waywardflf

Today at PHX, the GA--who had quite the shtick going trying to convince everyone to check their bags before boarding--explained the boarding order of our flight to ATL:

"Extra time"
Kids under two and car seats and strollers
Premium, being First Class and Diamond Medallion

and then he explained that because there were fifty passengers on this flight with Sky Priority on their boarding passes, that he would be calling the Sky Priority boarders in order of their elite status: Sky Platinum, Sky Gold, etc.

I had bought up this trip, so I wasn't there to see how that worked out. But boarding didn't seem any faster, nor the peeps any happier as they were filing on.

Has anyone else seen Delta boarding Sky by elite status?

Fly safely,
waywardflf

.

MSPeconomist

Some GAs take the initiative to do this for particularly elite heavy flights. It's been happening (although rarely) for at least several years.

gloyster

Wait, you're not a Sky Platinum? Back of the sardine tin with the rest of the kettles with you.

But in all seriousness, it sounds like the GA misspoke. Can't blame them -- must get old saying the same thing over and over again.

OnTheSlopes

While rare - like MSP said - I've seen some elite heavy routes board this way. Early morning SEA-ATL about 6 months ago. Then also experienced it ATL-somewhere I can't remember over a year ago.

paterwdb

I heard a first PHX-ATL this summer.

GA said, "if you are in Business Class, or if you are currently a Diamond Medallion, please raise your hand high in the air." Then she said, "if your hand is not in the air, please move away from the boarding door and let these people on the airplane. If you are blocking them, please move aside and let them through."

The funniest part was, as we were boarding F, watching people try to keep their hands in the air while pulling/carrying bags.

The only thing it actually made it helpful for was knowing who to say "excuse me" to as I was trying to make my way past them.

dzflyer

Great initiative by the gate agent i have thought they should be doing it this way for awhile especially the 9 am weekday flight to anywhere out of atl .....

GRALISTAIR

Agreed - rare but has happened when > 50% of the plane is medallion.

MSPeconomist

I see it most on the MSP-LGA and vv flights at key business times. However, my own travel doesn't often follow the consulting timetable so I probably don't experience the super elite heavy flights as much as many folks here do.

Rocco7799

I would not be happy. If I paid for C+ and SKY boarding, why should I have to wait within the SKY boarding zone for others to board first just because there are a lot of people in SKY? At best, I would send in a complaint via the website if a GA stopped me from boarding during this theoretical SKY Platinum zone.

javabytes

It's not going to go any faster - 50 passengers in the Sky zone will take just as long to board no matter the order in which they go. Platinums were probably thrilled and EC pax were probably pissed.