pvn

I'm not so sure about that. There is a significant number of people who suffer intense psychological trauma anytime someone doesn't FOLLOW THE RULES, even if the transgression is otherwise harmless. They are definitely massively overrepresented in the frequent flyer community.

Ordhater

No argument on that, but at some airports, particularly Atlanta, I think one of the biggest problems is gate space. Especially on the A and B concourse, it's not uncommon for a 757 with 200 seats to be at a gate with enough seats for about 40 people. With no place to sit, people just crowd by the boarding door.

RooseveltL

Not a Delta only problem.

With mobile boarding passes the issues is further compounded as if someone isn't require to show their boarding group and hides their mobile BP until they scan it in the machine - they can have Boarding Group 5 but queue in Group SKY as no one has visually verified their BP before the scanner clears them to board.

Airlines will need expensive technology to queue lanes like United but a pre-scanner either portable or turnstile which validates someone is allowed to the correct lane.

bgriff

United does this -- boarding pass scanner makes an error noise if someone tries to board before their zone and GA turns them away. I find DL agents are usually pretty good about checking zones on paper boarding passes, but they don't on mobile phone boarding passes, and the screen they see on the scanner doesn't tell them anything otherwise.

Having the scanners set up to buzz would also presumably force the agents to use the functionality where the monitors in the boarding area display what boarding zone is active, since I'm guessing the two things are tied to the same entry of "we're on this zone" in the computer. (I could be wrong about that though.) Right now I feel like agents use the screen displays very infrequently, though to be fair I am usually one of the earliest boarders as a DM so don't know what happens in the gate area after I've gotten on board.


Ironically my least organized Delta boarding process in years was when departing HND, which was a free-for-all, and by many orders of magnitude the least organized thing I had seen after 2 weeks in Japan.

DCAproducer

I fly between Delta hubs and major markets frequently. Often DCA-ATL-DCA, NYC-DCA, etc. Out of DCA the medallion ranks are high. It's normal for a line of medallions to form a long line at the gate 10-20 min before boarding. It's comical to see who's normally first at the end of the SP carpet.

What I love is when I'm in PREM and most of the line doesn't move when they call PREM because many are just SP.

The SP/Premium thing I think is the biggest clog, not the people in zone's 2, 3, 4 who normally sit until boarding is underway, knowing they're boarding later. Just my 2 cents.

Also, at DCA they've installed markers for the different zones, similar to Southwest, but different than the experiment at ATL. They are a total mess and have taken up half the boarding area, which were already tight.

awayIgo

"Somebody who is charged a fee + a nice penalty will adjust their behavior the same way Pavlov's dogs managed."

Precisely, people do it because they get away with it. There is also no reasons the smartphone boarding passes can't also say the zone. Its a computer programming situation. Granted there will be anger and it will initially take longer when people are sent away. BUT the message will get out and they'll learn. As someone said, Southwest does it. ( their problem is saving seats ON the aircraft)

AirborneCattleCar

United's system already does this, so I'm shocked Delta doesn't. It's the best because it lets out a long beep and everyone gets to give the offending d-bag a nasty look for trying to jump boarding order. It's also trivial for the gate agent to dismiss the beep if they're traveling with a passenger in a lower boarding zone.

bgriff

I think the mobile phone boarding passes do say the zone, but the issue is that usually the gate agent never sees the smartphone boarding pass -- the gate agent just gestures for you to scan it yourself. So they can't/don't police the zone listed on the smartphone screen. Handing your phone to the gate agent to look at is probably not an ideal alternative since some people may feel uncomfortable about that and Delta probably doesn't want the risk of liability if a gate agent should drop and break a customer's phone.

Perhaps the little screen on the scanner could show the passenger's zone, in addition to their name and Medallion level like it shows now, but no idea how hard that would be, and those screens are pretty small so characters are at a premium.

rylan

Yes the mobile pass says zone, however the GA doesn't see it unless the stop you and ask to look at your phone to see the little text area of what zone you are in.

I still like the idea of the error beep if you are boarding with the wrong zone.

Often1

This is also part of DL's problem. Forget silly marketing hype names such as PREM and stick to a boarding group number. Start at 1 and continue to whatever number it takes to break out the groups.

BG 1 ought to be the first to board once people with medically necessary pre-boarding and who may therefore self-identify at any time have boarded.

I would like to think that most people who can afford an air ticket can count to 10 and can also recognize a "2" when they see or hear it.

DCFinanceinFlight

You must not have much experience in sales or marketing.

For most, the draw of the CC is "Zone 1 Boarding". For people who travel 1/2x a year, they think this boards first.

A CC that boasts boarding with Zone 3 does not have the same impact as Zone 1. Just my 2cents.

MCO Flyer

I agree with this but an easier solution could be to rename Zones 1-3 to what they really are to Zones 3-5. UA and AA tell it how it is so why can't DL. The new boarding post don't really work well especially in DCA. DL recently brought these new lanes to DCA but the gate area is too small for it. On my recent DCA-ATL flight, the line to board was chaotic with people lined up at Gate 19 all the way into Gate 17 which also had a flight boarding at the same time.

KDCAflyer

The other carriers market their cards without any mention of the zone. Just call it priority boarding and leave it at that.

tuono07

Living in ATl and traveling about 3 weeks out of the month, I've seen just about every incident of Gate Lice, preboarders that can run off the plan to make a connection, People with kids waiting to board in their zone ( clogs ). 8 to 10 people traveling together that preboard because Grandma need to...........
I always check my bag so I'm not worried bout overhead space ( I almost never have to put backpack under the seat)
I've just decided to hang back, have a coffee and wait till the bulk of people are on board, walk to me aisle seat, stow my bag in the overhead or on very rare times under the seat, buckle up and take off.
Custs my time on the plane easily by 20min.
BTW I have seen them turn peope back at the gate for wrong zones and if you look at the faces of your traveling companions, A good bit of them are unsure of the process and totlly stressed out about not getting baggage storage.

LAStotheWorld

I actually appreciate the Japanese domestic airline way of boarding. They usually start boarding at T-15 and manage to get everyone on board and push out on time. They don't push out on time EVERY time, but when they are late, it is only by a few minutes. My experience only covers JAL, ANA and Starflyer but the boarding efficiency is amazing.

Boarding starts with preboarding followed by passengers with status. Then, they will allow people starting from say, row 17 and up to board first. Then passengers seated up front are allowed to board.

This prevents congestion up front early and allows everyone to get on the plane and leave on time.

The Japanese line up in orderly fashion anyway and tend to think of the group/others first instead of themselves, but a structured boarding order that was actually strictly enforced could do some good for domestic flights here in the US. (not Southwest free-for-all style)

In contrast to international flights, where each airline seems to do it the same, and somehow, passengers all of a sudden forget how to board an aircraft.

I will admit though, the gate agents at HND do not play around with people boarding. The other day I saw a Zone 3 passenger get shutdown hard when trying to board with SKY. I wish I had her name, I would write a letter praising her specifically.