Is it true that not all flights have Elite Access or that Elite Flyers can board first? I was on a ERJ from BWI to EWR last Friday and as we know the overheads on those aren't big enough for a box of donuts so everyone wants to get on first. There weren't any delays and there was no Elite Access rug on the floor and when boarding came the GA said that she was boarding by rows. Is this common?

I fly lots of RJs (unfortunately), from DCA and BWI to EWR primarily. In DCA, I've always seen Elite Access lanes for the RJs. Same for EWR. Can't remember if there was or wasn't on my last RJ out of BWI.

Best strategy for the RJ, IMHO, is to ask for Exit Row (row 12). You're far enough back that you'll get on in the 1st half of boarding, and if you have something that can fit under the seat, you have PLENTY of legroom even if the underseat area is totally occupied by your "box of donuts".

If you were going out of D8 (which I suspect you were) there isn't really room for the rug, signs, etc. There are signs and rugs at the other 3 gates at BWI afaik. She might have boarded everyone at once if the flight wasn't very full.

I've always seen the rug, but quite often they just board everyone through the Elite line.(talking ERJ's only)

To me, it's more annoying that security lets anyone go through the EA security lines (IAH mostly) Most of the time I have about an hour between flights and want to "nip out" for a smoke. Knowing you can get back through security quickly is a big help!

BWI only has it at only about 50% of the gates. Acutually itsa plus as many of the EliteRugs(tm) are really getting filthy and curly, ie non-flat. They look filthier than many of the TSA footprint rugs.

MisterNice

I have run into that many times (where there is no Elite Access signage or carpet), usually in smaller gate areas or smaller markets. If they start boarding by rows and the flight is pretty full, I just walk up and give the gate agent my boarding pass and have never been denied boarding early.

Last week (can't remember if it was LAX or IAH) the entire plane was boarding on the Elite Access blue carpet. When I arrived from the P.C., I went into other lane without the blue carpet and the gate agent wouldn't even look at my BF ticket until checking in 5 or 6 passengers from the other line first. I felt like a complete idiot standing there alone being ignored by the agent.

On my EWR-BOS flight, the gate agent apologized for not running Elite Access but said she wanted to board by row because 80-90% of the pax were Elite Access customers.

Flew BWI-CLE last week (from gate 12 IIRC).

Carpet was missing. Must have been 35 people with Elite Access boarding passes.

EliteAccess has become a joke at most airports. On all of my flights out of EWR, IAH, JAX, RSW in the last 2 weeks, the EliteAccess carpet was ignored and boarding occured the "old way". There was no separate line for Elite Access members during boarding. To make matters worse, they make the 1st class and elite announcement at the same time, so 1st class passengers who aren't standing at the door at the announcement need to wait behind the 20-30 non-1st class passengers to board. This begins to get ugly when Elite members decide to use the 1st class overhead bins before heading to the back for their seats.

Come to think of it, the only CO flight this year where I noticed EliteAccess somewhat working was at Narita --they created three check-in lines at the gates there, one for economy (boarded last), one for Elite Access / Elite members (boarded second), and one for BusinessFirst (boarded 1st.) There was a carpet in Narita but the JAL agents working the flight rolled it up and moved it away prior to boarding process.

Flew out of SEA yesterday. Sign placed on the floor next to the jetway door. No sign of carpet.

Oddly enough I was at SAL yesterday, but did see both sign and carpet off to the side, probably because there was no CO flight anytime soon.

Last time no Elite boarding at EFD, we'll see if they have it Saturday.

EmailKid

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I am NOT a tin elite! Then again, what the hell do I know?

I've flown 20 segments in 2004 (upgraded on all 20). I can count on one hand the number of times they've boarded F before Elites. This week, I flew EWR-ATL-IAH-DFW-EWR, and only the DFW-EWR segment had a separate call to board F.

Since I'm not paying for F, I'm not bothered by it. I just hang out at the gate until the first boarding announcement, and try to be one of the first in the queue.

They've had the blue carpet out, though, for all the flights.

BTW, for those of you counting, I finally did take advantage of the carpet last week. I decided to hang out at the PC at BOS until 45 minutes before my flight because I had a good experience with the new Elite line the last time I flew.

Well, this time they were feeding passengers from the regular lines into the Elite "secondary" line on the right. This caused that line to back up and result in a half hour wait for the Elite line - still better than the seeminly 60-90 minute wait in the regular line.

At any rate, after getting pulled to the front of the line by a CO representative getting people to CO flights departing shortly, I found myself at the gate at the beginning of regular boarding. Not only was there a regular line of people boarding for "rows 20 and higher", but I couldn't even make my way to the end of that line due to the passengers gathered around the start of the boarding area.

So I just walked down that blue carpet to the end. I attempted to catch the eye of the person "next to first" in the regular line to "sneak in". They were having none of that and tried to hand their boarding pass to the gate agent...who politely asked the guy to wait and gestured for me to step forward. I handed over my boarding pass and proceeded down the jetway to my paid first class seat.

I may not be a star but at least I'm getting some small measure of comfort for my business.

perhaps i dont fly as much as you all do, but i have never seen CO ignore EA. they have always made the announcement. even at GSP (only RJ's). i have, however, seen situations when the agent will allow everyone to use the EA line once the EA's have boarded, which completely nullifies the "board at your leisure" concept. no big deal though. I have also seen, many times in new orleans, that there are actually more elites than regular passengers, therefore rendering EA useless. i guess there's not much you can do about that. i think everyone who flies CO out of new orleans is platinum.