Jan 9, 2018, 5:44 am
Last edit by: KARFA
Please use this thread for discussion, conjecture and speculation about the Group Boarding Process.
Experiences of the actual process in airports should be made in the dedicated thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...periences.html
Group Boarding Summary (courtesy chris1979)
NB. Customers with additional needs will be offered pre-boarding ahead of all the groups listed above.
Boarding priority for Executive Club Gold, Silver or Bronze Members or oneworld equivalents, will automatically be reflected in the group number given on their boarding pass. If they arrive after their group has been called, they can use the priority boarding lane to go through before the flight closes.
Please note that priority boarding will not be reflected for any other people travelling with an Executive Club Member on the same booking at the moment, but will be introduced in the coming months. In the meantime, the whole party can use the priority boarding lane and our staff will endeavour to board everyone together.
Pre-boarding
Families with small children
We invite families with infants under two and young children in pushchairs to board first, so that the whole family can settle in. Customers must arrive by the time specified on their boarding pass so that they are ready to board and we have enough time
to load their pushchair into the hold.
Customers requiring disability or mobility assistance
We will assist customers on to the aircraft ahead of other passengers so that they have time to settle in and get comfortable. Please contact us at least 48 hours before their flight so that we can make the necessary arrangements.
Experiences of the actual process in airports should be made in the dedicated thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...periences.html
Group Boarding Summary (courtesy chris1979)
NB. Customers with additional needs will be offered pre-boarding ahead of all the groups listed above.
Boarding priority for Executive Club Gold, Silver or Bronze Members or oneworld equivalents, will automatically be reflected in the group number given on their boarding pass. If they arrive after their group has been called, they can use the priority boarding lane to go through before the flight closes.
Please note that priority boarding will not be reflected for any other people travelling with an Executive Club Member on the same booking at the moment, but will be introduced in the coming months. In the meantime, the whole party can use the priority boarding lane and our staff will endeavour to board everyone together.
Pre-boarding
Families with small children
We invite families with infants under two and young children in pushchairs to board first, so that the whole family can settle in. Customers must arrive by the time specified on their boarding pass so that they are ready to board and we have enough time
to load their pushchair into the hold.
Customers requiring disability or mobility assistance
We will assist customers on to the aircraft ahead of other passengers so that they have time to settle in and get comfortable. Please contact us at least 48 hours before their flight so that we can make the necessary arrangements.
Boarding by group to be introduced [general discussion]
Nov 19, 2017, 3:21 pm
#211
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2017
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 325
Boarding groups are great but as everyone else says they need to be enforced to work, somehow I don't see that happening.
Where I have seen them work, TK work really well, Group 1 is premium class passengers, there aren't really enough people in the premium cabins to cause a problem or need to subdivide the group so except for top end DYKWIA golds who feel entitled to board first but don't get that priority over others everyone is quite speedy and it works.
Group 2 is gold, 3 is silver and then no status by row numbers.
TK really do enforce this especially at IST and it works like a dream, the flow of people coming aboard is smooth and you rarely see congestion in the aisles - though of course they also police hand baggage very stricly too which helps no end.
I do wonder if hand baggage was policed would anyone feel the need to rush aboard?
Where I have seen them work, TK work really well, Group 1 is premium class passengers, there aren't really enough people in the premium cabins to cause a problem or need to subdivide the group so except for top end DYKWIA golds who feel entitled to board first but don't get that priority over others everyone is quite speedy and it works.
Group 2 is gold, 3 is silver and then no status by row numbers.
TK really do enforce this especially at IST and it works like a dream, the flow of people coming aboard is smooth and you rarely see congestion in the aisles - though of course they also police hand baggage very stricly too which helps no end.
I do wonder if hand baggage was policed would anyone feel the need to rush aboard?
TK is a totally different airline though - every passenger has a minimum 30kg checked allowance, so there is very little fight for onboard locker space. Easily solved, but not at the cost BA is willing to pay.
Because people with kids often have more stuff to sort out with bags and stuff, plus they want the kids to be 'settled' and not messing in the aisles before everyone else gets on. You don't want this happening when crew are getting ready with the safety demo, etc. To be honest, CWS-types are the best customers to board last - they know where they're going, throw a bag in quickly (if they have one), with a newspaper (etc.) already in hand and a jacket held out to crew to stow. In, sit, go. Simple.
Nov 20, 2017, 12:27 am
#213
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,110
As many have said already, the current boarding system would work like a group system if it was consistently done by the gate staff and enforced by them too. Printing groups on the boarding pass does give passengers less to understand and less to delude themselves about: "GROUP 1 AND 2 ONLY" rather than passengers hearing "We now invite our blah something Business Gold something" and thinking . o O ( that's probably me by now, I best get on with it)
I do look forward to a better organised boarding procedure on BA, consistently operated and well-enforced.
For the problem of large groups tagging onto the one person entitled to board early, especially large groups with one person needing special assistance: BA could say that the person with assistance gets one companion boarding early with them and not more. This is common in many other situations, like cinemas and other auditoria.
I do look forward to a better organised boarding procedure on BA, consistently operated and well-enforced.
For the problem of large groups tagging onto the one person entitled to board early, especially large groups with one person needing special assistance: BA could say that the person with assistance gets one companion boarding early with them and not more. This is common in many other situations, like cinemas and other auditoria.
Nov 20, 2017, 1:10 am
#214
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: London, UK
Posts: 5,655
Nov 20, 2017, 1:51 am
#216
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,528
I think they are hoping that a big group number very visible on all BP instruments and 'group 1 only - please, all other groups kindly remain in your seats' type announcement will be both easier to understand ('come Martha I think she said group five' -- 'no George, group 1' -- much less likely!!) and easier to enforce, at least if there is will. There is value in simplicity.
