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!

I would submit that you aren't currently entitled to "fight to the front of the line".

Otherwise, I welcome the new feature.

Agree that under the system that was in place before today, if I showed up late in the boarding process, it was the back of the line for me. Didn't even bother to try cutting by playing the elite card...it would probably fall on deaf ears to most pax, so it wasn't worth the effort.

At least now there is a legitimate line that lets late arriving elites to the front of the line.

Very nice, should be put at all airports if it works out. :)

Of course, those who would need it (and qualify) in zones 4-9 weren't there when they made that first announcement. Or was this repeated again during the boarding process? If the latter, then a big ^! CO and NW don't do mid-boarding explanations, in my experience.

Just saw this in ATL this evening. Hope it works and takes off!

It works in most places on most airlines. The only known exception is AMS where KL regularly screws up their priority lane for premium passengers.

it's great
 

used this in ATL on Wednesday. Had recently been wondering why DL hadn't followed this trend. Just another sign that they're keeping up with the joneses... if not passing them.

I'd have to totally agree with that.
It annoys me when I am Zone 2 and it has been announced, to have some schmuck try to push his way fwd with a Z1 BP. Especially when I saw same schmuck in the CRC waiting to the last minute to make his way to the gate.

When DL is boarding pax to the rear of the plane and you waltz on to FC late, now you are holding things up. If you are Z1 and want on - get your fat lazy butt to the gate before boarding commences if you want to get on quickly.

Even if your cnx is late - I say line up and board with the masses if they are boarding post Z3.

Wait, my lazy butt isn't fat.

LOL I stand corrected :cool:

I used "Breezeway" last night in ATL (stupid slugs at starbucks and their $6 tuna sandwiches, but I digress). It took the GA a pax or two before she saw me standing there, then she politely told the next pax to wait a second, that she had to take me next. Boy, you would not believe the evil look I got from the pax that was held up - I know truly understand the saying "if looks could kill." It was very nice though. As I was stowing my bags above my seat at 2D, and waiting for 2C to get out of his seat so I could get in (1C and 1D were an elderly coulple who were fully reclined (MD-88 by the way), the pax who was held up and now behind me snappishly said "just use this bin over here" while pointing at the bin above 2A/B. I patiently explained that there was space in the bin above my seat and I wanted to leave the bin above 1A/B for the passengers who were seated there. The held up pax shut up then, but continued to fume, scowl, etc.

Overall, I like the "Breezeway" concept, but it'll be interesting to see if other passengers eventually "get it".

I do have to admit that I'm not overly enamored with the product name. At least with CO's "Elite Access" the product name clearly implies the purpose of the product.

The other thing I don't care for is the new boarding concept (and they did this in PHL as well) of "Zones 1, 2, and 3 are welcome to board at this time". It makes the boarding process a bit TOO chaotic.

KLM has a priority lane ? Oh I forgot they have special access lanes for IPB/NonRev's

I used it yesterday in ATL and it worked like a charm. I sat at the gate until they called zone 6 and then walk right on.

DL needs to roll this out system wide today.....

Ah, but this may reduce the frequency with which one needs to use the boarding stick. ;)

Loving the new Breezeway. As usual, I spent too long in the CRC on Monday and arrived at the gate in the middle of the boarding process. Worked like a charm.

They always confiscate mine at Security. I'm forced to use the boarding elbow or step on heels with my boarding sh!tkickers.

So the real story about how/why you lost your cell phone comes out. ;)




That would be me, "Ms. I Won't Check in my Bag and I Have to Get on First to Get Overhead Space."




Either am I. In fact, today is the first I've opened this thread; prior to today I thought the title of this thread referred to the fairly new jetways they have in ATL for CRJs.







I haven't seen a Breezeway in ATL yet, is it still only on Concourse A?

I passed through ATL A last night and I'm not impressed. Somebody needs more training. The sign was sideways indicating VIPS should march across the concourse. And the agent included all SkyMiles Members and "SkyTeam members" in her invitation to board. No zones were called. And no one stepped on the carpet, they all stayed to the right to have their boarding passes scanned. Just a mass of people trying to get on the aircraft all at once. Sell the rugs back to CO now.

:DThis is a great move by Delta.

This is my problem too, not because I'm trying to get in one last drink, but because I'm usually trying to recharge my laptop and/or download my email to my laptop or otherwise using the internet. I try to leave the CRC just as or just before boarding starts so I arrive at the gate shortly after it starts, so I don't have to wait in line at the gate or on the jetway. This will hopefully make it much easier.

