Originally Posted by Antiqantas
Come to think of it, why do Australian airlines make a big deal about showing them your boarding pass as you enter the aircraft, and then telling you your seat is x rows down on the right or left? Once you've been through the boarding formality at the gate, why is a further check needed? And even if there is some reason for doing it, why do they cloak it with that silly practice of telling you the coordinates of your seat?
Several reasons. Firstly it is a double check to ensure nobody has slipped through the gate control unchecked. It does and has happened. If someone accidently slipped past the gate check and ended up on the wrong aircraft, everyone would be screaming about why there was no check again at the aircraft door!
Secondly, they are checking that people are using the right boarding pass to find their seat on this flight. This can be a problem when people have connections and are holding multiple boarding passes for different flights. Its very easy for them to look at the wrong boarding pass and head for the wrong seat and then the FA has to sort it out later.
And lastly, not everyone knows where their seat is located. For example, on a A330 or 767, someone holding a boarding pass for row 23 may not realise that is actually the first row of the economy cabin and walk straight past the row thinking that row 23 must be down the back somewhere. Then having to push their way back through the crowd slows things down. Also many non-frequent flyers may not know that ABC is on the right and DEF is on the left as they walk down the aisle.
Personally I like the personal touch it provides, and some FAs at the door actually note the FF status and welcome me by name. This is particularly the case on longhaul international flights and its a nice touch.