defrosted

I would argue even the bag thing isn't an issue, if you are boarding after C+ but still plat or gold medallion, you should still have plenty of space as you are still ahead of Main Cabin.

Although I do agree with you about all these people and their damn checked luggage size bags as carry on. I mean I get why they do it (so don't all start losing your collective minds at me) but seriously they are making a choice to take a bag that size on the plane, nobody is making them do it. Whatever risks are what they are.

TheHorta

Weekend Away

For those of you who board early(ish) but aren't sitting first .What are you doing? Don't you get bored watching everyone else board? Worse if you aren't window, because then you have to wait for a lowly non-status, ewe, am I right, squeeze past you to the center seat. God forbid you don't get to show silvers or United/American/Southwest/Alaska/Jetblue, etc flyers that you fly Delta more than they do..

beachmouse

My kettle self has had group 3 once or twice. It's been when there have been last minute family emergencies where I bought a (non-BE) ticket the day before departure and decided to play seat roulette and see if the computer would throw me into a preferred seat rather than taking the lone last 'free' middle seat in the back row by the lav.

High value fragile items. I'm married to a photo dude. No airline wants the responsibility of even part of his camera kit in the hold.

And there are plenty of common travel items that the airlines don't want in the hold for safety reasons. Remember the pushback from pretty much everyone when the TSA seemed to be trying to force everyone flying any flight that touched US soil to check laptops because it created more danger over lithium battery fire concerns than it solved as an anti-terrorism measure?

What they need are a reasonable number of seats in each gate area that reflects the number of seats on the plane scheduled to be at the other end of the jet bridge. Instead the typical short haul gate area seems to seat enough for a CRJ 200 even if there's a 767 parked on the other side of the picture windows. Even the areas of the carpet that looks reasonably clean will get snapped up as seating space at times.

I'm at about 1-in-3 for the VPS-ATL leg on any given trip. I suspect it's a low response rate for that route because I'm not sure what you're supposed to say about it- 44 minutes wheels up to wheels down, and as long as you spent more time in the air that day than you did on the ground at VPS awaiting for Atlanta ATC approval to take off and/or cruising the tarmac at ATL trying to find a gate, you forget everything about the first flight by the time you're ten minutes into your connecting flight.

hockeyinsider

I have a friend who works for NBC. He flies 2-3 days per week for NFL and college football games as well as other sporting events. All the camera guys travel with their cameras and gear. They have Pelican cases equipped with TSA locks and RFID tracking. Nothing has ever been stolen. He says insurance covers it too.

Delta, American and United all wave the excess baggage charges for anyone with a media credential.

beachmouse

No media credential for my guy (he's in higher ed), and he's seen the 'American breaks Pelican cases' video so I do my best to get plane tickets that will give him nice bin access and try not to roll my eyes at his gate hovering tendencies.

reimero

The big thing for me is that the overwhelming majority of my travel is for work and my carry-on is large-ish (but still fits in a CR2) and consists of stuff I can't gate-check (electronics, batteries, medications, etc.) and on some of these flights - especially on older aircraft - that space disappears in a hurry. So, that's a big reason I like boarding early. The bag is also really heavy, and so standing around the gate area holding it is more annoying that sitting in the plane waiting for others to board.

I also want to mention a couple other things that were brought up earlier in this thread:
First, I don't like the term "gate lice." But I will also say that I've seen honest ignorance of the rules ("what do you mean this isn't Zone 1???") and willful ignorance of the rules. One of the more entertaining instances happened on an Emirates flight when a couple with boarding Zone E tried to board with Zone A and was rebuffed. After arguing with the GA for a couple of moments (and the GA held her ground firmly but politely), they stood off to the side and glared daggers at the 4 boarding groups who were allowed to board ahead of them. And they had to go to the back of the Zone E line!
I saw something similar on an international DL flight, but it was harder to tell if it was a case of "I don't speak English" or "I'm going to pretend I don't speak English" since it was actually a decent number of people (like, a dozen?) who were affected. Again, the GAs were pretty strict about boarding zone (yes, on Delta.)

Last point: I'm a new DM (spent a couple years as PM) and earned status the hard way (i.e. all Main Cabin fares, on miles and dollars rather than Amex waiver). In the grand scheme of things, I don't see this making much of a difference at all. I don't consider myself "special" or anything, but I do appreciate some of the more, shall we say, material loyalty rewards I've received as a PM and DM, not because I've attained such an exalted status worthy of diamond-encrusted gold-plated plastic drink cups, but because I spend too much #$&^ing time in airports and on planes and every little bit I can get to make things suck less is appreciated.