This is definitely a potential problem, which caught me last night. We (2.5-year old son, his nanny, and I) waited at the CRC for our delayed ATL-TPA flight to get further delayed then finally start boarding before we headed out. When we got to gate A29 last night and saw the Breezeway mat and everybody neatly lined up on the other side, we went straight to the front of the Breezeway area. The GA didn't stop other passengers but took our boarding passes when I looked toward him and reached my arm his way.

Then when we boarded the plane, I noticed that there were only about 5 coach passengers on board and FC still had several empty seats. As I took my FC seat, I noticed that the man that I had "cut" in front of was seated behind me.

After reading this thread, I now understand what happened. They must have made an announcement as mersk862 describes above (that Breezeway isn't used for zones 1, 2, and 3), then I arrived after the announcement and inadvertently cut in front of other medallions and FC passengers.

I suppose at gates where there are scanners on both sides of the door, things will be a bit easier.

So here's my public apology to all of those passengers who I cut off last night. :o In my defense, I truly thought that we were arriving at the gate later in the boarding process that we did - I assumed that we were well into the zones. On the other hand, I could have easily looked up at the screen to see what zone was boarding. again :o

-Michael

No, American is testing the concept (First/Biz/Elite boarding lanes on red carpet) in several cities for a couple months now, including LAX. Works great.

That policy makes no sense to me. If you're in F or elite, then DL should tell those pax to line up on the F/elite side to avoid awkward missteps by those who, as you point out, are unlikely to be present for such announcements. AA's system isn't so complex. If you're in F or elite, you use the VIP lane.

Last week at the AA terminal at LAX, a doofus (sp?) and his colleagues were in F yet lined up prior to boarding in the unwashed masses line instead of the proper side. When the agent announced F boarding was beginning, my kids and spouse (all of us in F) jumped in the F/elite line and were boarded first over the protests by Doofus that he and his bunch were in line first.

My 10 year olds then pointed out to him while the BPs were scanned that he and his crew appeared to be nobodies (unwashed masses) since they weren't in the proper line. If they were seated in F, they shouldn't have been slumming it in the Nobody line.

If 10 year olds can figure it out, how come Mr Type-A Doofus can't?

<deleted>

Yikes! My upgrade hasn't cleared yet for tomorrow, but I'll be sure to take a shower anyway before my flight.... I'd hate to be called an unwashed mass. :D

I agree, the policy makes no sense. Why not use the Breezeway for all zones. In my situation last night, the "normal" line was closer to the scanner than the Breezeway line. If they used Breezeway for all the zones, they could just put another little retractable "barrier" across the front of the "normal" line until zone 3 is done. This would help keep other zone people out of the way of elites. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard a GA say "we're only boarding zone 1 (or 2 or 3)", I'd be a rich man.

I suppose the only problem with this proposal is that Delta's zones don't entirely line up as we normally think of them (Zone 1 = FC, Zone 2 = Medallions in some parts of plane, Zone 3 = Medallions in other parts of the plane). For example, the row 10 bulkheads on most aircraft are boarded in zone 1 (although I haven't sat there in a while so I don't know if this is still true).

One more thing I meant to put in my original post in this thread. I was a bit surprised to see that DL called this new program "Breezeway". As many Atlanta Delta flyers (and others like me) know, MARTA's (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) new extended use pass/card for using the MARTA rail system (and probably buses too) is called the "Breeze Card".

Thus I'm surprised that Delta would name their product "Breezeway" since ATL is their biggest market. I can't imagine that they did it on purpose. It seems like a poor "branding" job by somebody IMO.

The Kinks Need to be Worked Out
 

I've only been through ATL once since Breezeway was implemented and it didn't work as planned as far as I could tell. I like the concept, however, of being able to walk up at any point and board without having to cut the line or wait for zone 6 to finish boarding.

When I arrived at the gate for my connecting flight, the lane was full of families with strollers. It appeared they were queued for the standard pre-boarding ("families with small children," etc.). Wheelchairs were pre-boarded, stollers were not.

The GAs didn't seem to have a good grasp of how things should work and ended up calling Zone 1 as they had before. As the Breezeway lane was clogged, I went the regular line. The families started to board, cutting across the regular boarding lane to the BP reader and one family had Z1 BPs, but the others didn't and were told to wait until their zone was called.

I boarded as I would have normally. I didn't see any advantage because the GAs weren't managing it like I thought they should have. That is, they should have educated people in the gate area with announcements of how it worked, but they did not. It's not going to work unless people know how it works.

Then again, I've lost track of the number of Zone 7 pax I've seen walk up when Zone 1 is called even though announcements about zone boarding and how it works are called out repeatedly before boarding. :rolleyes: