camdentown

Very messy boarding at DFW last Friday. Its a horribly designed gate area, so even more reason to do boarding according to procedure.
Didn't happen though and lots of people boarding via the wrong gate (A380) and having to use the internal stairs.

gw76

But that is the minority.. hence rush

etiene

Yes, that would be the definition of "complaining". My query was whether they were complaining that the system never works - despite being the arbiters of said system, empowered with making it work - or complaining that it's too much of a pain to implement - despite the fact that half of them don't bother.

Betteronacamel

Noticed the 'new' pillars on by day return to EDI today.

At both ends Group 1 were distinctly called first, and policed, which was handy as being in 1A and 1F I managed to snag overhead stowage without too much fuss.

It pays to be alert though as Groups 2 and 3 are called fairly quickly thereafter.

I'd forgotten how much carry-on baggage BA allows some passengers on Domestic/Euro as both flights (both rammed) required a significant amount of 'Baggage Jenga' which caused delays getting way both times.

aks120

Apparently that is a figment of your imagination and baggage never causes any delays if you believe the arguments on the baggage thread!

Regards

aks120

Betteronacamel

Just glad I was in front of the bun fight at the back!

blurt91

Had my first experience with IB in June and at both LHR and MAD groups all seemed to work really well. Don't know if I was lucky or this was normal....of course there is always the BHD solution and board straight from the lounge!😂 😂

chris87

I have to be honest, I can’t get too excited about this. A few years ago I regularly became very irritated when stuck in a big boarding queue (and usually stuck behind many people in higher group numbers than me).

A couple of weeks ago, I was flying to IAD in F (not that it matters, but it happened to be a Ł12k return cash fare, so not exactly cheap). Someone brandishing a WTP boarding pass and a silver card barged in front of me at the boarding queue, explaining “I have priority boarding”. I just thought “that’s nice”, smiled at him and let him shove his way through. I was definitely 10% irritated but eventually wafted to my seat about 90% less stressed for not having engaged in a rugby scrum to board.

Obviously BA should police this better and more consistently. But for the time being I’m not going to let it give me a heart attack.

ratypus

my recent experience is it's been done well on long-haul (Group 1 first) and badly on short-haul ("Groups 1, 2 and 3 - which is so many people it's just not worth bothering). It's definitely annoyingly inconsistent. The "pillars" don't help, because they encourage Groups 1, 2 and 3 to queue up / mass by the priority lane, which means even if Group 1 is then called first it's often impractical to make your way through.

I've just defaulted to being on early for long-haul (where they do Group 1 well, normally) to get settled and some work/reading done; I'm normally in J or F so it's nice quiet lounging time once on board; for short-haul I don't bother and just leave it late and board close to last: never yet had a real issue with hand luggage space, but I do travel very light on short-haul trips in Y and if I'm connecting to/from long-haul I'll normally be in Club Europe anyway

I find flying American more relaxing in this respect as they are utterly predictable in boarding by group number, every time (in my experience), and they police it properly at the gate

palcsaky

I overheard a couple of ladies during boarding at T5 recently and they thought the queue was for groups of 1 to 3 people so they queued there as they were a group of two. Made me chuckle. 🤭

Simonp27

BA0830 LHR-DUB this morning.
When ready to start boarding one of the Gate Agents approached the "new pillar" and invited Group 1s to approach the gates very clearly. I heard her turn back a couple of Group 2s. 2nd domestic flight in a row where Group 1 boarding was properly managed!

warp757

I assume part of the problem is that in my experience BA always start boarding so late that it's clear an on time departure is already impossible, so then there's a rush to get everyone on asap. In that situation to be fair it's pretty frustrating for everyone watching the top groups trickle in while the clock ticks by - while it shouldn't be one or the other, I imagine when it reaches that point most people would rather depart on time than maintain clear separation of boarding groups and extend the boarding process.

No idea why this is, late boarding happens without fail on my BA flights, noticeably later than any other airlines I fly, to the point it almost seems deliberate. But I guess more likely is they're just stretched so thin they're always playing catch-up, in which case priority boarding becomes one of the easiest sacrifices to gain a bit of time.

Lioneye

I think there should be a blood pressure monitor for groups 1-3 before, during after boarding.

Seriously people, you are doing damage to yourselves.

warp757

Haha, yes it seems a reasonable number of people seem to spend so much time monitoring that no-one is receiving any slight benefit they shouldn't, that they don't actually enjoy the benefit themselves. Sometimes I have priority boarding, sometimes not, it's rare I use it though as I'd rather spend a bit more time in the bar/cafe than standing in a line getting myself worked up. I usually have a carry on to stow, and to this day, I've never had a problem with it even if I don't get on first. Maybe I'll be unlucky one day, but all the stress I've saved myself every other time I fly will far outweigh that one experience.

It's interesting in the other thread about hand luggage how, surprise surprise, the most suggested solution is making cabin baggage available to status passengers only. Basically: "This thing is a really really serious problem, and a lot of other people are going to have to adapt to solve it."

Captain Schmidt

Depends on the gate and airport. In some places there simply isn't enough room for everyone to sit/stand comfortably so I guess they think they may as well stand in the queue.