Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,625
I'm a back door man (at Oakland)
Oakland is now experimenting with optional rear door boarding. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try it today at Gate 20. You walk outside and down the stairs just behind the ops agent. Plastic rope lines direct you around the port side of the aircraft to the rear stairway. However if you are not early in the boarding process you won't be able to make it upstream to the exit rows: Some of the front boarders prefer to walk to the back.
It's nice to step outside and get some fresh air, even if it's not as warm and sunny as at San Jose del Cabo.