Group 4 is Golds, and yes there are a LOT of us. 😆

I remember 5-6 years ago flying UA they called for GS on a 50 seat RJ and then waited in silence as no one came forward and then called the next group. Did they think that calling it would make us want to achieve it? I've seen the same thing on US flights before the merger. That time it was multiple groups that had no one in them, but the agent waited after calling each one. If the group is empty, skip it. There must have been a company procedure that said each group had to be called separately.

Ummm, congrats?

And just a lot of Citi Exec Card members. There is a spot where people travel enough that they want some elite benefits (early boarding, elite check-in, etc) and AC access, but still don't quite do the segments/miles/dollars (or now LPs) to get gold.

That was me for a couple of years, and felt the value (even at the 450 annual fee) was definitely there for the 5-6 domestic trips I made each year.

I often see this for when AA gate agents call CK. Seems they call CK for every flight even if there are no CK pax.

I'm always tempted to go up when they call CK one day and see what happens. I'm already in Group 1 anyway. :D

The self-referential aspect of Group 7 is intriguing...I guess it's a case of you know it when you see it.

If you listen to the Agents when they inform people of how we board with Group numbers, "If your Boarding pass does not have a Group number on it, please board with group 7".....

This doesn't really bother me... I just get ready to go once Group 1 is finishing up and if they call 2 and 3 at the same time then oh well. It's not like you're going to be locked out of overhead baggage space.

Interesting. On the majority of my flights the upgrade list is zero (we're talking regionals, either PWM-DCA/vv or SDF-DCA/vv), so I always assumed they called groups 1-2-3-4 in rapid fire simply because 2, 3, and 4 were empty (any elites would have been upgraded because the routes are sub-500, even before the recent changes).

I haven't noticed the rapid group 1-2-3-4 thing on flights that have upgrade lists (and thus have people in groups 2-4) such as DCA-DFW, DFW-LAX, etc. But it would definitely chap me if I were in group 2 or 3 and they did that.

I also really wish they'd quit preboarding "Concierge Key" members without clarifying to everyone that "if you don't know what Concierge Key is, you're not it" -- why not simply call up the CKs individually by name (which I've seen the rare exception of a GA do), to avoid the whole nonsense in the first place. The majority of the GAs can't even pronounce Concierge Key correctly or intelligibly. If I were a CK, I would much prefer something discreet like "we now invite those who are entitled to preboard, including those who need extra time" -- with the unstated rule that CKs are indeed entitled to preboard.

You should already be at the podium. Just pretend you don't speak English (USA flights), and you'll be first on the airplane. It's actually really fun and amusing.

Mind you, I never used to do this prior to the ridiculous enlargement of Group 1 last year.

Gate agents are always seemingly understanding...

At least in certain hubs the CKs are escorted onto the plane by a member from Premium Services. But otherwise I feel sorry for CKs because when these people try to board (and it's often only 1 or 2) they're mowed over by Group One that for some reason can't seem to wait to have their group called on those in Group 9 that believe the plane is ready to take off without them.