I hear people say 'Skymiles' and get in the breezeway just because they're in the program.

Agreed. I made my first use of BW a few days ago. I had a seat request card and I was waiting at the desk for my seat to be allocated. Once I had the boarding card I turned to join the general boarding line. One guy started grumbling about me joining the line ahead of him so I said "excuse me", crossed the line to the BW, turned right and walked down a little and then in front of the general boarding line. The GA actually smiled and said "That will teach him" as she took my card.

Right approach except that I'd recommend saying "excuse me" instead of just clearing my throat.

We did make use of the Breezeway at STL yesterday (I was busy trying to post on FT during the preboards ).

I don't care what the people in line are thinking. They can read the signs, and they already know that several zones are ahead of them.

I was at TPA a few days back and when I got in the BW line, the agent told me that they weren't using the BW because the 2nd scanner wasn't working. This doesn't comport with my experience regarding how other airports use the BW, but I just got in the long line. The second scanner def. adds a wrinkle of confusion to the equation. At other airports with one scanner the reach across works fine, but with 2 scanners and one used for BW, there is bound to be confusion.

Ok - I experienced something this evening on DL1276 ATL-RDU and wanted to see if anyone else has seen this behavior...

So, the GA opens up boarding for Zones 1-3. I mosey on up to the gate along with ~20 or so folks and I'm right about in the middle of the pack. The GA is doing her job, but there were four people that jetted right by everyone in the BW line and proceeded to shove their boarding passes to the GA. The GA was visibly irritated by their behavior and even noted "Some people in first class think they can just shove everyone out of the way." (Not quite sure that this was appropriate by the GA, but again, she was clearly alarmed by how cavalier these four folks were) Now, I understand the whole breezeway thing, but pretty much everyone standing in that line could have used the breezeway since only Zones 1-3 were called. I'm a PM and was fortunate enough to win in the gate lottery, so I certainly could have used breezeway - but what's the point when Zone 1-3 is being called? Sure use it when Zone 4-9 is boarding, but why should anyone be able to use BW when essentially everyone else could use it as well? Was this an error by the GA? From the previous posts on this thread, it seems like the FT community seems to agree that BW only makes sense for 4-9, but what is DL's official stance?

Has anyone else noticed this type of behavior? It's really not that big of a deal, I guess I just don't care whether I'm the first or 15th person on the plane, I'm still boarding in the first wave and will still have plenty of time to snag some overhead bin space.

/end rant

I can't believe Illinois is in the Rose Bowl - Go Illini!

That's when I cut block those people with my oversized rollaboard.

Okay, this is a little off topic, but this sparked my memory. I was flying CDG-FCO on AF (yes, on the AF deal). They were boarding all pax and a man forced his way to the front of the line. The GA asked him what he was doing. He responded in English, but with a French accent, "business class". The GA responded "everyone boards together" (It was an Airbus 320 so I have no clue what the boarding procedure is). The man responds back "not possible" and walks past the GA right down the jet bridge. The GA looked shocked and dumbfounded at the same time, the look on her face was priceless.

It should be CLEARLY and ABSOLUTLEY closed until zone 3 boarding.

The actual signage and marketing PR says that I can go through the BW when zone 1 is boarding. This is obviously wrong, but am I supposed to just wait while dozens pass me by?

By allowing this bogus usage of the BW, they are creating a problem. Yes, they should just tell the early pax to f** off :-) (OK, I know they can't do that).

SO, they must have an OPEN/CLOSE sign over the BW to stop meddalions skipping over others in zone 1/2.

Other than that issue, I have no problem with the concept.

Concur. This is becoming more and more of a problem. The GA's could just be proactive and tell the BWers that they can get in the main line or wait until after she/he has processed all the main line zone 1-3 passengers.

Totally concur as well. Well put.

As an alternative, they could use the process that CO uses:
In DL's case, change the EliteAccess to BreezeWay and use the BW for the entire boarding process.

Also I wouldn't mind doing it the UA way where tensabarriers are used - keep both closed at first. For zones 1-3, open up the Breezeway barrier only. For zones 4-9, open up General Boarding while keeping Breezeway line open.

The staff in Atlanta needs to learn how to use the Breezeway.

For my last flight, they called Zone 1 and half the people went in the Breezeway because they regular line was "too long" and she actually stopped the Zone 1 line and let those other people in first. She did the same thing for Zone 2!!

Someone needs to explain to the GA's that the "Breezeway" only opens up after Zone 3 has boarded.

Should work, but UA red carpet is only open to 1K, the Plat equivalent (and the tiny numbers of UGS). The numbers difference may make the different approaches non-transferrable, although blocking off the Breezeway until zone 3 boarding starts would have to be an improvement. UA switches from red carpet lane to general boarding, and blocks off the red carpet lane once general boarding is open with a black tape "crowd control" barrier. The line is then opened indivdually for top tier elites not particularly interested in extending their on plane time. From what I've seen of BP scanner placement in ATL, the potential for UA type solutions is quite limited.

Also, had a GA in ATL yesterday, reach so roughly across an older lady during zone 5 boarding, to get my BP as I waited in the Breezeway, that I felt the need to apologize and say "excuse me" for the reach past the other pax.
Seems that the physical act of having to go over and remove the barrier from the bypass lane, the way UA does it, allows more measured appproaches. and time is not a factor, except for the first lucky few we'll all end up waiting in the jetway, anyhow.

You DL fliers are just not used to it yet. It takes awhile for the mentality to go away. At CO with the EliteAccess lanes (EA), when the call FC and Elites, we automatically queue in the EA lane, not the General Boarding (GB) lane.

Now, if there are Zone 1 people lining up in the GA lane and a Breezeway customer happens to read the signs, walking up and "cutting" others Zone 1's is not rude, it's just reading the signs.

You guys will get the hang of it, after a year, the majority of you will be wondering how you lived without it.

My fiancee who WAS non-elite (just earned Silver on CO) and who was not a seasoned traveler was a little aghast when I "cut" the line to use the EA lanes. I explained that I give a lot of money to CO to get this benefit. After the 3rd time she shut up and now enjoys cutting the line (especially now without me being present).

Also, if there is only 1 GA at CO, she just takes the next EA passenger while the GA line waits.

I call it jealousy marketing. After getting "cut" in front of the line as a GA, I am sure some passenger figured out right quick how to get the "access".

BTW, took my first DL flight in years last week (DL 72 to IST) and used Breezeway as a ST Elite, very happy it was there. Also the BE check-in at Term 2 in JFK is nice also, much less crazy than Term 3. Overall I was impressed with DL service on the flight, even though the 1 overhead screen with 1 movie selection is quite lacking. However, I did like that between movies they showed the Map/Airshow up to give you an idea of where in the world you were for at least a half hour.

- HF