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, 1:49 am
#181
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,967
The Independent is taking an unsurpringly left wing view. Also they seem to have multiple and slightly different articles covering this.
https://uk.yahoo.com/style/ba-paid-l...102700831.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/...n-airlines-a80
Actual quote is "And on FlyerTalk, Karfa proposes their own boarding system: “1. Me. 2. Everyone else.” "
Apologies if this has been mentioned before, I looked through the thread and could not see it.
https://uk.yahoo.com/style/ba-paid-l...102700831.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/...n-airlines-a80
Actual quote is "And on FlyerTalk, Karfa proposes their own boarding system: “1. Me. 2. Everyone else.” "
Apologies if this has been mentioned before, I looked through the thread and could not see it.
I have felt the need to get an agent to arrange my further media appearances
Nov 19, 2017, 2:01 am
#182
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: The Hague/London
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, BA LTG, Hilton Diamond, FB Platinum, EK Gold
Posts: 366
Hi - There are 3 elements that we had to change, the airport printed boarding pass,the print at home boarding pass, and the mobile boarding pass. This is the complexity of the project - so many platforms that have to be changed, along with the front and back end systems. Some are complete, others just finishing up. It did not make any sense to turn some on and not others which is why we have 12 December as the launch date. This ensures that all 3 options of boarding passes are available, and able to be scanned.
Nov 19, 2017, 2:11 am
#183
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: 63,814
The question that arises is of course what happens when we get more automatic boarding gates? I haven't used one yet and I imagine there will still be staff there to manually board those passengers who for whatever reason cannot use an automatic gate but this will end up being the slow lane as it will largely be dealing with 'problem and incompetent cases'. So whilst the gates will doubtless be programmed accordingly one would hope that check-in or lounge staff might be able to override the normally assigned group to those of the highest within the group where families or partners are travelling in different cabins or have lower priority.
Having said that, it will remain the case that for many shorthaul services the majority of passengers will be in Group 1 and Group 2, particularly if guesting is allowed, and a minority in Group 3 to 5.
Nov 19, 2017, 2:19 am
#184
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,771
I take it from cayman4522's comments that the linked feature will be for those on separate PNRs.
Can he/she/others confirm that from launch on 12 Dec, those on the same PNR will automatically get the same group number as the highest status-holder on the booking?
Can he/she/others confirm that from launch on 12 Dec, those on the same PNR will automatically get the same group number as the highest status-holder on the booking?
Nov 19, 2017, 2:34 am
#185
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Switzerland
Programs: AY+ Platinum, SK Gold, BAEC Silver, airbaltic VIP, Radisson VIP
Posts: 6,531
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29075281-post151.html
The other question I saw was will people travelling with someone who is in a higher group be able to board with them - answer is yes, as long as you are not a huge group! There is a fix that will come in 2018 where people who are 'linked' in FLY will have the same group code, but this is another fix that will have to take place and we did not want to wait any longer for small fixes like this. We wanted this delivered this year, so we will manage the anomalies for now Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Nov 19, 2017, 2:40 am
#186
Join Date: May 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 5,380
I think this was sort of anwsered in post 151:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29075281-post151.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29075281-post151.html
Nov 19, 2017, 2:51 am
#187
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,771
I think this was sort of anwsered in post 151:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29075281-post151.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29075281-post151.html
I think it's the former but would be good to have that confirmed.
Nov 19, 2017, 3:25 am
#188
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 38
I think you have to look at what is 'reasonable'. A GCH with 3 kids, or a stag group with 10? The GCH with 3 kids - sure, not a problem, the stag do with 10 would be no. I think that we also need a bit of help from the GCH community - so if you know you have a large group, perhaps you could tell your party up front that they will have to wait and board with group 4/5. At the end of the day, you can make those decisions and either be the culprit of diluting your own benefit, or taking the approach of what is reasonable. No one really wants to argue with you, but when the shoe is on the other foot, and someone else has that big group in front of you I would be interested to know what you are thinking
Nov 19, 2017, 3:36 am
#190
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 38
A morning smile for all of you who have not seen this
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/
Nov 19, 2017, 3:51 am
#191
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,248
Good luck with that!!
Hilarious.
Thanks for your valuable input on this thread and good luck with the launch. You'll have no shortage of feedback from this community at least.
A morning smile for all of you who have not seen this
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/
Thanks for your valuable input on this thread and good luck with the launch. You'll have no shortage of feedback from this community at least.
Nov 19, 2017, 3:58 am
#192
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: 63,814
A morning smile for all of you who have not seen this
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/
Nov 19, 2017, 4:10 am
#193
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,967
EDIT: and I enjoyed the poem too
Last edited by KARFA; Nov 19, 2017 at 4:20 am Reason: Typo
Nov 19, 2017, 4:11 am
#194
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: 30,536
I think the main hope is that it means that pax with the lowest place in the pecking order are most likely to have their compliant hand luggage checked in if there is not enough room. We have had several threads where status pax complained that their luggage was checked in despite being compliant, but if things are enforced properly now, this should presumably occur much less frequently.
Nov 19, 2017, 4:17 am
#195
Join Date: May 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 5,380
A morning smile for all of you who have not seen this
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/
https://www.simonarmitage.com/thank-you-for-waiting/