Originally Posted by
FlightNurse
The flow is better, since you do not have 30 people trying to board at the same time. However, getting the plane out on time is still #1, case in point, my last 2 flights out of DFW, inbound flight delayed, once the passengers deplaned, the new crew checked in, and 5 minutes later the gate agent started boarding, no joke, no way was the crew ready, and the lead FA made it known they were not ready and everyone had to get off the jet bridge. This happened twice.
I haven’t been on a jet bridge where we were told to turn around, but have had a few instances where we were clearly boarded too soon after a turn, resulting in lining up on the jet bridge for a while.
Even without delays, some of the schedules have the inbound arriving 5-10 minutes before the “new” boarding window is supposed to commence. I get that there’s padding, but the result is that the entire plane is standing around the gate before scheduled boarding time and the inbound may not have arrived.
When the full 40 minutes is allotted, most aircraft are set to go at T-20/15 from what I’ve observed. The usual suspects causing delays are still prevalent, such as those deciding to re-arrange their belongings in the aisle before putting all of their bags overhead despite not being in a bulkhead seat.
The 25 minute boarding for the 175s has largely been retained (usually later in the day northeast flights). This seems to work fine as they can usually load a full plane in 15 minutes and means less time on the plane
