Breezeway: The Definitive Thread
 

Delta is testing a new customer service boarding concept called Breezeway on Concourse A in Atlanta. The new service gives premium customers – first class, business class, BusinessElite, SkyMiles Silver, Gold and Platinum Medallion members, SkyTeam Elite and SkyTeam Elite Plus – immediate boarding priority at any time during the boarding process. The designated lanes will be available at each boarding gate, and premium customers only have to access the lane with their boarding pass for priority boarding.

The program is similar to CO's boarding setup except for red mats instead of blue. :D

It is scheduled to be expanded to the rest of ATL and possibly the system by the end of the year.

I'm surprised it has not been posted here. They will probably have a more formal press release and web site announcement when it is more commonplace.

mersk862 mentioned seeing them this morning in ATL.

^ on this one.

Don't we already have this with zone 1 boarding? Is there going to be a dedicated prem. line? If so, that line may be more crowded than a general boarding line at ATL.

Zone 1-3 only works if you arrive at the gate before those Zones begin to board. Many people making connections do not arrive in time for that and have to fight to the front of the line.

I definitely like this idea, as I seem to always be spending just a bit too long in the CRC.^

I saw these as I exited my plane from San Diego last night. I meant to mention it here, but I was too sleepy when I finally made it home...

Yup, the idea is that you can get to the front of the line at any time during boarding.

This actually makes it identical to NW's boarding program, which was modeled on CO's but uses red mats. Let's just hope DL's implementation is more like CO's than NW's--the NW board is full of complaints about GAs that don't know how it's supposed to work.

AKA "the line for people who want to get dirty looks from all the folks in Zone 9"

Nice! DL is following the industry, and allows Silvers to use the line. The only major airline that hasn't followed this trend yet are US Airways and American. and even has a catchy name for it. Maybe not as catchy as "eliteAccess", but still.

IMHO, that is kind of a long list of people that can use the line.

Just another place for gate lice to congregate. :td:

The way they announced it this morning during boarding was they would do Zones 1, 2 and 3 which were the First Class, Medallion and Elite customers, and then if any of those customers did not board at that time, they could use the Breezeway to cut the line in general boarding. Not a bad way to do it; no need for it during Zones 1-3; it'll only save time in Zones 4-9.

Again, big ^ to DL on this one. Can't wait to see it expanded systemwide.

BTW, mats (at least on the lower end of the A Concourse) were blue; signs for them were red though.

We should check concourse D and see if CO is missing any mats
:D

and that's exactly how it should work. too bad i'm on UA now, having moved to Chicago, and the red carpet is reserved for 1K/UGS and premium cabin only. darn, my lowly 2P status!