i was cracked up in atl one morning when there was no line at the gate at all but this lady made a special effort to go around the rope and use the breezeway. why? no one else was in line. i hope she felt extra special though! haha

I like the breezeway, i frequently sit in the corwn club room until boarding begins so i get to the plane typically when zone 3 is being called, and a line of 20 people has formed so rather than joining in on that line i skip it iva the breezeway. It is a little confrontational but i haven't had an issue with it, all the FA's seemed knowlidgleable about it and every i haven't seen a gate without a breezeway without appropriate signage.

There was only one scanner at my gate at LGA a few weeks ago - I stood at the front of the breezeway line and the GA stopped boarding the unwashed masses, came over, took my boarding pass, scanned it, handed it to me, and went back to boarding the unwashed masses. Who cares about confrontational - I'm never gonna see these people again.

Is it a major DL no-no or a breach of breezeway etiquette to self scan?
At one gate in ATL, with 2 scanners and one agent, I breezewayed up to the unused scanner, ran the BP under the head, and got the "warble" for exit row. GA looked up, said something in heavily accented English, that I missed, but didn't move an inch to stop me when I kept on going to board the plane.
Just another example of how a good concept is lacking somewhat in implementation, I suppose.

It's poorly implemented at DL--it works better at CO. I expect as people get trained, Breezeway boarding will get better.

That's where it falls down. The true value for me is when I have a tight connection and want to make sure I get on board to secure overhead space. I'd like them to keep that line clear at all times for elites and those in FC.

So, I stood in the Breezeway line this time. GA announced that Zone 1 and Breezeway members can proceed to board Breezeway members? Does she mean Medallion members? I asked, she said "Breezeway member should be indicated on your boarding pass!"
What the heck?! I don't see any Breezeway printed on my BP. "Do you mean Medallion?" .... silence, but she notices that people are lining up on the non-breezeway scanner. She moves on and starts scanning them to board so now I am stuck on Breezeway line while other passengers are boarding... finally another GA shows up and starts scanning in the Breezeway passengers... I was thoroughly irritated but than I had just heard that Cowboys scored a touchdown with .18 seconds to go so I called it even...!

Why not just say yes and board?

Unfortunately, I had a REALLY crappy experience with the Breezeway (among other things related to boarding) yesterday.

#1 - Every Gate Attendants at ORD gate L5 between 3:30pm and 6:00pm was straight-up rude. I understand that bad weather makes their life difficult, but guess what, it makes our lives tough too. Don't be a jack to those of us who understand things from your perspective, it makes us like the rest of the customers - crabby.

#2 - When you call for zone 1, and the Gold Medallions like me who don't get upgraded wait until you call Zone 2, it REALLY REALLY REALLY pisses us off when you let 40+ people who should be sitting back in steerage board. Grow a set and tell them to wait for their zone. I don't care how late we are. I want my carry-on space.

#3 - When you finally call Zone 2, and I line up on the Breezeway (pursuant to (1) the PA instructions and (2) the previous conclusions on this thread that if we all just line up in the Breezeway line this problem will go away) DO NOT IGNORE ME while you scan everyone else in the general boarding line. I'm the guy following the instructions...

Everyone's right. Continental has had this for quite some time and there was probably a learning curve for their GAs too - but it shouldn't be this much of a cluster with DL.

To echo sentiments previously espoused: (1) Either train the GAs to do it right (and admonish those that don't) or (2) dump the whole thing.

It's not excuse but I have found about 80% of the people in Chicago to be rude in general. It doesn't even have to be a bad weather day.

BW has worked fine for me every time. If you are FC or an elite then go through the BW. How much simplier can it be?

There is evidently a disconnect between concept of medallions boarding at their leisure and sometimes waiting to board with zone 3 if that is on the BP.

Exactly - why be afraid to use the benefit? At CO, we do it right - and the agents will often halt boarding (at any time) to accommodate an Elite Access customer walking up the carpet.

I've received states and even nasty comments, but I don't care - I'm not there to make friends, I'm there to board ahead of the masses to get my overhead space and be seated. If someone makes a fuss, I'd just tell them to go fly Southwest where everyone is treated the same, if it bothers them so much.

Usually, the only time things go awry at CO is the initial boarding call - FC/Elite will sometimes rush up both lanes, but many agents either correctly tell customers to use the EA lane, or they rope off the general lane before the boarding call. If they forget or don't make the lane assignments clear, then passengers can get into a tangle while merging - but the EA lane folks will generally assert their 'right of way'

Yesterday flying home from PHF, the gate agent (all 1 of her) tried to use the Breezeway for a flight in which 16 of us were on. It took so much longer with her shuffling between the lines and scanners. i got a few nasty looks as I finished my sandwich got in the Breezeway and bypassed all the non-medallion flyers.

On an unrelated note I sat next to my first air marshal, or at least that I know of. I felt strangely safer.

Zones 2 and 3 are normally for Medallions only anyway:
Zone 2 Medallions in front of the plane (or is it the back?)
Zone 3 Medallions in the other half of the plane.

That's why in the other thread you may have read that it is appropriate to use BW only after your assigned zone has been boarded. Otherwise you are cutting in front of fellow Medallions and/or FC pax.

If DL wants ALL FC and Medallions to use BW, then they need to make that clear and also do away with Zone 2 and 3 as presently constituted. BW should not be used to permit Medallions to cut ahead of FC and other Medallions, but only to allow them preferential boarding ahead of the masses if they arrive late at the gate.

Better GA training is needed so that all of them will do things the same way. Otherwise it is just confusing.

Problem is that's an unwritten rule evolved her on FT that the majority of Medallions & Skyteam Elites (who've never heard of FT) are blissfully unaware of.