Nov 20, 2017, 2:31 am
#217
Join Date: Sep 2015
Programs: LH SEN; BA Gold
Posts: 8,405
In this case it was surreal. The whole family was sitting in the gate area and waiting for economy to be called and the gate agent spotted them, walked over and told them to board now. The parents were like "..." but boarded anyway. The gate agent was IMO on a power trip anyway. It took extremely long to board the flight. 30 minutes to board (from first to last call) a bloody A320 (even if it's full) seems way too much. JL/NH can board a 777 with 500 seats in an orderly fashion within 20 minutes!
Nov 20, 2017, 3:37 am
#218
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,347
Which is fine, but why are families with kids well over the age at which they need a pushchair allowed to pre-board? I saw it too recently where the check in agent actively encouraged a family where the youngest child was probably 10 to -pre-board. In Dubai, I've had them call anyone travelling with children of any age to pre-board - cue half the plane standing up. I do think they should limit it to anyone with a child under the age of 5, for example.
Nov 20, 2017, 3:41 am
#219
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,347
This change has now been picked up in the Daily Mail (don't judge me) - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ket-price.html where they seem intent on turning it into some kind of class warfare - "British Airways passengers to board in order of their ticket price: Airline accused of 'losing the plot' over plan to make customers who paid the least get on last"
Nov 20, 2017, 4:07 am
#220
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC Silver, IHG Diamond
Posts: 7,768
This change has now been picked up in the Daily Mail (don't judge me) - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ket-price.html where they seem intent on turning it into some kind of class warfare - "British Airways passengers to board in order of their ticket price: Airline accused of 'losing the plot' over plan to make customers who paid the least get on last"
Then again, I sometimes buy a cheap £40 ticket from say LAX-LAS, sit in the QF F lounge eating and drinking champagne, and then board with group 2 and sit in my pre-selected extra legroom MCE seat, so it's not always a case of cost = better.
I'll have group 2 with BA when flying cheapo economy and I bet I'm paying far less than a lot of others around me.
Last edited by xenole; Nov 20, 2017 at 4:14 am
Nov 20, 2017, 4:15 am
#221
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,676
Maybe it's just me - but I'm failing to see why the outrage should occur in the newspapers.
Club and First have *always* gone before economy.
Economy HBO has not had seat selection prior to check in and thanks to theoretical seating - a blue on an HBO will be near the back and (correct me if I'm wrong here) since BA typically board front to back ... they are going to be last on.
So while this is codifying the process ... it's been like this for some time.
Club and First have *always* gone before economy.
Economy HBO has not had seat selection prior to check in and thanks to theoretical seating - a blue on an HBO will be near the back and (correct me if I'm wrong here) since BA typically board front to back ... they are going to be last on.
So while this is codifying the process ... it's been like this for some time.
Nov 20, 2017, 4:37 am
#223
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,197
I had a Southwest flight recently, and I have to say that I found their boarding system fairly painless.
Wait for your group, stand near your number, get called forward. Easy.
Edit - Wow @ some of those comments on that article. I guess that's the level of discourse on the Daily Mail site though.
Wait for your group, stand near your number, get called forward. Easy.
Edit - Wow @ some of those comments on that article. I guess that's the level of discourse on the Daily Mail site though.
Last edited by RG1X; Nov 20, 2017 at 4:42 am
Nov 20, 2017, 4:46 am
#224
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: EDI
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 466
I’ve read a few comments similar but after this morning’s fiasco at EDI (Gold called, people move out of line to overtake those not moving forward, Silver called 20seconds later, there’s now 2 queues moving into priority, Bronze called 20 seconds after that and there’s now 3 parallel lines pushing into the bottleneck at priority). You cannot start one group until you know the last one is finished.
Reality is that re-labelling the groups is irrelevant if there isn’t a total change in the process and staff behaviour. That’s what th focus needs to be on or we’ll end up with the same old frustrating free-for-all.
Reality is that re-labelling the groups is irrelevant if there isn’t a total change in the process and staff behaviour. That’s what th focus needs to be on or we’ll end up with the same old frustrating free-for-all.
Nov 20, 2017, 4:51 am
#225
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: BAEC Silver, IHG Diamond
Posts: 7,768
I've no issues with this as it won't really affect me.
I might be aggrieved though if loads of GCHs suddenly start bring 8 family members through with group 2 when they are group 4 etc.
But at the end of the day, it will only work if it's globally enforced and I will be most surprised if this happens. Educating those who don't want to be educated isn't going to be an easy task, at least at first, but some will resist again and again.
I do though expect some places to be better than others at handling things. T7 at JFK might have issues especially with one airbridge.
There's always going to be people crowding the gates to try and get on before the other 100 people in their group so that they can grab the overhead space etc. See it all the time with AA when you're in Group 1 and glances at boarding passes in front of you show Group 4 etc.
I might be aggrieved though if loads of GCHs suddenly start bring 8 family members through with group 2 when they are group 4 etc.
But at the end of the day, it will only work if it's globally enforced and I will be most surprised if this happens. Educating those who don't want to be educated isn't going to be an easy task, at least at first, but some will resist again and again.
I do though expect some places to be better than others at handling things. T7 at JFK might have issues especially with one airbridge.
There's always going to be people crowding the gates to try and get on before the other 100 people in their group so that they can grab the overhead space etc. See it all the time with AA when you're in Group 1 and glances at boarding passes in front of you show Group 4 etc.