It's Delta's playbook and Delta's rules, and in the grand scheme of things, the only thing we're actually owed is to be delivered to our destinations in the cabin class for which we paid. They have a loyalty program because it's good business to have a loyalty program, and they'd much rather my annual $10k+ in ticket spend be with them rather than a competitor, and I'm going to travel with the airline that makes my experience suck the least.

NoStressHere

As a DM or PM - you still get to board well before the masses. The only people in front of you are 1st Class and C+. And, I would guess you get one of those often anyways.

So, you still get to board early and able to store your carryon. I can not imagine ever having an issue finding space for your bag - right?

Zorak

At least once I've boarded last in PREM to find no more room in the F overheads, and everyone studiously ignored me when I asked if anyone maybe had two bags in the overhead and would mind putting one underneath to help me out decided gate checking was the path of least resistance.

So, it happens. Frequently, no. But "imagine ever"? Definitely yes.

bergamini

Yup, it's amazing how nobody owns that. When I used to do carry-ons this happened a few times to me. Once the FA put in a cabinet and another time I had to go back to like row 8.

jdrtravel

Many people have reasonably sized carry on items that can't be checked, and therefore have real reasons to value their early boarding benefits.

ATOBTTR

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weekend Away

Shut up and quit b****ing. I fly almost exclusively basic economy and there's no reason I should get Sky Priority boarding when I fly BE. Not sure this change will affect me much in that, but who cares when you get on. Stop trying to bring a damn checked bag as a carry on and the ONLY real issue goes away. You still get the same seat you paid for regardless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weekend Away

For those of you who board early(ish) but aren't sitting first .What are you doing? Don't you get bored watching everyone else board? Worse if you aren't window, because then you have to wait for a lowly non-status, ewe, am I right, squeeze past you to the center seat. God forbid you don't get to show silvers or United/American/Southwest/Alaska/Jetblue, etc flyers that you fly Delta more than they do..

I know for many on FT it's inconceivable that other travelers could have preferences or wants or value things that you don't value (and not value things you do) but allow me to explain it for you from my perspective. I almost always check my roll-a-board. This is so my personal item (backpack with laptop, books, paperwork for trip, etc.) can go in the overhead bin, giving me the space under the seat in front of me to stretch out as much as possible. You see, at my height (6'4 with most of it in my legs), sitting in Y (and even C+ or domestic F) can be tight, so having the space under the seat empty to stretch my legs out or just move them around makes a pretty big difference. I board early to ensure I can still put my bag in the overhead above my seat or as close to it as possible as I frequently access it during flight to get my laptop or change reading material.

If you don't value those things yourself, that's fine and that's your preference. But again (shocking I know), many of us have different things we value drives our own behaviors and preferences.

reimero

Yeah, it hasn't been an issue since I hit FO. The main reason I mention it is in response to the implied, "why not just saunter up at the last minute?"

To be clear: I'm NOT griping about the changes. I'm just responding as to why I like having an early boarding. One minor addendum, though, is I DO get somewhat irritated if I have a bulkhead seat and someone else sitting further back shoves their stuff in the bin over the bulkhead so I have to play the "hunt for open space" game, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that bulkhead seats don't have "seat in front of you" as an option. A lot of international carriers intentionally block the bins over exit rows and bulkheads for exactly this reason.

The Situation

Bored?? Anything but! I do not rush to board, but I get in line when my zone is called, so usually I board at the end of F or end of SKY, so there is plenty of time to watch others board and it is hilarious!! The things people say and the things people do when they are boarding an a/c, make it really hard to keep a straight face at times. Recently flying westjet on a dash-8, this guy boards and is absolutely determined to find a spot for his bag. The problem is not that there are not spaces available, there are, but his bag is simply too tall for the bin, and for probably five minutes at least, he keeps walking up and down the aisle checking to see if another bin might fit his oversize bag, and then he checks the same bins again to see if they have magically got bigger. They have not and he eventually gives up and checks his bag. The pax around me and myself are looking at each other, giggling the whole time.

Sung Sam

I could care less about boarding order. What we need is some sort of governance for overhead bin space. There should be a process to evict luggage if it's not for the passenger sitting right below.