New Boarding Process- has anyone noticed an improvement?
Jan 5, 2016, 12:42 pm
#526
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,676
Therein lies the problem, what most people on here who promote AA all the time don't realize is that AA allow longer turn around times. Boarding 30mins would be a luxury that the guys tuning around BA aircraft don't have, in fact, if the aircraft is an A319, you're given 32mins to get all passengers off, cleaned, Security checked and onloaded. Virtually impossible with an 80% plus load factor.
This requires more staff, again, a luxury that the outstations don't have.
This requires more staff, again, a luxury that the outstations don't have.
Jan 5, 2016, 12:57 pm
#527
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 49
They need to sort out the baggage allowances and stop people from abusing this. Time and time again, they ask for people with more bags than they're allowed and let them get away with this. People write about thefts from lounges, well, actually this is theft to me. Why should people pay for extra baggage when people can sneak it in under the radar. Probably the poorest aspect of the boarding process is not adhering/implementing their own rules. And I only care because my flights keep getting delayed by staff playing pass the parcel when there's no space for all this excess baggage. 23kg!? that sends out the wrong message. Halve it and the number of bags would surely decline.
Jan 5, 2016, 2:25 pm
#528
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bristol
Programs: BA GGL, UA Plat, DL Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,380
They need to sort out the baggage allowances and stop people from abusing this. Time and time again, they ask for people with more bags than they're allowed and let them get away with this. People write about thefts from lounges, well, actually this is theft to me. Why should people pay for extra baggage when people can sneak it in under the radar. Probably the poorest aspect of the boarding process is not adhering/implementing their own rules. And I only care because my flights keep getting delayed by staff playing pass the parcel when there's no space for all this excess baggage. 23kg!? that sends out the wrong message. Halve it and the number of bags would surely decline.
Strictly enforcing the piece count (a la U2 and others) would go a long way to reducing baggage delays.
But I really don't think the weight limit makes an ounce of difference (sorry, couldn't help myself
) - it is after all a question of the lockers' total volume, not their load limits.Fundamentally though, BA needs to come to Jesus, accept that the S/H operation is an LCC in all but name and instill the necessary disciplines to make that work: commercially, operationally and above all to the satisfaction of the paying customer.
Jan 8, 2016, 7:08 am
#529
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,984
I think the usual challenges that many of the outstation staff are not BA staff etc. I can't remember exactly what I said to that point, but I am pretty sure I would have pointed out that LHR and LGW are all BA staff under their direct control so getting it right there would be a start. I may have also mentioned CX when they usually have someone checking bps along the priority line to move people across - much harder to do that once they are actully at the desk.
EDIT: to add that I think one of the issues is that the BA staff doing this don't fly frequently or have the same levels of experience of boarding by other airlines across the world as some of us do. Those of us who have experienced AA boarding aobviously can easily make the contrast and see an efficient and clearly defined process which happens pretty much everywhere for AA.
EDIT: to add that I think one of the issues is that the BA staff doing this don't fly frequently or have the same levels of experience of boarding by other airlines across the world as some of us do. Those of us who have experienced AA boarding aobviously can easily make the contrast and see an efficient and clearly defined process which happens pretty much everywhere for AA.
Jan 9, 2016, 12:31 am
#530
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Dubai
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 396
At ABZ just now, all fast track called just now, well bronze silver and gold - no mention of business UK. So I went in the priority queue, to find people pushing past through as "they are gold members" and a couple other gold guys bypassing the queue all together by just walking down the side of it and joining at the gate agents desk. Hilarious DYKWIA behaviour.
Jan 9, 2016, 10:17 am
#531
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Offshore Island
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 308
My recent experience LGW-VIE-LGW
Just to add my personal experience this past week.
Departed LGW-VIE on a Sunday afternoon flight in CE. Inbound aircraft was late arriving so the gate was crowded. There were no seats so The Old Lady and I stood close to the Priority Boarding sign. The flight was obviously fully booked with more people arriving all the time and we watched with amusement a group of people edging their way inch by inch steadily further towards the gate staff. The signs were, unfortunately, confusing as they would flash up Flight Boarding, which caused a bit of a rush, before being switched off again. The gate staff announced a couple of times that boarding would be delayed and also asked for volunteers to check their hand baggage into the hold for free and board first. 3-4 people took up the offer and were allowed to join the assistance passengers the other side of the gate.
