He must think it is WN

There is definitely a high correlation of business pax w/ rollaboard not checking their bag and people crowding the gate to board at the beginning of their zone.

If I am in a middle seat or non-exit row, I will grab a seat in the bulkhead (as close as a GM in ATL can get to the front!), but then you have VERY limited options to store your rollaboard, and it's 2x as bad on MD-88/90s or DC-9s.

Since all the non-upgraded DYKWIAs in the back will put their bags over my seat before I board if I'm not on before the middle of zone 1 (when the plane is 30-40% full) then I lose 10 minutes waiting for the whole plane to empty out so I can get to my bag in the back of the plane.

It only takes a few times of doing that before you learn to knock grandmas out of the way to get to the front of that line! ;)

http://i1025.photobucket.com/albums/..._6391843_n.jpg

This one this afternoon in ATL... Inbound AC hadn't even arrived.. 90 mins prior to departure he had already lined up.

LOL, don't people have better things to do?

I have a confession: when I was but a youngster (like <10), I used to sit waiting for WN flights from the moment that I got to the gate. 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes--it didn't matter to me.

*whew*, I feel better that I got that off my chest.

I'm with you on this one. If I have to fly a CRJ with F, I always take 1A. However, I have noticed over the past 2 months that if I am not numbers 1 through 3 on the plane, my bag has to go over row 3, which is ridiculous. This past Monday morning, I was the 4th one on the plane after being cut off in line by 2 DYKWIA's who "mistakenly" thought the agent was calling for boarding and not for gate check tags. Of course both had roll aboards that actually fit in the over head plus their laptop bags. One was 1C, the other 2D. Needless to say, even though I was 4th on the plane, my laptop bag went over row 3/4. I have now changed my seat on all subsequent flights to 2A just so I can fall back on putting my bag under the seat in front of me.

I understand getting in line to board and wanting to get on board to get overhead space but that's not what I'm asking. What I don't understand is the need to get up from the seats they have (yes there are plenty of seats) and then stand out in the middle of the concourse walkway rather than near the gate, obstructing the concourse walkway for everyone. There's plenty of room to stand near the gate out of the way but instead they insist on standing in everyone's way out in the councourse.

98 gate lice off the carpet
 

Flying ind-atl and i just counted 48 people standing in the walk way before any zones where called DL really needs to start cracking the whip on this issue

Is losing 10 minutes going to ruin your day?

You should come to China. When pre-boarding is announced, everyone just rushes the gate and boards. And the airlines don't do anything, because they can't. That's just how it works here. Try it sometime - the world will not end, and you'll still get a seat on the plane. Probably.

DL isn't going to do anything about this. The only solution is to become the 49th person in the scrum (if you want OH space). My view is that if they aren't going to enforce it, they ought to get rid of it so that people like OP don't think it's a real possibility.

Personally in China what I find even more amusing is when the plane lands (and sometimes even before) everybody gets up and starts heading for the door long long before the plane is anywhere near the gate

Why does the title say "98" but the thread say "48"? Why 50 more people listed in the title?

It is funny to watch the dynamic. Usually starts with a couple FFer's who for whatever reason want to be in the first 1-3 to board. Then you get a few more lining up behind them, some are general pax who are not sure what is going on and some are guys getting worried about overhead space. Once you hit about 10 it becomes a mass rush as people think they are missing out on something. Really gets accelerated if boarding starts 15m or so late.

Sorry i was typing on my phone. It was 48 either way i was upgraded so i did what i normally do which is have a seat laugh at the lice and enjoy knowing i get to push them out of my way to board in FC. I also enjoy the nasty looks of how come he got uograded and not me.