AAExPlat

This reinforces what I have been saying for some time. CO is a TERRIFIC airline for non-status fliers and low level elites. It is good for high level elites, but IMO nowhere near the top of the heap for them. YMMV.

bocastephen

We certainly don't want to adopt UA's stupid boarding method - how many Silvers and Golds want to lose your EA boarding benefits during general boarding? Raise your hands. Hmmm...I don't see any hands

It really should be quite simple - figure out a reasonable cutoff for the number of Elites on a flight in Y where boarding should be done by status vs. normal. If the number of elites in Y exceeds this number, board by status, if not, use the normal EA boarding process.

It's really not that complicated.

channa

What's the difference between the UA boarding process and what you described? It's just that the assumption is that the flight is using the Elite heavy process all the time. So if you have a flight with no F or no 1K/GS, then the boarding moves on to the next group which includes the next status.

The issue that most people have is the carpet lane. UA only allows 1K/GS and F/C to use to use the carpet. If they just took what they're already doing, but allowed *G (and maybe *S) to use the carpet, I think that would cover most issues.

UA-NYC

Not really sure how much Silvers/Golds are giving up with the "UA method". Sure they lose the right to stampede the line post-F with 50+ other Plats/PPlats/fellow Elites. They're still going to board before 50% of the other pax, and they're still going to get overhead space.

bocastephen

That's the problem - blocking later arriving non-top tier Elites from using the carpet.

If they allowed all Elites to use the carpet throughout the boarding process, how would it differ from what CO does now?

walkerci

If there really are too many Elites there is a simple solution:

Silver >= 50,000 miles
Gold >= 75,000 miles
Platinum >= 100,000 miles
Presidential Platinum >= 125,000 miles (on CO/UA metal only)

Works for me!

channa

The difference would be that 1K/GS/F are called first, then *G/1P, then *S/2P.

Critic

Since even low-level elites can bump into E+ on UA metal, they'd still be boarding in Zone 1, so it's not that much of a 'downgrade'.

Xyzzy

Bzzzt!! @:-) If you board elites by rw then I, as a Platinum who likes to sit near the front, will not have a shot at overhead bin space. I've been there, done that, and gotten the baggage claim check to prove it. Boarding elites by status is fine, but by row? Fuhgetaboutit.

TWA Fan 1

Once, when flying EWR-LAX, the gate agent announced that since virtually the entire plane was elite, they would "quickly" board the handful of non-elites first.

I boarded in this group, feeling like one of the truly privileged few

pptp

The whole point of the thread was to alleviate the congestion caused specifically by elite heavy boarding. Doing it by level does not accomplish anything toward this end. Only by-row does. Like I said, if you don't want to do it by row then why even bother changing anything because it will still be a cluster-pluck in the aisle.

Might as well just leave it like it is.

belynch

Sure it does. Here's a hypothetical:

75 people have Elite Access.

25 are Plats
25 are Golds / Star Golds
25 are Silvers.

If you board by elite level, only 25 folks board at a time.

If you board by Elite Access (current system), you have 75 people during their best George Costanza in a fire impression.

pptp

Problem is, most of those 25 per group are toward the front. Still gonna have the bottleneck and the line up the jetway since all 3 groups will pile up at the front of Y. Doesn't matter which one you send down first.

carvalh2

Boarding by Elite tier would be nice, but to me, the only advantage to boarding early is the bin space, and unless there truly are 100 elites in one flight, this should not be a concern.

Anyways, one thing I never understood why it hasn't been done before, is why not hand out a little piece of paper (or double the size of the contract of carriage slip that gets stapled to the boarding passes) with carton like drawings (similar to the safety cards), to teach people how to board more efficiently and faster?

Most casual travelers do not know that the best way to stow luggage is wheels out. Also, most people forget you can use the space under the seat in front of you only temporarily, then move it behind your feet after take off. It could also illustrate about putting winter coats and the like on top of bags after they have been put away.

By the time they hear the announcement about not taking up overhead space with coats, it is usually too late.

I think some good creative drawings, even perhaps adding some humor, could do wonders, at very little cost.

Ikea does this very well:

belynch

Agreed that most, if not all, of the 75 would be towards the front of the plane. If the GA spaces out the boarding, this would help alleviate the bottle-necking.

I think we're looking at this from two different perspectives. Myself and (I can only imagine others) are talking about the scrum that occurs before entering the jetway. Once the que forms in the jetway (where you see it as a FA) things are relatively orderly. Yes, no doubt boarding would go faster if people were boarded back to front. But, seeing as there's a finite amount of space on board, most elites would cry bloody murder at that*.

I'd also say, as a counter-point, that elites generally board faster than non-elites simply because they have more practice in stowing their items, and being efficient. Sure, there are loads of exceptions to that rule.






*I might be an exception, but if I'm not traveling with a roll-aboard, I strive to be the last person on the plane, whether I'm in Y or F. No need to sit for an extra 20 min. if I don't have to.