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Air Canada introduces zoned boarding

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Old Nov 15, 2014, 2:15 pm
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See new thread for zoned boarding from 2020 onwards.
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Air Canada introduces zoned boarding

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Old May 31, 2015, 4:27 pm
  #1951  
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Originally Posted by superangrypenguin
AC 1136 with Cow just now. Very annoyed. Zonal boarding worked fine but 4 people boarded in zone 0 and they were not in wheelchairs. Unfreaking real.
AC does have a VIP program and also is in trial mode for delivering J pax to the lounge in a car and having them escorted to their seats.
This could work out well for SE's and J pax going forward.
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Old May 31, 2015, 4:41 pm
  #1952  
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Originally Posted by canadiancow
My BP said 1, his said 3.
I had the same problem out of YVR this morning. Same PNR as our flights from YYC yesterday, where it printed out two Zone 1 boarding passes no problem.

Last night, did mobile OLCI, the mobile BPs were Zone 1 and Zone 5. So go to the SE desk at the airport this morning to try to get it fixed with printed passes. Agent prints them out, same thing, but she says no problem, she boards with me. But they had no idea why two BPs from the same PNR would print with different zones.
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Old May 31, 2015, 5:22 pm
  #1953  
 
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sorry if this has already been asked.

If you are in say zone 4 because you are crediting the flight to AC, can you simply show your *G card for another carrier and be able to board with zone 2?
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Old May 31, 2015, 6:37 pm
  #1954  
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Originally Posted by Hello again
AC does have a VIP program and also is in trial mode for delivering J pax to the lounge in a car and having them escorted to their seats.
This could work out well for SE's and J pax going forward.
So, is this for VIPs that happen to be in J or be SE only?

I am a regular run-of-the mill SE/MM and am by no means a "VIP"/"celebrity"/etc...
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Old May 31, 2015, 6:38 pm
  #1955  
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Originally Posted by superangrypenguin
AC 1136 with Cow just now. Very annoyed. Zonal boarding worked fine but 4 people boarded in zone 0 and they were not in wheelchairs. Unfreaking real.
So... another fail... shocker.
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Old May 31, 2015, 7:54 pm
  #1956  
 
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Originally Posted by yyznomad
Ok, so I was close. Lane 1 and 2 pointed to the same lane.

This was the same BS thing that happened for AC001 last month when a brand new concierge told me at the gate that it was done on purpose!!! I posted previously here that this is a complete farce if AC spends money to print separate Zone 1 and Zone 2 signs only to have them point to the same lane. Apparently the concierge said that "many people were complaining about being in Zone 2 so it was decided to have them board using the same lane".

I just love the absurdity of all of this.
AC001 yesterday. Zone 1 and 2 adjacent. Zone 2 lane blocked by pillar. But they did do boarding by zones so no issues. I do wish that they would announce flight delays earlier and not at boarding time. Had a bunch of people from the lounge that went back to the lounge after being told the flight was late. Apparently late because inbound was late so they should have been able to announce earlier.
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Old May 31, 2015, 7:56 pm
  #1957  
 
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Originally Posted by Hello again
AC does have a VIP program and also is in trial mode for delivering J pax to the lounge in a car and having them escorted to their seats.
This could work out well for SE's and J pax going forward.
Wonder what the criteria is ? United has it for Global Service. AC must be using based on J spend + SE or some combination thereoff.
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Old May 31, 2015, 8:00 pm
  #1958  
 
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Originally Posted by adam.smith
I had the same problem out of YVR this morning. Same PNR as our flights from YYC yesterday, where it printed out two Zone 1 boarding passes no problem.

