javabytes

The cattle call does not get the plane boarded any faster. GA's are perfectly capable of seeing when there are 3-4 people left in line for the current zone and calling the next one, ensuring a constant stream of passengers getting their BP scanned and on the plane.

pvn

No, I believe you. There are tons of people who get irritated because they think the process could be faster. I think if they actually experienced a significantly faster boarding process they would change their tune.

ethernal

Uh.. what? The gate agent and boarding pass scanner is not the bottleneck. The bottleneck is the people on the planes and trying to get settled. And unfortunately Delta's boarding process (as is the process for most legacies) is the most inefficient in for throughput as a result of their priority boarding process.

Everyone is always in contention for the same seats with priority boarding. PREM fights for first class seats, SKY fights for the same set of seats, and Zone 1 generally fights for the same seats (preferred). And to add insult to injury, once they finally start to fill up the back of the plane, they get interrupted by trying to in-fill the middles.

Point is, boarding PREM to Zone 1 together will always be faster than boarding them separately. In general, boarding Zone 2 followed by Zone 1 and then a mix of SKY/PREM would probably be even more optimal (not even getting into more efficient structured boarding processes).

DCP2016

Delta always has boarding chaos at the hubs (NYC, ATL, DTW, MSP, SLC, and SEA in my experience). The outstations with very little elites are usually the calmest.

stillontheroad

No I was not complaining. I had just never seen them board in a mass group like this. It was comical that they said that they were running late (they were not) boarding started at T-40 min and were boarded withing 25 min and the flight was ready but then we sat at the gate for another 15 min.

Again no complaints just never seen them board in this manner

apodo77

I've never understood having passengers sit in the jetway all the way to the boarding pass scanner. Doesn't get the plane boarded any faster. There's a GA in PBI that looks down the jetway and when there are only a few people left calls the next zone.
Anecdotal but seems to be a quicker boarding process when that persin is doing the boarding.

bretthexum

Go to Japan and see how fast they can load the 777. It's amazing.

Gig103

Even though PREM/SkyPri are competing for the same F and C+ space, the inefficiency is still okay in my book because at least there isn't a crush of people ahead and behind. It's easier to give someone a touch of breathing space if there aren't 40 more people backing up the jetway.

And as pvn points out, not all of us care how fast boarding is. That's the Delta GA's concern, not mine. IMO, gate lice and boarding groups are all attributed directly to the competition for overhead bin space. Southwest lets anyone who wants to check a bag (or two) do so, and they don't seem to have the constant announcements about gate checking, or delays on board, or people having to go several rows past their seat to stow a bag (and even worse, the upstream salmon trying to retrieve it for disembarkation).

bigshooter

I can't believe that many people were in a rush to get to Omaha

BenA

DCP2016

Also I haven't seen this at United or American (unless they hide it better) but who's bright idea at Delta was to board those who booked T, X, or V fares to board in Group 3? I get sticking Basic Economy last but I don't know why they have to punish us for picking up a cheap fare.

jdrtravel

UA and AA also do this, to an extent. They just have even more boarding groups so you may not be the very last.

eliendea

I realized when the airlines have a delay the staff is forced to work as fast as possible because every minute of delay at the airport costs a lot of money. Unfortunately customer satisfaction is often ignored in these cases.

3Cforme

Somebody has to go in Zones 3 and 4. If you're not SkyMiles elite, it's you. It's lack of elite status, not deepest discount fare class. Silvers can buy T/X/V without fear.

OhDoctor

As long as DL continues to upsell priority boarding at booking, as a perk of status, etc., I think people have a right to be upset when that "benefit" disappears.