gitismatt

your BIS miles as FO are worthless. cardholders have more clout. see also: MQD spend waiver

MS02113

Not exactly. Cardholders aren't (yet) eligible for complimentary upgrades (not that FOs often receive them), companion upgrades, preferred seats, discounted Economy Comfort, bonus mileage, priority check-in and phone service, or SPG Crossover Rewards.

gitismatt

those are all passenger benefits. cardholders have more clout to Delta than BIS FO members

MS02113

They're all passenger benefits that BIS FOs receive and non-Medallion cardholders do not, disproving your claim that the latter group has more "clout."

Hawaiian717

Window-middle-aisle (aka WilMA) boarding groups dates at least to the mid-1990s at Shuttle by United. I don't know if it was around earlier but that is where I first encountered it in their zone boarding; pretty much everyone else, including mainline United, was boarding by row numbers. The idea is that by having aisle passengers board last, they don't have to get up and let the window/middle passengers in to sit down if they came later. It sounds good in theory, but I think there were some studies a while back that showed it didn't matter a whole lot.

WilMA breaks though with elites boarding first, as an elite in an aisle seat who boards early will still have to get up.

Assigning group by checkin time would pretty much mirror Southwest's system. Which, incidentally, has a pretty good system for people who need extra time to board. They're given special ticket jackets, presumably after someone else has already verified their need to board ahead of time.

sethb

The statement was about cardholder, not "non-Medallion cardholders". Those are different groups.

Anyway, the "cardholder" clout is held by Amex, because they pay Delta actual cash money.

gitismatt

passenger benefits mean nothing to the airline. in fact, those benefits for FOs cost delta money (or at least prevent them from earning fee revenue). this means that a cardholder provides more revenue to delta in the form of Amex's payment to Delta, the fee revenue they can collect, and the money they are not spending on some of those benefits.

im not talking about who has more clout as a passenger. I'm talking about who is worth more to the airline.

MS02113

Exactly. Advocates of the window/middle/aisle boarding strategy mistakenly assume that all passengers will be present at the gate at the start of boarding...

...and, as you point out, don't account for elites boarding early.

21A

Kind of off topic, but you do know that you don't have to line up for a new BP, right? Just board with your existing one and the reader prints a receipt for your new seat...

Xeno

Yes but I was trying to save time because the GA had a spare moment before calling up the first group to board.

scottsam66

I think the idea is, adults can handle the regimen required to deal with the peanut allergy fine without any special boarding; while children with this issue will need more time.

Ledfish

I am surprised that no mentioned that the big rush to board as early as possible only came about when the airlines started discourage checked bag by charging fees. Sure you had a certain amount of carry on luggage before that among business flyers.

So it would seem to me that the quickest way to put a stop too all the madness would be to allow each person a free checked bag AND then start charging for carry on. Bin space would then open up widely and no one would have any reason to rush to board.

Madrugada

I don't see any change here. The GAs don't always follow the exact wording. I think their job is to get the aircraft boarded, not worry about policing who is or is not in a particular zone that has been called. I always took the pre-boarding to be mainly an honor system. If the pax feels they need extra time to board they can do so. It is not the GA's job to judge the pax's fitness. If people abuse this, it is a reflection on them not the airline. I see plenty of elites put both their carry-ons in the overhead, so just because you are an experienced flier does not make you more honest or considerate.

The reason people don't check bags is not only cost. It is the time wasted at baggage claim and the fact that 1.8 million pieces get lost stolen or damaged each year. This is a hassle even if their is nothing "valuable" in them

bdschobel

I occasionally fly super-cheap Spirit Airlines, which is based in my home of Ft. Lauderdale and has some incredibly low fares as well as nonstop flights to places I like to fly. Spirit is weird in lots of ways, but one unusual thing that they do is charge MUCH MORE for carry-on bags than for checked bags (and they charge for both kinds!). People board quickly with very little stuff, and there is always plenty of empty overhead-bin space. It's quite a different experience from the majors. (I'm not suggesting that all airlines should do this, just pointing out that your experiment has been implemented by at least one real airline, and it works.)

Bruce

babe11

Sounds good; however, I've seen MANY kettles place their carry on's just behind FC (coach bulk head) and walk to the back. Doesn't take long for one passenger to see another place their carry on close to the front for other passengers to say, "Hey! That's a great idea!"