FriendlySkies

Some people like to have space in the overhead bins available when they board, vs. having to gate check or put the bag in the far back of the aircraft.

ILovetheReds

Especially if you are in the bulkhead and it requires storing all your items in the bin

FlyDeltaJets87

+1
IME, I've found that if you have a bulkhead, you can often board with First Class *IF* you 1) wait for all the passengers who are in First Class to go ahead of you and 2) ask/tell the gate agent as you're handing him/her your boarding pass, so as not to give the impression you're trying to "sneak" ahead of your boarding group "I'm in the bulkhead. May I go ahead and board to ensure I can get my carryons in the overhead?", they will almost always allow you go ahead and board. I'm sure that will upset some on here, but I've done it before when I didn't have priority boarding and it's worked.

jamesteroh

Last time I had a bulkhead was in February when I flew LAX/DTW and my boarding pass said PREM on it, so it could be a recent change. They had a couple no shows for first class, and the GA came on board with a new boarding pass and by then all the first class bins were full, so it helped out there as well. We used door 2L to deplane with and the FA was blocking economy so first could exit first so it really helped being able to just grab my bag on exiting in that case.

When I am in the bulkhead is the only time I gate lice so I can be one of the first on with sky to insure bin space.

gooselee

I've definitely flown in bulkheads since Feb and always just have SKY on my BP. When Mrs. Lee (with no status) travels by herself and gets bulkhead, she gets Zone 1 by virtue of being in EC.

Were you connecting to/from a flight where you had been UG'd?

FlyDeltaJets87

I had a bulkhead (EC) back in March - I had just dropped back to FO from GM. I had Zone 1 on my BP.

HatAndJacket

I understand that... I had meant to bemuse why one would want so badly to be the FIRST ones one the plane, as opposed to just boarding with enough time to get some overhead space

I hear what you're saying... but if they were actually in bulkhead or had SKY on their boarding passes, do you think the GA would have been so strict on them? It looked like they had to get out of the SKY lane and wait for general boarding.

gooselee

+1. I've absolutely seen GAs being far more lenient with SKY and Zone 1 folks, and very strict with the 2/3 folks.

Unfortunately, SKY is usually where all the DYKWIA-bend-the-rules-just-for-me folks are...The 2/3 folks are usually just clueless.

I did just think of one early morning flight I was on where a Zone 3 got booted when trying to board with SKY. He immediately looked horrified and when he was stepping aside, said something to the effect of forgetting that he was on DL today and was on autopilot with priority boarding with his usual airline. He wasn't DYKWIA at all, I think just really zoned out that early in the morning. I can't say I couldn't see myself doing that at the end of a particularly long week and ending up on an AA or UA thread somewhere. I once took a cab to LGA D terminal and it wasn't until I had asked a TA for help because the kiosk couldn't find my reservation that I realized I was flying FL that day.

mattp1987

I'm with you on this. Going at the end of First when you're in a bulkhead and have Sky or Zone 1 isn't so bad. However, a couple months ago I was boarding a flight in F. Two men were standing near the scanner and I saw one urge the other to come on, and they got in line. I assumed they had cleared at the gate and the one man was telling the other that it was ok to board with F even though his boarding pass didn't say PREM. They were ahead of me in line, and I we approached the scanner I noticed at least one of their boarding passes was for a seat way in the back with Zone 2 or 3 boarding. The GA turned them away. ^

jamesteroh

No, was a direct flight from LAX/DTW. And after I typed that post I remembered I had SDC'd from a LGA/DTW to a EWR/DTW flight a few weeks ago and was assigned a bulkhead and I'm pretty sure when I checked in I had zone SKY (I was upgraded at the gate so don't remember for sure and it was an RJ anyway so bin space wouldn't have mattered), so not sure why I had PREM on the LAX/DTW boarding pass.

It would make sense to give SKY boarding to everyone in a bulkhead regardless of status. I've never understood why a kettle gets priority boarding on an Exit row but not a bulkhead.

jamesteroh

I don't think status should matter when in a bulkhead. A bulkhead is normally EC anyway, so if a person isn't skypriority to begin with, there is a good chance they paid for the EC seat anyway, and getting binspace in a bulkhead is just as important for a kettle on a T fare as a diamond on a full Y.

It is good to hear about GA's not tolerating people boarding in the wrong zone. I was on a LAS/DTW a year or two ago and the GA announced they were boarding First Class and anyone with PREM on their boarding pass could board at that time. I was upgraded and heard an older lady telling her husband to hurry up because they were boarding and he said they had zone 1 on their pass and didn't think they could board yet. She told him "we have a Delta American Express, we get priority boarding as a benefit" and they were behind me and the GA didn't say a thing and scanned their BP and let them board with first. What really ticked me off in that situation was we boarded from door 1-l and she tried putting her bags in the first class bin To the FA's credit she called them out on it when she saw them walking to coach and said they to move their bags. Lady wasns't too happy but came back up and got them and they put both their rollerbags, her purse, his briefcase and both their jackets in the bulkhead bin and continued to walk back about 8 rows to their seats, I think the FA should have called them out on that as well.

mattp1987

EC does get Zone 1 boarding just like exit rows, so unless it's a plane where the bulkhead isn't EC they should at least have what Delta calls "priority" boarding. However, I would have no problem with the bulkhead being changed from Zone 1 to Sky. I can also think of at least one 757 configuration, the 75U, where the bulkhead aisle and middle are considered EC, but the window seat isn't because the exit row slide protrudes into the legroom. I wonder if the person in 19F is stuck with Zone 2 or 3 boarding.

gooselee

Agreed.

You're talking about maybe 6-18 pax total depending on which plane you're on, and as most of the bulkheads are EC, I'd be willing to bet that half of them are elites with SKY anyway.

And they actually have a good reason for wanting to board early.

cbalaska

I've been quite entertained the past 20 minutes by the guy next to me in the Sky Club ranting on the phone to his assistant about telling the hotel that "I have lifetime platinum status and I don't care if the hotel's oversold. They HAVE to give me a room for the last night of the draft or it will jinx me and be bad karma" ( he's apparently a scout for a college baseball team). Ok dude... We all get it. Sheesh..... Where's my plane?

HongKonger

Could it be because they sometimes need to shift people out of exit row seats if they don't meet all the requirements, and they'd rather know that early in the process?