Originally Posted by
Geordie405
Another mockery of the whole Group system this last trip to the UK. The flight from LHR to NCL was from Gate 4 so a bus. Although they did call Group 1 first (after pre-boarders, and the usual bag-taggers who get - but don't really need or deserve - priority boarding) it was irrelevant as we were all then jammed onto a bus and ferried to a remote stand. The flight back from LHR to LAS saw "We're going board Group 1 and 2 now" so, again, no real perk to being Gold. Having called us all forward the e-gates weren't turned on, so we all just stood around while the gate staff frantically tried to figure out why and then decided they had to board everyone manually. Every time it's something new. Every time it really does feel as if some staff are doing this for the first time ever. It's an everlasting shambles.
I was to/from GOT over the weekend. From LHR, it was as it should be - Group 1 called first, albeit everyone had already scanned in, so it required someone at the bridge to physically check the #1 on the boarding pass. But still, it worked because people were turned away/sent through, as appropriate.
Coming back, they announced rows 1-3 would be boarding first... in a 5-row CE cabin. I was in 1, so had already done my shuffle to right next to the desk thing. But after I got on the plane, nobody else joined in CE for about 5 mins. In fairness there was a tedious queue at passport control, but it still felt like nobody quite understood how it was
supposed to work (as you say) and even taking into account that it's not exactly a home airport.