wythy

The handling agents do not have the time luxury on Domestic flights.

KARFA

Is the boarding time for domestics the same as short haul though - so starting 30 mins before departure? - identical to aa who operate a group boarding system too? Why would the time pressure for domestic be any different than short haul?

It seems that if aa can manage it on an identical timescale then BA should be able to as well for domestic & short haul.

wythy

Domestic flights get shorter turn around times. An A319=35mins / A320=40mins / A321=45mins. Short haul ex LHR gets an extra 5mins and flights ex Europe get an extra 10mins. That has to also includes disembarking and cleaning. So 30mins as you suggest is unrealistic. Boarding 30mins before departure is only doable on the fist wave departures as the scheduling time doesn't allow for it during the day.

Many people like to wax lyrical about AA's abilities, I'd be interested to know what time frame AA allocate for their turn around operations. I suspect it's more than what BA allow.

KARFA

Where are you getting the turnaround times from?

LBA (all A319s) is 40/45/50 minute turnaround (i.e. scheduled IN time to OUT time) depending on which rotation you look at. MAN which has a mixture of the A320 family has A319 of 50 minutes, A320 mostly 50 minutes (have seen the odd 40/45 minute) and A321 all 55 minutes. These seem to be pretty much identical to scheduled turnaround times for short haul at outstations as far as I have experienced. EDIT: thinking back I remember once seeing 35 minutes for a JER turnaround which jumped out at me as being unusually short for BA, but I certainly haven't seen that elsewhere.

I can confirm having taken many domestic flights both to and from LHR that boarding usually starts at 30 minutes or a few minutes either side - same for short haul. I have not managed to detect any difference in boarding times for short haul or domestic from LHR.

wythy

You're quoting schedule times, however, if the aircraft arrives late, which they often are ex LHR, then you're reduced to the working time of the aircraft as quoted. Typically, in the summer schedule, BA schedules 5mins above the working time of the aircraft, so for example, if the aircraft was down to be operated by an A319 (35mins working time), then the schedules will show 40mins. Still not enough time to allow 30mins for boarding. As for LHR allowing 30mins for boarding as you suggest, then BA schedules more ground time in LHR which they do not for the out stations.

KARFA

Thanks. However as noted though the schedules don't regularly show 40 mins for an A319. I am still not clear where you are regularly seeing scheduled 40 mins for an A319 at an outstation? As noted this isn't typical at LBA/MAN and schedule is average of 45/50 minutes for an A319.

EDIT: to get back on topic I am still unclear why the new system can't be implemented for domestic flights and my experience is there is sufficient time to do it. Other airlines are able to do similar boarding periods with similar group systems so I am sure BA can if they put their mind to it - which I think will be the biggest issue since we have all seen half arsed attempts by BA in the past to implement a proper boarding system

golfmad

We can criticize BA IT for many things but I'm not sure there's anything wrong with that especially if it helps ensure a smooth transition on 12th December.

markle

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Gig103

What if the rule was that those who need special assistance MUST check-in at the counter with an agent, who would update their BP? I'm not even saying that the agents should be verifying the need, that is probably illegal. But putting a barrier in the way of it would deter those who are making up excuses to line cut, and BA could then capacity control it (I believe Southwest only allows one additional passenger to join each 'assistance needed' passenger).

catandmouse

Isn't this doomed to failure as have been all previous attempts, because of lack of enforcement by gate staff?
I don't entirely blame the gate staff, they're under stress to board everyone quickly and don't have time to faff around, the gate area at LHR is too cramped because of all the retail outlets to organize people properly.
Do we really need 5 1/2 boarding classes? Horribly complicated.

drwilliams

I think having it on there early is a good thing. Maybe people will ask what it is for and be educated before the 12th.

nallison

The problem I can see with this is that it doesn't seem to have been designed with efficiency in mind at all. I guess from the responses people are more concerned at being on first for whatever reason, but as someone who prefers getting on towards the end (and yes I do have a bag), I'd rather they just made the whole process quicker. Having hand baggage only passengers get on last, who one presumes are likely to have larger items, and have chosen this option to avoid checking anything seems rather perverse as well. And it will be very front loaded one assumes, which will slow things down. But I guess if that's what people value, rather than minimising the time spent in a very dull process, BA are right to do it that way.

From my personal experience though, I still really don't get this massive bag space anxiety. I've very infrequently actually seen bags being taken off people, flying all sorts of airlines, and I can't help thinking it tends to be massively exaggerated in people's minds, either to justify the need to be 'first' or just out of natural anxiety about something we're not in control of. It boggles my mind when I see people getting in their line an hour before departure and I think 'they actually paid more to be able to get in that queue?' It doesn't really seem much of a perk, especially as you could get on mid-way through and there'll be plenty of space. They never look that relaxed...Personally, if its that stressful I think I'd rather just check a bag and take one small enough to put under the seat in front of me. It's probably less stressful waiting at baggage reclaim than dealing with all this anxiety and standing around in a line for longer than necessary.

highexpectations

As much as I’d love to agree that’s just not the case. I’ve watched the turnaround for 12 years and on a weekly basis and although I know they’re short, the gate staff spend much of their time, once everyone has disembarked the arriving aircraft, standing waiting for the cleaning, security checking and what not to finish. What they should be doing instead of standing waiting is to start making announcements about how they’ll be boarding the aircraft, filling up the general boarding line from the back row of the aircraft to the front of the aircraft and going down the priority line ensuring those who are eligible to board first are actually standing at the front of the priority line. It really is not rocket science and they do waste a heck of a lot of time standing there doing absolutely nothing

highexpectations

Still no group mention with the iPhone boarding pass as far as I can see.

rssfed23

So I’ve just boarded from a15 (16:40 to FRA) and the gate agent sent back 4 (yes that’s right: four!) individuals at different points of the line ahead of me.

I only heard the final one be sent back but she said “sir we’re only boarding Gold or Business Class passengers at the moment you are silver can you please wait a couple of minutes until they’ve finished”.

So either the apocalypse is about to begin or gate agents have started to enforce the existing rules I’m assuming in preparation for the changes as I’ve never seen anyone sent back before let alone a Silver. Both agents did it as well 3 got one and 1 person the other (the silver) which was also surprising to me. When I have seen some of the rules enforced I’ve never seen them enforced by both agents consistently.

Encouraging stuff!

(on an unrelated note this a321 also has a proper business class and IFE in economy with USB charging points. So that’s two first experiences for me and BA today as I assume this is one of the 321s used on the longer ET routes?)