Worse, imagine being called a "doofus" in public! :D

...and by a 10 year old :p

I didn't see a breezeway today when I flew out of ATL. However, I did see Traveller. If she was unwashed, it wasn't apparent from across the table :D

Good news.... I showered and got the upgrade!

It was good meeting you too, LT! Thanks for buying me those 2 drinks in the CRC. :cool:

No breezeway tonight on concourse B - and boarding was quick and painless. Ditch the carpets. :td:

I was thankful for the Breezeway the other day. I was flying DCA-ATL-TPA and my DCA-ATL flight was late. I disembarked as the first passenger off of that flight at 8:17 PM, with my scheduled departure to TPA at 8:30. I literally sprinted through the terminal, setting a new record from B8 to A7 (across the taxiway, but for me down the hall, down the escalators, on the train - dove in as the doors closed - up the escalators, and down the hall), arriving at 8:24. Fortunately, the flight was a bit delayed and there were still about 30 or 40 pax waiting to board, although the screen said Zone 1-9.

After my now pointless run, I wanted nothing more than to head to seat 1B and relax with a drink. Everyone was neatly lined up on the non-Breezeway side so I went straight to the front of the Breezeway line and stood patiently, looking at the GA while she boarded several other pax. Since she didn't seem to be moving to hold up the other line to serve me in the Breezeway line, I reached across and handed her my boarding pass. I didn't hear any negative comments behind me, although I didn't bother looking to see the expressions on their faces.

I like the Breezeway, but clearly the GAs need to be a bit more proactive about serving the elite customers who are using it.

By the way, Later that night I got an email telling me that my upgrade had cleared on the first ATL-TPA flight the next morning. It's nice to know that they had automatically rebooked me. When I touched down in ATL and checked the Delta flight schedule on my PDA to identify the next flight out to Tampa that night, so I could call SMS and secure a seat, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that Delta doesn't fly the late-night ATL-TPA flight on Saturdays.

-Michael

On my flight out of ATL yesterday, the GA insisted that everyone use the breezeway lane during Zone 1 and 2 boarding. I guess she was doing her best to educate us all, but anyone who dared *not* walk over the blue mat was rebuked for not following the process. "If you want to board at your leisure, then you've gotta use the blue mat".

Just got the following e-mail:

Yep, same here! I am already got emails from DL today while I came home from work. I am always flying on DL with Zone 2 as priority boarding all of the times. Become I am frequent flyer with DL for a long time. I would assume if I can even earned more miles toward FO once again. I don't even considerable which specific zone is that. I kept with Zone 2 for a long time. Does DL will be ready for breezeway from gate area all US Airports.

Got the email which explained it but I need conformation from you all. As I see this, IT IS GREAT!!!!

Ok, there are kinks (luckily from the sounds of things mostly training and branding - cheaper to fix). Outside of that, what a win win win. After all, how many times each year do you end up dashing to a gate only end up waiting to board along with what left of zones 6-8 and ALL OF ZONE 9.

I for one like boarding early to stow a bag, pull on a drink and get out of the way. When I can't make that happen, anything that gets me to the front of the line is very much an incentive to fly. Great move and yes, it is an Enhancement.

All I can say is I can hear the comments from other passengers in line, and I wonder how many will try to follow suit. I bet many passengers will see a Medallion member bypass the line and get checked in through the Breezeway, so they will break out of line and try it. Probably will face a cold reality if they aren't qualified to use the Breezeway.

I saw these in Atlanta during my last flight, but didn't know what they were for. It didn't matter though. I was zone 1 on a free upgrade anyhow. :D

Just got an email about it! - Really not that big a deal since FC and Medaillions always were able to board as the first (and with most taking advantage of zone 1+2 boarding best I can tell). The only time it would come in handy is when you arrive after a close connection and there is a big line, but even then it not a big deal as the line usually moves briskly.

Now, personally I would have preferred a new DL rule of holding back coach until BE has disembarked on TA flights as getting early to the immigration gates can be important with 200 TAF's arriving at the same time in ATL/CVG/ORD/SEA (at least it appears so!). I am reminded of the advantage of this when flying SK and OS who do this routinely.

Premptive statement for the equalitarians amongst us: No, I don't expect the FA's to kiss my feet as I leave, no, I have no disrespect for people in coach, I just think that when you pay x10 the amount for a ticket, it should come with a fair amount of privelleges over those not paying that amount. If I ever was on the other side (pre-1989 - last time I flew coach TA:D) I would have no problem with this.

NW and CO have had similar lines for some time and passengers seem to be used to it. It'll take time for DL gate agents and infrequent passengers to figure it out.

When I used Breezeway last week in ATL, a man from the regular line who I was supposed to "cut" threw his shoulder and the rest of himself in front of the gate agent and blocked me from getting my boarding pass scanned. I guess he REALLY had to get on the plane.

There are some, me included, that prefer an extra few minutes in the Crown Room. I've always disliked having to leave the CRC 35 minutes before boarding then hanging around the gate to board.