After another 10 minutes or so waiting and watching the jostling for position, the gate agent announced they would be boarding by row number and called the CE rows 1 to 4 to board first. We managed to get through the crowd and boarded behind the assistance passengers and the hold-baggage volunteers.
We had one regulation-sized cabin bag each, which we placed in the overhead locker above our seat (row 2), however it was very clear that many of the passengers had way above the stated allowance. Boarding took longer than usual as quite a few people struggled to get their large bags into a bin or had too many. One "lady" came up to the front and suggested that one of our bags be removed from the bin as ours were smaller so that she could place her larger bag there. The Old Lady was just about to protest quite forcefully when the cabin crew tactfully suggested she try further down the back where there appeared to be another space.
Our experience on the return journey from Vienna was quite different. We were called to the gate fairly early, around 50 minutes before the flight, and I was a little miffed when The Old Lady insisted that we leave the lounge as she thought there may be a queue at the gate security point. To be fair there was but only took around 5 minutes to get scanned and through to where the gate area was already pretty full. To my surprise boarding was announced within about 5 minutes and, although the gate agent was pretty difficult to hear, she did appear to ask for "Business Class" passengers to board first. Usually when the announcement is indistinct there is generally a rush to board, however, nobody moved - at all! We got up and gingerly approached, brandishing our boarding passes and were boarded with a smile so we must have heard correctly(!)
Luckily this flight was not so full so there was no problem with baggage space and were able to get away a little early. Gave us time to enjoy more bubbles on the way home....
Departed LGW-VIE on a Sunday afternoon flight in CE. Inbound aircraft was late arriving so the gate was crowded. There were no seats so The Old Lady and I stood close to the Priority Boarding sign. The flight was obviously fully booked with more people arriving all the time and we watched with amusement a group of people edging their way inch by inch steadily further towards the gate staff. The signs were, unfortunately, confusing as they would flash up Flight Boarding, which caused a bit of a rush, before being switched off again. The gate staff announced a couple of times that boarding would be delayed and also asked for volunteers to check their hand baggage into the hold for free and board first. 3-4 people took up the offer and were allowed to join the assistance passengers the other side of the gate.
After another 10 minutes or so waiting and watching the jostling for position, the gate agent announced they would be boarding by row number and called the CE rows 1 to 4 to board first. We managed to get through the crowd and boarded behind the assistance passengers and the hold-baggage volunteers.
We had one regulation-sized cabin bag each, which we placed in the overhead locker above our seat (row 2), however it was very clear that many of the passengers had way above the stated allowance. Boarding took longer than usual as quite a few people struggled to get their large bags into a bin or had too many. One "lady" came up to the front and suggested that one of our bags be removed from the bin as ours were smaller so that she could place her larger bag there. The Old Lady was just about to protest quite forcefully when the cabin crew tactfully suggested she try further down the back where there appeared to be another space.
Our experience on the return journey from Vienna was quite different. We were called to the gate fairly early, around 50 minutes before the flight, and I was a little miffed when The Old Lady insisted that we leave the lounge as she thought there may be a queue at the gate security point. To be fair there was but only took around 5 minutes to get scanned and through to where the gate area was already pretty full. To my surprise boarding was announced within about 5 minutes and, although the gate agent was pretty difficult to hear, she did appear to ask for "Business Class" passengers to board first. Usually when the announcement is indistinct there is generally a rush to board, however, nobody moved - at all! We got up and gingerly approached, brandishing our boarding passes and were boarded with a smile so we must have heard correctly(!)
Luckily this flight was not so full so there was no problem with baggage space and were able to get away a little early. Gave us time to enjoy more bubbles on the way home....
Jan 13, 2016, 3:49 pm
#532
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: London
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 40
Probably the priority call process is old hat by now, but thought I'd add my piece ☺️
I do LHR-EDI every month, and the flights are always rammed. However at both ends they are pretty firm on the call order, and despite the hoards of all levels standing for ages blocking each other, the boarding does seem pretty smooth and in order of pre-assistance, gold, silver, bronze, then row ranges. I think domestic business get called with gold.
