Smid

This is my biggest bugbear of this. They invented a system of priority boarding then threw away the smallest, highest priority and board them together,

There isn't usually that many in Group 1. There's about 400 odd people waiting to board that flight from LAX, and about 50% seem have priority boarding of some kind, Invent the system, and don't just bloody scrap it.

IAN-UK

I would say something to you if you did that to me
What exactly has been done to you? Delayed you entering the aircraft by a couple of seconds ?


Surely life's just a bit too short to get yourself wound up over such pettinesst

Probably better to let a rush of patience and goodwill towards others lift you above it: you never know how aggression might escalate.

Plus you risk looking a bit of a dick if the Seated One turned out to have a gammy leg or some other hidden disability Or is there a no exceptions clause to your rule?

missdimeaner

My reply to anyone ‘pulling rank’ inappropriately would be the old adage age before beauty (smiles).

MiraculousM

So in your argument, what is stopping anyone from pushing in?

SHT88T

I think it is a simple case of having a bit of situational awareness.

We can’t have it both ways by complaining about people who line up early creating ‘scrums’ but also then complain when those who keep the gates free try to take their rightful place in the queue ahead of us based on when they arrived.

I’ve been on both sides of this and with a bit of respect, it is easily managed. My personal approach is two fold; 1) if I am the person who wants to join the queue from a seat, I am aware of my position in the queue and don’t try to join before it’s my place.
2) If I’m in line I tend to take a glance around those already seated when I join the queue and make a mental note they have been here before me. Should they wish to join the queue ahead of me, that’s no problem. After all, they were at the gate before me and followed the usual request of ‘take a seat and do not crowd the gate’ while waiting for boarding to begin.

This has gone way OT, perhaps we need a ‘How to not be a DYKWIA 2020’ help thread with a Wiki of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour? 😂

windowontheAside

I think it's perfectly acceptable for people who have a seat near the queue to join when it starts moving. Not everyone is able to stand in a queue for an indeterminate time.

For those that think it's out of order - are you saying such people should therefore always have to board at the end?

If someone standing in a queue doesn't have the wits to notice who is already present and factor that into their thinking, then frankly they deserve to feel wound up by events.

Nick Art

I would like to expand on the term gate lice: I wouldn't think of it as degenerate objectification of a subgroup of people, but rather a fun and creative word to discribe the masses that usually, but not exclusively, crowd the gate area long before baording starts or their group is called. It isn't meant as an insult, at least not in the cases I used it. I totally understand it for I too always wanted to board first due to an unexplainable drive to it and some illogical anxiety, but I have etried to control myself and have been rather successful in recent years. Luckily due to the status that comes with flying I've been allowed to board first, which has made that urge to crowd the gate kinda go away, since now I rather opt for either boarding as very first or as one of the very last people (Depending on cabin class, overhead availability and my mood that day).

I didn't see that many issues with the term because I thought it was used in good humor and mutual understanding here. Similar like the terms "cattle class" or "unwashed masses" which I have reduced myself to use only with people who understand that I use these terms only in good humor, for the exact reason that the terms appear rather unrespectfull and insulting if taken seriously.

But as always this obviously goes both ways: There are always some unfortunate souls that think of themselves as better than anybody else, being it because of sitting in the front or because they define themselves to a metal colored plastic card. But I've experienced it just as much the other way around where some people sitting behind make snobbish comments about the people boarding first or sitting up front.

Just recently on a flight from ARN with me sitting in 3C, the boarding was in full motion when a queue in the plane corridor. There were two rather young and shaby looking guys starting to make comments in the likes of: "Oh look here's where the better people sit" and "To sit here you must htink of yourself as better than everybody behind" or "What a bunch of snobs" etc. I've refrained from giving a passiv aggressive answer in the likes of "Sorry, I couldn't quite udnerstand you over the sound of me drinking my champagen" or "Yep, looking at you your assesements are certainly correct." Those would have been just unecessary and rude and additionally at the time I couldn't think of any good answer.

While arguably this could be seen as a case of them seeing themselves as better or more deserving of the front seats than the people sitting ther or maybe as them thinking thepeople sitting there thought themselves as better than anybody else (because surely there isn't any other reason to fly Business Class). I'm sure one could write a whole book abotu the psychology of people in different booking classes while boarding airplanes.
In conclusion I've found the comments to still be rather rude. It's not always the DYKWIA but sometimes it's the people saying DYKWTTTA (Do you knwo who they think they are?).

It's unfortunate that some people seem to see a class difference due to their boarding time or the class which they are flying. These are of course only isolated events, I still think and hope that this is the opinion of only a minority and that the majority of people don't define themselves over their cabin class or boaarding time, we are after all still all human and frankly I think it isn't to much to ask for to treat each other respectfully no matter the cabin class.

Sharratt4

Good to see this thread for 2020 continues its predecessor's tradition of slavishly not going off topic!!!

OverTheHorizon

LOL the above posts put me in mind of sitting in CE at LGW the other day, and a woman in the aisle looking in my direction and saying "why would people pay all that money to sit here ?".

As I somewhat agree with her I just smiled broadly and went back to my Sudoku 😀

dougzz

Agree. I wish the Mods would delete the lot starting with mine which is obviously OT in mentioning it.

BlueThroughCrimp

Isn't that what the pre general boarding call is for, people who need more time. I doubt anyone has said that people with additional needs get on last in this thread.

BlueThroughCrimp

Actually, I think it's doing a good job of showing up sub-concious DYKWIA behaviour.

MiraculousM

This is probably a dumb question but why do they board business class first? I mean, when you think about it logically, would they not board the back of the plane first, then WTP then business? The back of the plane is likely to be less experienced travellers, take longer to get on and if i had lounge access i would much rather sit in the lounge than wait for boarding to start? Im just curious. As mentioned before, i have to get on the plane early due to anxiety but if they stopped us down the back from putting our bags above the wrong cabin, then why dont they just do that?

percysmith

Pre-departure drinks, a legitimate concern on CW (but CE?).

Greenpen

Because business passengers usually are carrying the equivalent of three carry on suitcases and can’t get it all in the overhead lockers.