It was all over Concourses B and E this past weekend.

I used it for the first time on Friday night. My flight to LAS was delayed and as such, I stayed in the CRC until I knew we were boarding. Well, I get to the gate and it was already Zone 8. I go to the Breezeway line, it took the GA about 2-3 minutes to realize I'm there and he let me through. I did hear one passenger behind me snicker "What an ***hole" to his wife (I just stood there and waiting till I was recognized; didn't say anything or barge through). Oh well; saved me from waiting in a 40 person line.

Breezeways to TLV???
 

And how about the gate for flight 152 to TLV?

Many may not be aware that passengers on this flight get to go through an extra complete security screening (shoe carnival and all) at the gate before boarding the aircraft. I am not sure if this is a TSA or Delta policy. Does El Al do this?

Will we have a "Breezeway" for this flight?

I find that this works very well at CO and NW. I have flown both frequently of late, and I am almost never at the gate when F/J is called to board. I arrive sometime in the middle of coach boarding, and it is nice to jump the queue.

I have not encountered any problems with others using the elite line w/o being qualified, nor have I encountered any resentment. The signage is quite clear, so I don't see how people could think you are cutting or otherwise acting inappropriately.

Side note: Agree with the Duck re: allowing priority disembarking for int'l J pax. It is surprising that DL hasn't adopted this policy.

Now that would really bother me. Shouldn't the GA have spoken up and explained to the jack*** that you were in the right?

Eh, at that point I was pretty tired and just wanted to get onto the plane, so I just got going down the jetway and onto the plane. I'm just glad he stopped the process and let me board and followed protocol.

Mrs. DLFan2 and I were a little late getting to the gate in ATL last weekend, and we saw the Breezeway lane. I knew what it was, but I couldn't bring myself to use it and be viewed as cutting in line by the hordes pushing their way up to the GA.

Breezeway--can someone explain this to me?
 

Does this mean that all Medallions get to board with Zone 1?

This should explain it! ^

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=723958

Its actually a pure annoyance - its meant to be there for Medallions and other elites so that they can "breeze" by the unclean masses if the GA is boarding say zone 5 and the elite didn't board during their zone call. What makes it annoying is that

1. Elites use it as a justification to "breeze" by other elites - for example yesterday in AUS I'm standing in the general boarding line for zone 1 when two medallions who were zone 1 but were behind me in the line, just breezed by the 10 other medallions who were boarding, a bunch of us pointed out they were skipping ahead but they just kept going and the GA did nothing. Gives people justification to be rude.

2. GAs don't enforce its use properly - at one gate the GA will insist it only be used by Elites and at the next gate anyone and everyone is using it.

I say get rid of it and if you miss your zone call just get in line with everyone else

IIRC, I read in this months SkyMagazine that the "Breezeway" lane is meant for Medallions, ST Elite/Elite+, and F/J pax if they miss the boarding call for their zone (1 or 2). It said something along the lines of the gate agent will stop general boarding so as to allow the designated passenger to board immediately. Either way, it is not intended to be used when premium boarding is called but only during the general boarding process so that an eligible passenger can skip the line. Hope that makes sense...

Won't comment on the ethics of it, I'll just leave it under the category of "perks."

Yea that's pretty much what I've noticed too. Most of us always crowd the gate area anyway as soon as we hear the chimes and we're all in zone 1 anyway. So there you are when all the sudden some schmuck storms up and tries sticking his boarding pass in to the unmanned scanner (which in itself is sort of fun to watch when it doesn't read their BP) but then they just hand it to the GA and along they go.

The only time since this was implemented that I arrived late and could have used breezeway; it was at an airport that didn't have BW. ^ :rolleyes:

I tried to use the Breezeway at LAX last sunday, and the gate was so crowded with people I couldn't even get up there. They called 4 zones at once. When I pointed out to the GA that calling 4 zones was somewhat ineffective, especially when trying to use the breezeway, he pointed out that since they're boarding at mid-cabin, it's ok to call 4 zones at once (still doesn't make sense to me)

Oh well. A waste of money on Delta's part, IMO.

I've used Breezeway once...I was up in the A-Centerpoint CRC waiting for my delayed LAS flight; I saw that the pilots had landed (the CRC agent had given me their inbound flight info) and once I saw they were on the ground, I headed to my gate. However, they were already boarding zone 7 (guess you don't need the pilots to be on board, just F/As) - it took the GA a few minutes to realize that I was in Breezeway, but he did let me on eventually. I did get some nasty looks from people in line, but I'll just chalk it up to another Medallion perk.

IMO the breezway is a marketing tool and an ineffective one at that. After zone 1 (or 1 and 2) board GAs often call a group of zones to board following. I guess it may occasionaly be a nice if you are running late for your gate, but it really seems to be a pretty lame attempt at offering Meds. another perk. Nice carpet mats though :p

I hate that DL added this! CO has had it for a while. On the occasion when I have used it on CO, it felt like I was rubbing the noses of those in coach being a F passenger.

