FlyingUnderTheRadar

Yes several times. The last time was at JFK I was patiently waiting outside the gate area. You could not hear a damn thing but people were moving to board.
Given I was in FC and the number of people boarding I figured they had called FC so I moved to the gate through the mass of people. Turns out they had a large number of pre boards. As such, when I got up the GA he said we are doing preboards only.

I looked at him squarely in the eye and said they needed to get their act together as one could not hear any gate announcements and with the mass of people around the gate it was difficult to get to the gate area. They got the message and boy did the announcements start coming.

That said for some time now I compliment and gripe directly to the GA when they do not board via zones nor make appropriate announcements.

kitkat77

I actually saw this on my flight last night - evidently they gave the same seat to 2 standbys? They made the standby in the seat get out and deplane, though, and gave it to the later occupant (fwiw, I had been talking to him in the gate area and there know he was both standby and GM).

As to the original subject, I don't know what they need to do, but they do need to do something. The gate areas get outright crazy sometimes.

I've also seen a non-upgraded SP person park themselves next to the SP sign and remain there, blocking it, while FC boarded and tripped over him and his carry on(s). I took it to be passive-aggressive irritation that he wasn't upgraded.

Rocco7799

When they did that in DTW, only Zones 1-3 had to line up. SKY and PREM just boarded normally.

I liked that method as a Zone 1 boarder. However, the signage was not that visible.

houserulz77

This issue all stems from the desire to get on the plane first. The desire to get on the plane first stems from pax wanting to secure bin space for their carry-ons. It's a cascading problem. People who don't need to pre-board do so anyway so that they can find a place for diaper bags, or simply to get out of zone 3. Then, seeing that so many people have already boarded, the SKY Zone folks try to squeeze in with the Premium Zone folks. Then the Zone 1 folks try to squeeze in with the Sky Zone folks, and so on. The need for bin space is, in large part, a product of pax not wanting to pay to check bags. If you want to fix the boarding problem you have to fix the carry-on problem.

Because you do not need to eliminate all carry-on baggage, just some of it, I think one solution would be to allow folks who are paying to check a full-size bag, to also check a smaller bag for free. If you did that, you could eliminate gate checks on a vast majority of flights. Over time, people would realize that there is generally enough bin space, and they would be in less of a hurry to board.

keeton

The gate agent has to take crowd control into account as well. Over-zealous enforcement could start a lot of arguments (fights?) and generally be counter productive. Everyone finally got on the plane, didn't they?

That AMEX "priority boarding' perq has cause a lot of confusion with the infrequent flyer crowd. This is an education issue, though, and should be clearly addressed at the gate.

zimme333

Why does DL have PREM, SKY, and then Zone 1? Answer: To make everyone feel special and confuse the heck out of infrequent travelers.

Why not have just Zones 1-5 which would be much easier for everyone involved. I think the main problem is the infrequent traveler sees Zone 1 on BP and thinks they are first in line when really they are 3rd (or first runner-up).

richardinmotion

Bingo

I also believe more people are bringing on carryons because of more high $$$ stuff they don't want to check.

houserulz77

At the very least they could go Premium, Sky, Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5. Then you make it clearer while still contributing to everyone's sense of entitlement.

motytrah

Because the slogan "Board in the 3rd wave of passengers" doesn't move Amex cards.

readywhenyouare

Why has Delta stopped using the automated boarding announcements? This problem didn't seem as bad when they were using the gate announcement system. The system repeatedly reminded everyone of which zones were boarding. Much better than listening to a gate who sounds like they have a mouth full of marbles. The system also made Delta unique as no other airline has ever used such a system.

Often1

If DL would just enforce its own carry-on rules, none of this silliness would be necessary. Those with non-compliant carryons should be told to step aside and have their bags gate checked after the last zone is boarded. The bags would be tagged to the baggage office at the final destination and could be claimed after the scammer pays their checked bag fee + a significant penalty.

If the carry-on issue were dealt with, the boarding issue would become a big nothing.

brocklee9000

I have seen many times where, in anticipation of a very full flight (whether it's a 763 or a CR9), the GAs make repeated announcements (before boarding announcements, so the gate area isn't as loud or in pandemonium like when boarding is announced) that passengers can come to the desk, voluntarily check bags, and won't even be charged for it. I've seen this on domestic and international flights. A lot of people don't take that option IMO, probably because they have items that are valuable/fragile/they think are fragile or valuable (as has been mentioned upthread), they want to have their things with them (gotta have the laptop and the iPhone and the iPad and 12,000 other things), or they want it gate checked so they don't have to pick it up at baggage claim later.

motytrah

The problem is the GA's main concern is closing the boarding door before the countdown timer expires on the gate terminal. If they cross that line even one second they have to provide a written reason to station management why it happened.

Now, if executives would like to staff up extra GAs to enforce baggage and boarding policy then there might be something. But I wouldn't count on it.

Rest assured, the folks at corporate will have a series of meetings yet again about how to make boarding better. They'll put money into even more convoluted policies and programs, and then give themselves a big pat on the back for wasting a bunch of money. But heaven forbid they actually put an extra low-wage employee at the gate.

BamaGirl

And, as a tangent to this--I seem to be encountering a lot of GAs who don't bother to block off the general boarding line when boarding the Prem group. Just adds to the mess.

MSPeconomist

I've seen GAs try to bribe people to gate check carryon bags before boarding starts by offering drink/snack coupons. It's even better than being able to check the bag for free if you bring it to the gate. However until late and damaged bag percentages are believed to be significantly improved, some passengers will understandably continue to avoid checking bags, either during check in or at the gate.