Originally Posted by
njvandy
I remember many years ago, flying on either SJC-DFW or the nerd bird SJC-AUS. We were delayed significantly, to the point that many people were accommodated on the next scheduled flight, and we were less than half full. GA made an announcement to the effect of "we know how hard you all have worked for your elite status and we really, really appreciate your loyalty but we also know you all just want to get where you are going, so we are just going to board by row!" She then called people in the back 5 rows of the plane first, followed by the next 5 rows, etc until she got to the front. Several people actually thanked her, and I don't recall a single complaint.
I had something similar happen with a SFO-SNA flight (a LONG time ago). SNA has a curfew, the flight was delayed, and if they didn’t board quickly the flight would either be cancelled or diverted to LAX. I don’t recall if they boarded F first, but for Y they boarded back to front, calling two rows at a time. People were pretty motivated to make it work and boarding was very quick.