Like other perks it depends on those who are regulating them, like the express security check-in lines. More often than not, they don't really check passes carefully and allow most anyone.

With zoned boarding, even if you miss your premiere zone, the wait for the next zone is just a few minutes. Then you should begin counting how many minutes you spend in the jet-way even if you use the Breezeway.

Be ready to board when your zone is called, otherwise there is no advantage to Breezeway.

This exact same thing happened on my flight today. I was pretty amazed, but didn't really care that much.

Personally I love it. I use it all the time if I get confirmed into first. I can spend some extra time in the CRC, and show up and not wait in line to board.

If I am not confirmed then of course I am boarding as part of zone 2 so that I don't have to fight for overhead space.

I never felt like it was rubbing anybodies nose into the fact that I got the upgrade. In fact most international flights I board has a separate line and even a separate jetway into business class.

Wow, lots of complaints about the Breezeway - I'm surprised.

Yes, we've had the Elite Access lane at CO for quite a few years now, and most of us like it - I can't imagine boarding without it. I have absolutely no problem walking in front of lined up non-Elites - that's what the perk is there for, why be ashamed to use it?? Do the posters who dislike the Breezeway also use the general security lane instead of the Elite lane because they don't want to offend the masses?

The perk is designed to permit Elite customers to board at their leisure - that means being able to show up at the gate at anytime during the boarding process and be accommodated ahead of everyone in the general boarding lane. The only time things tend to go away at CO is the double-Elite queue - FC and Elite lining up in both lanes while waiting for the preboarding call, then rushing the GA at the door to see who gets there first. The sharp GA's will pull the strap across the general boarding lane to hold people there, or will make an announcement that only Elites in the Elite Access lane can pre-board.

It's a great perk, and you should be thankful Delta is offering it. Once people get used to it, the mass of people crowding the door will begin to subside, and you will see orderly lines develop. That's what happened at CO.

I'm really shocked some elites out there do not like the Breezeway. I LOVE IT!! I almost never board when zone 1 is called because I would rather wait in the CRC. It is sooooooooo nice to get to the gate and not need to wait in a 100+ person line. This thread makes me wonder if I have ever used it while premium boarding was taking place. :eek: Whenever I get to the gate and see boarding has started I go straight for the Breezeway.

So do you hate using F check-in lines at the ticket counter and Elite security checkpoint lines too? There is nothing forcing you to use these lines if you think using them is "rubbing the noses of those in coach being a F passenger"

There absolutely is an advantage to the Breezeway. You do not have to wait in line behind even more people who (if you are in Y) are taking up precious overhead space. If I am in F I would rather get to my seat quicker to start consuming another adult beverage ;)

Once on US I was waiting on my sister and missed elite boarding, actually they were boarding all rows. I had a good 100-120 people in front of me. A Breezeway would have been perfect in that scenario.

We haven't used the Breezeway on any travel yet. Maybe I'm just flying too many RJs, but when zoned boarding is done well, the line, if any, is rarely long. I have to say I agree with the other posters who are not fond of the breezeway, but I might feel differently if the breezeway let you skip ahead on the jetway too, otherwise it is just hurry up and wait (in the next line).

Breezeway is nice. In a world where I'm dealing with 43 minute ATL connections (on a good day), I don't mind getting right to the gate, seeing Zone 5 being boarded with 6-9 congregating, and walking right up with a nice nod to the GA until they wave me over. There really is no need to look at the other pax -- or care what they're thinking. It's a perk, I use it, I shouldn't have to feel shame about it. Thank you DL, it's a nice gesture, even if it doesn't work out all the time.

The breezeway does not work. They call zone 1. If you board then, you don't need the breezeway. After that, its a dog pile you can't get through anyway.

Anyway, the breezeway is almost always not in use - there is one ticket taker WAY to the normal side, and nobody goes through the breezeway because you'd have to shove your way through the normal passengers to get through.

Well, maybe I'm a total jerk, but I use the breezeway, love it, and do not mind shouldering my way through the masses (after waiting until the last minute in the CRC) to take advantage of the perk. If I get nasty looks or a word from a non-elite passenger, I smile and say, "It actually pays to be a frequent flier sometimes." If the GA is over on the "normal" side, I stand on the breezeway side, hold out my BP and clear my throat a little.

Two weeks ago I went through the breezeway in ATL for the first time. In each case it was late in the boarding process and I was able to stroll right to the front of the line through an ampty breezeway. And in each case the GA made an exceptional effort to hold up the "regular" line to take my boarding pass, and did so without really inconveniencing anyone. VERY good perq.

Agree that it's one of those welcome extras...just like an upgrade, however, one can always refuse...
Wait in line, sit in coach, your choice.

This is an excellent perk for Medallions and I for one do not have an issue using it! ^

ok, I used it today on my upgraded flight. Yes, spent extra time cin the Crown Room and "Breezed" by gate check-in only to encounter a line half way up the jet way. They were calling Zone 6 when I "Breezed" right into the traffic jam.

For what it's worth.