paulwuk

Did either get their comeuppance? Or did they simply pass through the airport far faster with nothing besides a "hit on their karma"?

Remember the spirit of Christmas: If i'm mean and nasty then my descendants will rule the universe, but if I'm not I'll end up wearing Baldrick's posing pouch.

Andriyko

I was not really keen on following their fate. But I was surprised that the Bronze card holder did not even notice that there were the barriers and plowed right through them causing everything to fall down. He probably could not believe that that the fast track lane could actually have a queue. What surprised me more was that the security guy actually opened the barrier and let him through rather than send him to the back of the queue. When I pointed out that there was a line he kept murmuring something about being bronze and that I just did not understand that his fasttrack entitlement meant that there was no possibility that he had to wait. Never thought I would see such ignorance.

PeterT1953

So his strategy worked then......

r00ty

I had a bit of an inverse DYKWIA (in that he didn't know who he was) a year or so ago at LCY.

I arrived at the airport, and saw that there was quite a queue at the desk, and no-one in the (to me at least, clearly marked) CE queue. So, being a fairly new SCH I walked to the front of that queue and waited to be called.

At this point, a gentleman in the established queue piped up saying "Excuse me, I think you'll find the queue is over here" so, I just pointed out that this is the Business class queue. He continued to kick up a fuss stating everyone else was queuing there and that I should join the back of that queue.

At this point the check in lady behind the club desk piped up to say that there was a queue this side for business class/status. Only now he discovered his travelling partner was a GCH. So, I suggested they both move over and take place in front of me. Which they duly did.

Even though, my appearance actually led to him being seen sooner (they were in position 3 or so of the queue), and that he was checked in before me (with their multiple pieces of luggage and it seems ski gear). He still seemed to be begrudging me somehow, and I'm not quite sure why. Did I somehow DYKWIA by joining the queue they didn't know about?

WeAreFlyingHigh

Humans are funny. It's not just in airports but all walks of life. You could be at the supermarket to spot a till open with no one waiting. However, few people will go to the till open, instead they choose to follow other people in queueing up. Similarly, if a lane on a road is open but no one is using it, it takes a while for someone to start using it. People will still stay in traffic with others. If you are at a fast food restaurant people still choose to wait in line instead of going to a server who is free.

You broke the trend. Anyone who breaks the trend is looked down on slightly.

LondonElite

Really?

I've never observed this behaviour, anywhere.

hcuk94

I always notice this in McDonald's (yes, guilty as charged!) who, in the UK at least, have a rule/system of each till having its own queue. Occasionally you'll hear staff asking customers to 'spread out along the tills', but often they don't. This leads to a big queue of blind humans in front of the door, waiting to be served. So I waltz in and stand behind a couple of people who are at a specific till thus getting served very shortly, much to the dislike of others who are milling around in the queue all day

Calchas

I am not frequenter of McDonalds (!) but it's not unusual to have a single queue feeding all the tills. Perhaps that is not a deliberate choice of McDonalds but I think anyone breaking it is a queue jumper

hcuk94

Actually I think you'll find I am fully entitled to - if anyone questions it I simply flash my BAEC card...

But.. in all seriousness, in doing so, whilst I might be technically queue jumping, I am simply following the staff instruction - I've noticed this on my occasional visit to the Liverpool Street Station branch.. there is a massive queue in front of the door and then small queues further up the bank of tills, which you are quite entitled to go to. People just follow the herd without noticing the other queues a lot of the time

crazy8534

It's interesting reading this thread sometimes, there is a lot of 'I saw this BCH (that's bronze card holder btw before you get any other ideas!) doing something silly...' I love the mental picture of the passenger walking through the security barriers, sort of oblivious to their existence!

But thinking about it there is an obvious reason for it: many don't really travel very often (e.g. 1 club world return from a domestic or European origin per year) and perhaps can be forgiven for believing the exec club hype (i.e. fly with us and never have to wait in a check-in, security or boarding queue again with your new fantastic/ open all doors/ elite status card)!

jmc1K

Of course, someone who wasn't a frequent BA flyer might reasonably be surprised at the idea that a fast track lane would have much of a queue. Until I began using BA, I had never really heard of a premium check-in/security/boarding lane that wasn't more or less a walk-up-and-go proposition. Seems an easy mistake to make.