Last night, did mobile OLCI, the mobile BPs were Zone 1 and Zone 5. So go to the SE desk at the airport this morning to try to get it fixed with printed passes. Agent prints them out, same thing, but she says no problem, she boards with me. But they had no idea why two BPs from the same PNR would print with different zones.
Were these Aeroplan tickets ? I noticed that when I booked my family on Aeroplan with my SE/IKK on one PNR and did not enter their Aeroplan numbers they all got zone 1. When I entered Aeroplan numbers for each of them (even though no AQM) their boarding passes defaulted to zones 3-5. So I assume the system defaults to each pax status even on the same PNR. Maybe someone else has a different experience.
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Old May 31, 2015, 8:13 pm
  #1959  
 
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Originally Posted by vernonc
Wonder what the criteria is ? United has it for Global Service. AC must be using based on J spend + SE or some combination thereoff.
Welllllllll there are other criteria

FYI - I almost always refuse the VIP service.

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Old Jun 1, 2015, 11:02 am
  #1960  
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Originally Posted by yvr76
I guess everyone has a different threshold. I've only been really frustrated twice, where there was no semblance of priority boarding at all, never mind zone 1 or 2.

Reserve judgement until you know that actual situation. 4 pax could have been VIPs, in which case they would have likely been offered advanced boarding. There are also some physical conditions (e.g. MS) that don't require you to actively be in a wheelchair, but I would not fault a pax for wanting to board in advance (ahead of Zone 1).
It wasn't bad with only four of them, but it was against policy, which is very explicit about zone 0 being for wheelchairs.

And if the agents train themselves to do it that way through habit, what happens on flights where 50% of the passengers feel they need extra time? Because I've seen that on United. It destroys any semblance of priority boarding.
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Old Jun 1, 2015, 11:11 am
  #1961  
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YYC continues to get things right. AC217 boarded Zone 1 separately on Saturday. AC164 boarded Zone 1 separately just now. The two flights at adjacent gates boarded all 5 zones separately, with families with small children between 2 and 3. Keep it up, YYC GAs!

Originally Posted by vernonc
Were these Aeroplan tickets ? I noticed that when I booked my family on Aeroplan with my SE/IKK on one PNR and did not enter their Aeroplan numbers they all got zone 1. When I entered Aeroplan numbers for each of them (even though no AQM) their boarding passes defaulted to zones 3-5. So I assume the system defaults to each pax status even on the same PNR. Maybe someone else has a different experience.
Nope, Tango tickets. Her AE number was on the PNR. Both BPs Zone 1 on the outbound from YYC the day before. No logic as to why it wouldn't work on the return.

Originally Posted by canadiancow
It wasn't bad with only four of them, but it was against policy, which is very explicit about zone 0 being for wheelchairs.

And if the agents train themselves to do it that way through habit, what happens on flights where 50% of the passengers feel they need extra time? Because I've seen that on United. It destroys any semblance of priority boarding.
Yup. I might have posted this somewhere already, but flew UA a couple months ago and an entire extended family (~15 people) boarded before group 1, all because granny walked slowly. Most were very able-bodied adults or teenagers.
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Old Jun 4, 2015, 8:36 am
  #1962  
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Sitting in YXE on those green loungers watching AC 8585 YXE-YYC board. A flight I could be on but instead flying in circles. (:

The young male gate agent does the pre-boards. Does the Pre-Boards followed by a Zone 1-3 call.... one, two and three?!?!?


Not cool!!!
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Old Jun 5, 2015, 3:36 am
  #1963  
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Originally Posted by YVRorange
Sitting in YXE on those green loungers watching AC 8585 YXE-YYC board. A flight I could be on but instead flying in circles. (:

The young male gate agent does the pre-boards. Does the Pre-Boards followed by a Zone 1-3 call.... one, two and three?!?!?


Not cool!!!
Why didn't the schlep GA just call all zones then?!
We should have a thread dedicated to lame zone boarding practices only.
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Old Jun 5, 2015, 6:41 am
  #1964  
 
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LAS continues to get it wrong. Packed flight yesterday and as per usual, the very first call was "zone 1 and zone 2 now boarding".
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Old Jun 5, 2015, 3:21 pm
  #1965  
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Originally Posted by djkyyc
LAS continues to get it wrong. Packed flight yesterday and as per usual, the very first call was "zone 1 and zone 2 now boarding".
LAX is the AC antichrist on all things AC.

(kinda serious)
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