Gate Lice Ettiquette
Mar 6, 2018, 10:39 am
#31
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Finally, the real elephant in the room is the early-boarding. Delta finally cracked down on animals on-board. They need to intervene to ensure only legit special needs/extra-time and legit families with small children board. Too many people abuse the system. If you can walk without assistance you shouldn't be allow to board in the extra-time zone.
I don't think Delta wants to be in the business of quizzing preboards as to their medical conditions.
Mar 6, 2018, 10:44 am
#32
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I don't think that most people who care about this actually think that cracking down on "abuse" will actually improve the process.
Mar 6, 2018, 11:00 am
#33
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If you want pre-boarding because of age or a medical condition then you should be required to request special assistance. I've seen flights with 10 extra-time passengers and another 5 or 6 families even though none of the children were under age 3 or 4. As far as the federal government seems concerned, someone is a child until age 26. So, "young children" could be a teenager. I also object to special boarding privileges for someone supposedly on active-duty military status.
Mar 6, 2018, 11:05 am
#34
Join Date: Apr 2010
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Boarding in ATL via B concourse with their cattle call style signs has increased the gate lice issue. Now the signs are all over ATL and spread to other airports. It makes deplaning purely awful in tight gates like the end of B.
Mar 6, 2018, 11:06 am
#35
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The situation would also be better if Delta's boarding matched reality. Premium is confusing, especially now that the premium-economy class of service is real. Then there's the up-sell situations in which Delta and other airlines sell priority boarding. Average passengers, many of whom are the problem, don't know the difference between premium, Sky Priority, zone 1/group A and whatever else.
Simplify it:
Zone 1, first-class/business-class (and diamond-medallion elites).
Zone 2, Sky Priority.
Zone 3.
Zone 4.
Zone 5.
Simplify it:
Zone 1, first-class/business-class (and diamond-medallion elites).
Zone 2, Sky Priority.
Zone 3.
Zone 4.
Zone 5.
Mar 6, 2018, 11:14 am
#36
Join Date: Feb 2017
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The situation would also be better if Delta's boarding matched reality. Premium is confusing, especially now that the premium-economy class of service is real. Then there's the up-sell situations in which Delta and other airlines sell priority boarding. Average passengers, many of whom are the problem, don't know the difference between premium, Sky Priority, zone 1/group A and whatever else.
Simplify it:
Zone 1, first-class/business-class (and diamond-medallion elites).
Zone 2, Sky Priority.
Zone 3.
Zone 4.
Zone 5.
Simplify it:
Zone 1, first-class/business-class (and diamond-medallion elites).
Zone 2, Sky Priority.
Zone 3.
Zone 4.
Zone 5.
It should really be:
Pre-boards
Zone 1 - FC/D1/DM
Zone 2 - Sky Priority
Zone 3 - Silver and Credit Card holders
Zone 4-x: However Delta wants to do it (I'd argue for a WilMA style or some other algorithmic way, but if Delta wants to keep their fare class system then so be it)
Done.
Last edited by ethernal; Mar 6, 2018 at 11:23 am
Mar 6, 2018, 11:18 am
#37
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 1,885
Finally got a gate assignment with the boarding pillars yesterday. Absolutely loved it, because they controlled where the gate lice stand. I always stand off to the side, as far out of the way as possible (by a window if possible) until I am ready to board. I refuse to queue up at the pillars. When they started boarding, it looked like the CF at WN gates, but when they called SKY, there was not a single person in the way. It was amazing.
DL has done a better job of enforcing pre-boarding abuses recently and too many carry-ons. I have seen a few people turned away and yesterday the lady in front was told to consolidate but kept walking. The gate agent yelled at her to come back and consolidate. I shook my head and the gate agent looked at me with that "sheesh, some people" look. It was pretty awesome to see.
DL has done a better job of enforcing pre-boarding abuses recently and too many carry-ons. I have seen a few people turned away and yesterday the lady in front was told to consolidate but kept walking. The gate agent yelled at her to come back and consolidate. I shook my head and the gate agent looked at me with that "sheesh, some people" look. It was pretty awesome to see.
Mar 6, 2018, 12:26 pm
#38
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Cleveland, OH USA
Posts: 454
I think this is the mouse in the room. I rarely see more than a handful of preboards, and I am unable to imagine how even a group of say 30 preboards would have any effect on the boarding scrum.
I don't think Delta wants to be in the business of quizzing preboards as to their medical conditions.
I don't think Delta wants to be in the business of quizzing preboards as to their medical conditions.
Mar 6, 2018, 12:27 pm
#40
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Mar 6, 2018, 12:38 pm
#41
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It makes perfect sense if you have a particular set of expectations, but the people designing the system have a different set.
In any case, it doesn't matter anymore with the boarding pillars.
In any case, it doesn't matter anymore with the boarding pillars.
Mar 6, 2018, 12:56 pm
#42
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I guess the lady though she had been standing in a "line"; albeit malformed and outside the lane.
If in doubt, I simply queue within the lane and wait for my call.
If in doubt, I simply queue within the lane and wait for my call.
Mar 6, 2018, 3:39 pm
#43
Join Date: Nov 2005
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Though Delta may ask a general question as to why they need to pre board. I.e. they can ask if they have a medical condition just not the specific medical condition. TSA has to follow the same when it comes to the nudi scope.
Last edited by FlyingUnderTheRadar; Mar 6, 2018 at 6:20 pm
Mar 6, 2018, 3:52 pm
#44
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In the MSP G18-22 area it can be an absolute cluster-F. No where to even sit if you want to sometimes and boarding is a free for all. One time I was kind of in the same situation... and a lady muttered about me cutting in line. There was literally nowhere else to sit or stand and I just shook my head and said go ahead of me. Then in typical passive-aggressive fashion she says, "you must be very important, since you have to cut". I just dropped it at that point and boarded. Then it turns out she was my seatmate in first for 2.5 hours. Awkward.