The only thing I'd complain about is even with the yellow tag system that is extensively used, BA are far too lax on baggage rules. So many have huge bags, two proper carry ones rather than the 1 + laptop/handbag, or even 3 bags. There would be much less stress and strain if the simply made everyone out of policy wait until the end of boarding and then put the excess bags in the hold. Here's dreaming.....
I do LHR-EDI every month, and the flights are always rammed. However at both ends they are pretty firm on the call order, and despite the hoards of all levels standing for ages blocking each other, the boarding does seem pretty smooth and in order of pre-assistance, gold, silver, bronze, then row ranges. I think domestic business get called with gold.
The only thing I'd complain about is even with the yellow tag system that is extensively used, BA are far too lax on baggage rules. So many have huge bags, two proper carry ones rather than the 1 + laptop/handbag, or even 3 bags. There would be much less stress and strain if the simply made everyone out of policy wait until the end of boarding and then put the excess bags in the hold. Here's dreaming.....
Jan 13, 2016, 4:13 pm
#533
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Glasgow
Programs: British Airways Silver, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, AMEX plat
Posts: 251
On Sunday LHR-GLA I found the priority boarding calls clear (well I was in Business UK which was called with Golds, not sure about Silver and Bronze). However as the flight was full they invited those that wished to check their bags into the hold for free to board first. As a result a good 20-25 passengers checked their bags in and boarded before those of us with business tickets/status. I think enforcing the hand baggage policy would be much appreciated by more - make them wait to the end and make them pay if they have too much hand baggage. It's only fair to those of us who abide by the rules.
Jan 15, 2016, 8:33 am
#534
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: MME (midway between NCL and LBA)
Programs: BA Gold, AF/KL Gold, Hilton Gold, Nordic Choice Gold
Posts: 743
Good experience on LHR-NCL yesterday. Arrived at the gate a few minutes before boarding started and joined the queue. Whilst a few people with kids were being pre-boarded, gate staff were proactively going down the priority queue checking boarding passes and telling non priority pax to sit down and wait.
In the end over 50 of the 160 passengers were priority but there was still some confusion with Golds trying to get past Silvers and Bronze card holders hanging back but not wanting non elites to push in!
Flight crew were friendly despite some obvious frustration regarding bags from pax sitting at the back clogging up the overheads at the front of the plane.
Despite landing at the B satellite terminal, I had just experienced my best ever transfer at T5, no queue at domestic connections and straight through security/bag scan.
Not sure what has happened to domestic fast track bag scanning (I know there is no domestic fast track for passport checking) as the fast track lane looked like it now routes further down the corridor under the escalators. As it was so quiet I went up the escalators anyway.
Boarding at ARN for the flight to LHR was not so good, not helped by the layout of the seats at the departure gate which means two queues form from the start of the priority line. Priority boarding was announced but not enforced by gate staff.
In the end over 50 of the 160 passengers were priority but there was still some confusion with Golds trying to get past Silvers and Bronze card holders hanging back but not wanting non elites to push in!
Flight crew were friendly despite some obvious frustration regarding bags from pax sitting at the back clogging up the overheads at the front of the plane.
Despite landing at the B satellite terminal, I had just experienced my best ever transfer at T5, no queue at domestic connections and straight through security/bag scan.
Not sure what has happened to domestic fast track bag scanning (I know there is no domestic fast track for passport checking) as the fast track lane looked like it now routes further down the corridor under the escalators. As it was so quiet I went up the escalators anyway.
Boarding at ARN for the flight to LHR was not so good, not helped by the layout of the seats at the departure gate which means two queues form from the start of the priority line. Priority boarding was announced but not enforced by gate staff.
Jan 18, 2016, 12:14 pm
#535
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Buckinghamshire
Programs: BAEC Gold Guest List, Hilton Honours Diamond, Accor Gold
Posts: 2,303
Poor organisation at Valencia yesterday as they attempted to board a full 171-seater 'Gatters 10' flight back to LGW. No priority boarding queue or call, just a huge line ahead of immigration desk at the gate (E16). We joined the line (me Gold, my travelling companion Blue). We had seats 12D/E. As we approached the front of the queue a tannoy went out saying they were only boarding pax in rows 15-29 (rear of the plane). There were about 10 people who'd passed immigration that were being held to one side (presumably sitting at front of the cabin). There was a separate line to our left which was behind a rope - no idea what it was (rows 5-15 of Y?). I went ahead to get some overhead bin space and was allowed through no questions asked. All in all it was a bit stressful and confusing.
