ethernal

I don't know, I'm quite partial the new UA system. It really speeds up boarding, especially on elite heavy flights. Mixing F and main cabin boarding is ideal from a total boarding speed perspective. Boarding 1K first is just icing on the cake since most flights will have a smattering of those in F and Y as well.

There's a reason United boards most narrowbodies T-30 instead of Delta's ridiculous T-40.

CPMaverick

I believe there is exactly one reason, and that is to sell credit cards / C+ seats with the 'Board with Zone 1' benefit. Sounds a lot better than Zone 3.

KimchiExpress

Gosh, is boarding order really that big of a deal in life?

For me, I am not too eager to get on board and sit in a crappy seat - even in Business class.

Sometimes I will purposely get on last and just hand my carry on to the attendant - to 'attend' to it.

And on Southwest and other airlines without assigned seating I never get on first. I prefer to choose who I sit next to rather than the take a chance with the 'smelly person lottery.'

Lomapaseo

are u able to find it later when you de-board from your seat 23b ?

pvn

it's not relevant enough on its own to deserve a standalone thread, it needed to be merged in somewhere, this is as good as any other place.

flamingocrazyfl

Tine Rod

C+ is such a small group in the grand scheme of things , I doubt it adds to a zoo like atmosphere. The zone poaching is all too real at DL though.

What I absolutely hate is the hand holding of the zone placards in Asia, without any discernable order except "this looks like a good spot". Always a pain in the butt to find my spot which is usually PREM or SKY, but I have to climb on top of folks to find it.

As an aside , I get panic attacks if I'm sitting on the tarmac and the air isn't flowing in a hot environ. On one trip I had the brilliant idea to just forfiet my C+ sky zone and board last. Except I got stuck 2nd to last in the tunnel with zero air flow, and the line at a complete standstill. Is this what goes on in zones 2/3.. Suffice to say, I always board with an ice cold bottle of water. Bringing up the rear ain't fun.

AeRoSpaceman

Here in PNS there are no pillars. Only to lanes "PREM/Sky Priority(left) and General Boarding(right)" As soon as the last Sky Priority customer is thru that lane it is roped off and then Group 1 and the rest goes thru the General Boarding lane.

Gig103

Roping off the SP lane is lame and shouldn't be part of Delta's policies. Late, but priority, boarding is a nice perk of elite status (especially when you have lounge access).
On the flip side, in PHX last Monday they never opened the general boarding side, everyone just kept flowing through the SP lane. Which did cut down on gate lice, but isn't the spirit of the two-lane system.

gypsycsc

This! I'm fine with the boarding order as it's presently done, but please, Delta, enforce the boarding zones! Most people scan their own phones so the GA never even sees it. It's just way too easy to board whenever you want, and a number of people seem to take advantage of that.

Gig103

It would be cool if the BP scanner was tied into the zones, and would deny anyone who isn't eligible yet. Bonus: If you cheat, you are downgraded to Zone 4.

Qwkynuf

When I have arrived at the gate after Zone 1 has started (almost always due to a ridiculously short connection - I'm looking at YOU, DTW!), I have always just stepped into the Priority lane and waited quietly at the rope. In every case I can remember, the agent finished with the person they were scanning and then came over & let me through the barricade, taking me next.

Zorak

Interesting, I haven't done a ton of TPAC but that's not my experience at NRT/HKG. While they don't have stanchions or clearly-delinated holding pens, IME the sign holders and other employees walking the gate area are really good about shepherding people into the appropriate line and very approachable if you are unsure.

If you had said JFK, I would have agreed They tell people D1/SKY on one side and everyone else on the other but within those two groups it's still somewhat undifferentiated mess.

reimero

The one thing I dislike about this is that I have status (typically PM, but just hit DM for the first time) and my wife doesn't, and when we travel together (which isn't common), we prefer to board together. Granted, we're usually on the same PNR but occasionally we are not, and I like being free to ask if she can board with me.
I do ask in advance, though, and have never been told it's a problem.

The most, shall we say, "interesting" boarding experience I had was on Emirates out of DXB. Emirates boards by letter: A, B, C...
Anyway, they had done the pre-board and were doing group A and there was a not-small number of travelers who rushed the gate to board, who were turned away because they were not the correct zone. One couple insisted on arguing with the gate agent, but she stood firm. Then she called group B and the whole scene played out again (I think the couple was group E). By the time my group got called, this couple was staring daggers at everyone who was allowed to board before they were.

reimero

I like it better than what we have at a lot of airports here, where as soon as the gate agent announces that preboarding will begin in 2 minutes, all the zone 2/3 pax bum rush the gate so it's impossible to get through when your zone is called. And I've got really mixed feelings about each zone getting its own cattle chute at places like ATL, since it doesn't so much relieve congestion as create a different form of it (especially when SKY is basically right up against trash cans.)