NickW

I wish CX would do this. Out of HKG on the regional flights, they often do "economy" and "priority boarding" as the two queues. Of course, CX gives priority boarding to everyone with a MPC card, even the basic green tier. So the lines are often of equal length.

windowontheAside

You would think so but it rarely seems to work that way IME.

If there are two lines, each with an agent, I would open fast track and use both agents to process that line before starting general boarding, when both agents switch to that queue. Any straggling fast trackers can easily be handled through the empty fast track lane by the nearest agent.

Seems so obvious and yet is rarely done in my experience.

lorcancoyle

That's my experience at DUB for the past few months - until fasttrack is done they don't start on ET. But the queues were typically 30 people or more, even after chancers were screened out

Very welcome IMO (hope my mother appreciates the gold card even more now, my father jumps the queue with his stick anyway!)

JimEddie

I've seen it done reasonably regularly, most recently on a full GLA-LHR flight. Also on my last MIA-LHR they used all the agents to deal with Fast Track first. Of course, the whole thing can fall apart if one or more of the agents gets caught up in something else

Genius1

Like it or not, Fast Track boarding is a published benefit for Gold, Silver and Bronze passengers, as well as First, Club and Business UK.

I agree that boarding should be done in three stages: First/Gold, Club/Business UK/Silver, Bronze, then all others.

But to deny any form of Fast Track boarding to Silver and Bronze passengers is wrong.

V10

I agree completely.

nshizuka25

I was once denied Fast Track boarding as Silver at LHR T5 before (long-haul to US), an agent just look at my BP and ask me to go to the back.

Wasn't in a very good mood, so I just showed her my Silver card and pointed at the board with who is eligible for fast track, she then let me through.

Not sure what was the reason behind it, but it does show that BA's agents don't know how to handle crowds. (especially when it is not a nice day...)

Working against its own rule, also leaves a bad taste in customers' mouth.

I still remember this July, I was boarding at NRT on a JAL's flight to Frankfurt.

Boarding agents asked passengers eligible for FT to start queuing (while letting families with kids, disables...to board first), then agents started to stamp BP , screen out chancers.

Interestingly they then send some other people to the front to form a third queue(I assumed they are F paxs and OWEs), boarding starts for the third queue, once finished, other FT paxs started to board, then ordinary pax are invited to join the queue. It was as smooth as it can be.^

JAL allows all status paxs (including JGC, and Crystal which is OWR) to have FT on international flights, so there are always a lot of people eligible for FT, but I have never experience any dissatisfaction at boarding over my 4 long haul flights with JAL. Compared to BA at T5 it has always been a mess....no matter long-haul or short-haul

KenJohn

I boarded CX in HKG last week with 3 lines.
- CX Diamond / OW Emerald / Business
- Marco Polo
- General
They took the Diamond/Emerald/Business line first before the other lines.

HKG has wider space at the gate to facilitate several lines. BA T5 and other LHR/LGW terminals don't appear to be able to cope unless there is serious remodelling.

jacobitetraveller

personally I feel too many pax have fast track so it doesn't seem like much of a perk these days

but I agree that as a published benefit it is wrong to deny it to silver and bronze

paulwuk

When you go to an outstation, the queue for the 3 or 4 economy desks is always longer than the queue for the 1 or 2 business/first desks. This to me tells me that there are by far more blues than bronze, silver and golds put together.

The same would apply to boarding. The problem in both cases is that people at the front of the blue line get through much faster than people in the middle of the fast track line. The solution is to deal with fast track first.

DELLAS

That has actually been a rule for a few months now whether or not it was enforced.

LTN Phobia

It's not been applied consistently throughout OW anyway, and I've got to say the QF Domestic Business/OWE-only fast track boarding works FAR better than any of the BA priority boarding.

I think OW has been too generous and the rule needs to be changed. It's not even been much of a 'benefit' for OWEs/Club because of the fast track queue often being very long.

A rule needs to be reviewed when it stops working (preferably slightly before!).

South London Bon Viveur

Making Silvers board with other non-status passengers is an outrage. By all means board CE/Golds first, but as has been stated, Priority Boarding is a published Silver benefit and should be honoured. What justification is there for not doing so? BA needs to bear in mind that it has already p*ssed off a lot of its frequent travellers with degraded service offerings across the Premium cabins. If perks like priority boarding are removed then this may well persuade people to switch carriers.

nufnuf77

Don't get me wrong, I think it would work much better everywhere with just CE/Golds in fast-track or with some sort of a tiered-system in fast-track. ^
What I am saying though is that it should be clear to the passenger of what the rules are (and if OW says Sapphire is priority boarding than so be it or change the rules - but make it clear.)

FlyerTalker6245

Surprisingly, BA themselves don't fully agree. They state it is a published benefit, except at London City Airport. A sure fire breach of Oneworld T&Cs, but BA themselves exclude LCY, so why not DUB or indeed elsewhere.