Last edited by Dicksbits; Jan 18, 2016 at 6:44 pm
Jan 18, 2016, 2:40 pm
#536
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: LHR, LGW
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 3,427
In true Spanish style, the Iberia ground crew, which I have found, take rules extremely seriously and the flight from Malaga today was boarded in the correct manner. I take this flight 4 or 5 times a year.
Assisted passengers first then CE, GCH, SCH and then Y cabin starting from the back row to front. They made this very clear. Although some passengers still slipped through in front of me! Row 19 on her boarding pass and I was row 1 CE! But all in all everyone followed the boarding procedure. Although the assisted passengers took a long time to board due to their age! (Not that this is a problem at all) however the whole plane load of passengers ended up queued in the air bridge having to wait patiently whilst the turtle slow passengers eventually sat.
Overall boarding was great and an on time departure. Turns out when we landed paramedics were waiting as the assisted passenger who took ages to board shouldn't have been flying anyway! Crew and Pilot said there was no alarm but it was more about the safety of the pax. Good to see the crew reacting and dealing with this appropriately. Well done BA. Hopefully the pax is well and at home as I write this.
Assisted passengers first then CE, GCH, SCH and then Y cabin starting from the back row to front. They made this very clear. Although some passengers still slipped through in front of me! Row 19 on her boarding pass and I was row 1 CE! But all in all everyone followed the boarding procedure. Although the assisted passengers took a long time to board due to their age! (Not that this is a problem at all) however the whole plane load of passengers ended up queued in the air bridge having to wait patiently whilst the turtle slow passengers eventually sat.
Overall boarding was great and an on time departure. Turns out when we landed paramedics were waiting as the assisted passenger who took ages to board shouldn't have been flying anyway! Crew and Pilot said there was no alarm but it was more about the safety of the pax. Good to see the crew reacting and dealing with this appropriately. Well done BA. Hopefully the pax is well and at home as I write this.
Jan 18, 2016, 2:45 pm
#537
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold; Flying Blue Life Platinum; LH Sen.; Hilton Diamond; Kemal Kebabs Prized Customer
Posts: 63,795
In my 3 visits there since the route opened, the outer line to the left/nearer the airbridge was the Business Class+status line, there was a small sign to indicate it. The bigger area, to the side of the passport control was for Economy. It was explained in Spanish and English on the PA. So, I am not sure what happened there!
Jan 18, 2016, 3:02 pm
#539
Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 10,146
Back on topic, the AA system works really well. Maybe they should bring some of them over for a few months. The usual woman at the BA gates in LA, you wouldn't mess with her!
Jan 18, 2016, 5:25 pm
#540
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 152
Sorry if I've missed a trick here but what is the big deal about this?
Boarding first or early achieves what exactly? You're about to spend hours+ on a plane, so why voluntarily extend that when you've probably got more things to do at the airport, particularly as most moaners on here have lounge access anyway.
I have a GC, so sure I use the premium boarding section, but if it is crowded- I simply take a seat (never been to an airport without a spare seat next to my gate) and wait all of a few mins for it to clear. I also take plenty of flights on other airlines where I do not have any status and am usually one of the last to board- I therefore won't have to wait in line.
The boarding thing always amuses me. In the US, you get people lined up 10-15 mins before the flight- and they are standing!
And then you've got those who are desperate to board after the first few premium pax, but usually end up waiting in the gate tunnel.
All a big fuss out of nothing if you ask me.
Boarding first or early achieves what exactly? You're about to spend hours+ on a plane, so why voluntarily extend that when you've probably got more things to do at the airport, particularly as most moaners on here have lounge access anyway.
I have a GC, so sure I use the premium boarding section, but if it is crowded- I simply take a seat (never been to an airport without a spare seat next to my gate) and wait all of a few mins for it to clear. I also take plenty of flights on other airlines where I do not have any status and am usually one of the last to board- I therefore won't have to wait in line.
The boarding thing always amuses me. In the US, you get people lined up 10-15 mins before the flight- and they are standing!
And then you've got those who are desperate to board after the first few premium pax, but usually end up waiting in the gate tunnel.
All a big fuss out of nothing if you ask me.