PV_Premier

https://blog.alaskaair.com/travel-tips/group-boarding/

let the kvetching begin!

sounds like they are keeping the existing underlying structure, but relabeling the groups with letters instead of by cabin/status & row number.

one change is that they are separating F from 75k/golds in coach, the latter of which will now constitute group A and the F cabin will be a dedicated "preboard" announcement.

i'm surprised they didnt lump credit card holders into group B.

Finkface

No kvetching here. I love it. Much clearer. But only if it comes with a secret button leading to a trapdoor to vanquish gate lice so I don’t have to constantly fight my way to the gate.

CDKing

lipstick on a pig i believe the the correct phrase?

Buster

I'm glad they didn't. This is my first year as MVP rather than MVPG, and it's not very elite at all. If they'd dumped credit card passengers in there too, that would have been a step too far in degrading what already feels like pretty useless status.

dave1013

Blog article does not speak to partner elites, I presume the current protocol will be carried over into the new format.

PV_Premier

in their never ending quest to align with the big 3, this would've been a logical step, since the 25K level status at AA/DL/UA gets lumped into the same zone as CC holders. that's why i was surprised they didn't, but as a fellow MVP, also grateful that it didnt happen (yet)

be_rettSEA

Personally am glad to see that Gold/75K will be separated out from MVP. I think that's been the "official" boarding order in the past, but in practice, many gate agents just lumped all elites into a single boarding call. On elite-heavy routes, this meant a mad dash of nearly half the plane trying to board at once, so pre-coded boarding groups will help this a bit.

Personally, I think it would be nice to give CC holders a perk to board a bit earlier, as well (and adds more value to the card for non-elites). Why not just add another group before general main cabin boarding and have them board then?

CDKing

I dont think AA members are part of elite boarding anymore.

Chugach

missamo80

More interesting to me is the redesigned boarding card shown in the blog post:


Some solid information design there, grouping together the gate and boarding time, and boarding group and seat. Makes you realize how haphazard the old boarding card was.

Neil

mvoight

What partner elites?

DrAlex

I believe this will pair well with the large monitors that have been installed at many stations. I was very glad to see DL starting to use the monitors to SHOW boarding groups since the !@#&^% speakers are outputting 2 dB of static-laden junk that I can't hear because I want to sit down and the only available seats are 25 feet+ from the gate area. T2 SFO is much better than T1 SFO, but places like MSP, SEA (N), SAN that have older overhead speakers that are inaudible. Dammit I must be gettin' old! <kvetching about speakers complete >

Edit: I would bet there will be 4 fewer gate lice per mainline flight - enough to perhaps allow a slight gap through which to squeeze oneself through.
EditEdit: But not enough room to squeeze through with your 46 linear inch rollaboard

eponymous_coward

Are they going to keep the F/Gold+ line and the Y line? I have been known to just show up and use the F line in the middle of Y boarding when I'm Gold...

Gig103

Seems reasonable to me, except boarding back to front, while logical for flow, still runs into the issue where folks in "C" drop their bag in the first overhead bin they see, messing it up for group "D".

CDKing

You mean like this