP), followed by “we will be boarding by group number shown on your boarding pass ........ if you do not have a number, please board in the last group”. And then “....will families with young children please come forward .....”

There was something in the half-hearted, automated, tone of the GA’s voice which told me that it was highly unlikely group boarding would actually be enforced in any way. And so it proved. Families were (unsurprisingly, for a near-100% leisure route) a substantial proportion of the total passenger load ; but even so, solo pax and couples with no children decided to all line up together, mixing in with ‘families’, and it was very clear that once boarding began, nobody was being turned away.

I suspect the ground staff probably thought to themselves they’re all on their holidays, so hey ho what does it matter ; which, in turn of course, means that any once-a-year flyers who may have been hearing mention of ‘group boarding’ for the first time will assume it is of zero relevance, and will take no more notice of such announcements on their next trip than they did yesterday.