daloosh

It's all gate-lice theater. By changing things up this way or that, it looks like the airlines are addressing the problem. But the real problem is that UA and B6 and DL are further monetizing the checked baggage game by raising prices to $30 for the first piece, turning people into nervous nellies trying to get their bags into the overheads. And driving people into paying for credit cards to get the bag benefit. But do any of us think that mixing up lanes or pillars will fix gate overcrowding? Really?

Gig103

Except, and I'm not a road warrior so maybe my sample set isn't large enough, the pillars address the problem better. Gate lice are all silo'ed and out of the way of other passengers during boarding. On AA, even the priority lane had gate lice, so when I was zone 3 I'd have to try to figure out who was zone 4 and crowding. With DL, when Skypriority has its own lane I can see it no problem and know that I can just join the queue when I'm ready.

daloosh

Fair enough, how about it somewhat alleviates but doesn't fix overcrowding?

But when the lines get long, they snake and double back and ah, "pillar lice" get wrapped up in them. And then sometimes there are multiple Sky pillars and people are getting in the wrong lane thinking it's zone 1 and other shenanigans.

kop84

Some of the biggest offenders of gate lice are people in PREM and SkyPriority boarding. It has little to do with the bag fees. The biggest difference between now and the past wasn't the bag fees, it's the load factor. In 2002 industry load factor was 72.61%. In 2018 it's 82.43. In addition to that airlines have put more seats on the same planes. I would suspect those two things far more than bag fees are filling the bins.

https://www.transtats.bts.gov/Data_Elements.aspx?Data=5

No_Name

pvn

The criteria that airlines use to determine the best boarding method is not "what's fastest".

They certainly care about boarding speed, but only to a degree. After a certain point, shaving an additional 2 minutes off the process doesn't really create any advantage for them, especially compared to monetizing the process and/or using position to make elites happy.

dafunk10

I too think the majority of the gate lice problem stems from people's anxiety towards overhead bin space....IMO, the way to fix this is flipping the way we think about checked bags vs. carry on....I think the below would alleviate some of the gate lice problems along with making deplaning so much faster, but likely would prove less profitable for the airlines (due to needing more resources at the counter, monitoring OH bin usage, etc.)....of course, this heavily favors the frequent flier (selfishly so, for me )

-- 1st checked bag (<50 lbs) free for everyone
-- 2nd/3rd/etc bags have a cost for non-medallions; fees waived based on status
-- personal item that fits under the seat in front of you is free
-- item in overhead bin have a fee for non-medallions; fees waived based on status, but limit to 1 bag in OH bin per passenger

MSPeconomist

pvn

In theory there is ALREADY a limit of 1 item per pax in the overheads.

The offenders of this rule are almost invariably DMs.

jdrtravel

If they find a real fix for the carry on baggage issue, where nobody is ever anxious about finding space, this problem disappears. Lots of people would prefer to not board early just to sit, me included.

BusTrav8yrs

The pillars have made a HUGH difference. Everyone has a place, there is order in boarding that was not there in the the free for all days.

yeah there still is spillage out to the corridor but that cant be fixed

jrl767

daloosh

Sure, I agree that more people equals more crowding and more stuff on the plane, but I wouldn't dismiss bag fees so rapidly. Many of us on FT don't pay bag fees due to efficient packing, or status, or credit card, or quick turnaround business travel, and perhaps we're not tuned into them, but my friends and relatives who pay that extra $50 (and now $60) per trip are acutely aware of the added cost. And we see how much crap our fellow travelers are dragging onto the plane..

HUGH gotta be kidding!

ethernal

This is true, but just like some folks here are ignoring the value of boarding monetization, I don't believe Delta fully considers the impact to customer experience from long drawn out boarding processes. I get to board early... but I really don't want to board early, I only board early because I want OHB space. And because of that.. this means being at the gate a ridiculous 40 minutes before departure - which means leaving home 20 minutes earlier than I otherwise would be.

I'll admit I'm guilty of this. I put things in the OHB if I am in regular economy (which I am in usually half the time or more). I am 6' 4" and I need a place to put my feet. If I am in C+, F, or a good exit row I do put my personal item under the seat. Call it entitlement but I don't feel bad about it given the price I pay for tickets relative to the cost of my seat for Delta to provision. Right or wrong I've never been challenged by an FA on this before (and they always see me do it as they hang out around the last row of the plane.. which I'm usually in). I bet fewer people would put things in the OHB if the densification trend was reversed (which of course it won't be).

pvn

Good lord, it takes a lot of chutzpah to complain about having to board early to get overhead space while at the same time admitting that you consume more of it than you're supposed to.

YOU are the reason you have to board early!