CCayley

Wrong about what? Suggesting that a GCH shouldn't just barge into a line that has been designated as being for other people?

paulwuk

Interesting at t1 on tonight's Cairo

First call for "people who came to the gate in a wheelchair"
Second for "people in CW who are in rows 1 to 4 only.
Third was "people in WTP with rows 10 to 13 only"

When I was boarding in this bunch (with my gold encrusted 10E boarding pass), I spotted the guy to my right was row 28, but claimed he was a silver and they let him board anyway with a "that's fine" statement.

It's a fair assumption that priority boarders should simply ignore any gate announcements as being incomplete, Ba do not always state when priority boarding on status is active. It therefore seems perfectly reasonable that gch should expect to board with F, and SCHBCH with J.

IAN-UK

... and don't forget the cut off level is malleable, shadowing the proposers progress up, and down, the snakes and ladders of BAEC status.

81romeo

Please do you mind not being rude here?
I was not in charge of boarding, I did not want to skip any F or J passenger.

There was 1 line only and more than 200pax were in the same queue, so I did not barge into a line that was designed for other people.

I think I was quite right, otherwise customer relations wouldn't have given me ex gratia service recovery for this accident.

CCayley

1. There is nothing remotely rude about my post;
2. It is clear from earlier posts in the thread that the gate agent made it clear on several occasions that only F and J passengers were being called forward to board. That category didn't include you but you tried to board anyway. Everyone here has a right to their opinion on that behaviour;
3. BA notoriously throws a few Avios at almost anyone who complains about anything for long enough. Receiving compensation does not imply the company was in the wrong. It may just mean they want a particularly whiny passenger to just shut up!

PJSMITH0

A little consistency would be appreciated. I agree with the OP that usually all priority boarders are called at once, so I would naturally as a GCH go to the front. However I do think it should be staged by cabin first then gold, silver etc. of course this all goes to the dogs when you go to the bus gates and laughingly you're called to priority board then have to mix with the other passengers before being bussed to the stand. This happened to me on a recent F and I was obese of the last on the plane.

81romeo

BA reply was "This should not have happened". I was not whiny and I did not complain for a long time, just called them once. FYI.

Take it easy!

bafan

From BA.com:

"Putting you in control

Your Gold membership opens up access to worldwide first-class check-in desks and priority boarding — whatever cabin you're flying in, giving you more time to relax before your flight."

HIDDY

Boarding at your leisure is a better way of looking at it. It's a benefit that does tend to get blown out of all proportion on this forum rather like the imaginary benefit of being personally greeted on board which some status passengers make such a fuss over when it doesn't happen.

bafan

How so ?

How can 'priority boarding - whatever cabin you're flying in....' be any clearer ?!

81romeo

+1

You should better explain this to Mr. CCayley...I bet he doesn't know how good it is to board first if you sit in the back and the overhead lockers have limited space/get packed quickly.

Probably he always flies premium and it the last man boarding the aircraft.

CCayley

There is no necessary binary that says something is either priority or it is not. Things can be 'top priority', 'high priority' etc. and 'priority' in this context could be interpreted in a number of ways. It certainly isn't necessary to interpret the words as meaning that in no circumstances will boarding arrangements for first class passengers be different to Gold cardholders, or that premium cabin passengers will not be permitted to board earlier than status passengers.

All of that, of course, is somewhat beside the point. The real question is whether it was appropriate for OP to ignore the clear announcements that only first and business passengers had been called forward for boarding and to try to board with them. My only point throughout this unnecessarily ill-tempered thread is that I don't believe that was appropriate; the correct recourse is to complain to BA if you feel you haven't been given the service you've been promised, and OP seems to have done that successfully.

I_Can_Fly_US_Airways

+1

Nothing worse than those pesky "elite" flyers who feel they should board before people like us (-;

paulwuk

I suggest anyone in F stuck behind a bronze in Y should assert themselves by asking if said bronze knows who they are!

paulwuk

In my experience when gate staff say that, it's because they've forgotten about status holders. When asked they usually say "yes of course" and then make a follow up announcement including status holders.

In an ideal world the gate agents at TLV would have been snapshotted.