vassilipan

As a (very) infrequent Delta passenger, I was flying from Columbia, SC (CAE) yesterday and noticed the gate agents were boarding all planes by zones. There was no call-out for Medallions or SkyTeam Elites in the boarding process. When my flight was called (on an MD-88), even though my boarding pass had SkyTeam Elite on it, I was also in Zone 3. Not wanting to create an incident, I waited patiently for Zone 3 to be called, and, when I handed the GA my boarding pass, asked her why there was no pre-boarding for elites. She replied that elites got to board "with zone 3...that way, you can sit down until zone 3 boards." I said something to the effect that this was baloney and left it at that.

My question to the Delta folks here is: Is this Delta's policy on boarding ST Elites or even Medallions for that matter? In Atlanta, the Medallions and ST Elites are offered pre-boarding opportunities, even on the CRJ's. Is this situation peculiar to CAE or do their gate agents have their own policy?

coz

Zone 1-3 is "pre-boarding".

Zone 1 is First Class.

Zone 2 is pre-boarding for elites at the back of the airplane.

Zone 3 is pre-boarding for elites at the front of the airplane.

Then Zone 4+ is for everyone else.

Sometimes a gate agent might not go through all the zones, as sometimes it is tedious to call 3 zones just to get elites on the airplane--especially one with not many elites or not very full. In that case they might just announce that First Class and Elites can board (rather than going through Zone 1.... Zone 2.... Zone 3....).

Rest assured if you boarded in Zone 3, then you were boarding before everyone else, and that anyone boarding in Zone 1 or 2 were either First Class, or elites at the back of the airplane.

vassilipan

I did not know that. Thanks for the info.

dvs7310

This is really good info to know. I am usually very sucessful at avoiding DL but I decided to do it this week on a transcon becuase there was no way I would get a transcon upgrade on CO and DL has PTVs on the 752 in both cabins. The CO alternative (a 73 something) was without ptv. If I had not read this thread I would have grumbled something about not being boarded with zone 1 also.

MikeMpls

At many (but not all) locations there pre-recorded gate announcements about this: "Our Medallion and Skyteam elites continue to enjoy priority boarding...."

GoCanes

Well, the advantage of the zone boarding on DL is that people somehow understand single digit number better than rows. On CO, when they pre-board, it seems like everyone and their mother crowds the gate ready to board... mostly because people don't understand the elite pre-boarding process or don't care to understand rows 25 - 30 means no one below row 25 is allowed to board yet. I guess two digit numbers are tough for some people.

KCnAtl

[QUOTE=coz;8862212]Zone 1-3 is "pre-boarding".

Zone 1 is First Class.

Zone 2 is pre-boarding for elites at the back of the airplane.

Zone 3 is pre-boarding for elites at the front of the airplane.

Then Zone 4+ is for everyone else.

Sometimes a gate agent might not go through all the zones, as sometimes it is tedious to call 3 zones just to get elites on the airplane--especially one with not many elites or not very full. In that case they might just announce that First Class and Elites can board (rather than going through Zone 1.... Zone 2.... Zone 3....).

QUOTE]

You have zones 2 and 3 reversed - zone 2 is Medallion (and ST Elite) fwd coach cabin, zone 3 is the rear of the coach cabin.

MikeMpls

Then why did our BP's for row 44 (out of 45 on a 757) show zone 2 yesterday?

Zones 2 & 3 have always appeared to me to be randomly assigned throughout the coach cabin, just as zones 4+ are for non-elites.

bocastephen

Don't forget to use the Breezeway if you arrive late in the boarding process and are FC or Elite...

edweird

I thought the Coach Elites with window seats typically fall into Zone 2, and the Coach Elites with aisle seats fall into 3, but it does seem random at times.

I also think the bulkhead seats in the first row of coach are zone 1 or 2 so folks there have a chance to get their stuff into the overheads.

indufan

It's a good thing you didn't want to "create an incident"...I am wondering what would have happened since they were right.

MikeMpls

If there is a rationale, that would make the most sense.

Bulkhead seats are zone 1.

KCnAtl

I could not tell you why that is.

I asked about the zone 2-3 sequence several yrs ago as it seemed illogical to me. The reason I was given was that having the fwd cabin elites board prior to the rear cabin folks was to prevent the back cabin bozos from snagging the overhead space in the front sections of coach on their way to the back of the plane. My subsequent flights bore this out - fwd cabin Y zone 2, back cabin Y zone 3. On my most recent ATL-LGA flt - this still seemed to be the case (row 21 on a 757, zone 2 on the outbound, row 38 on the return, zone 3.) although I won the gate lottery both times so it was a non-issue.

KCnAtl

Those pax in the 1st bulkhead row behind F get Zone 1 (even non-elites) in order to help ensure overhead space (as they have to place everything up there).

The original sequence for zones 4 and up was to board non elites rear cabin, then zone 5 which was 2 sections of 4 to 7 rows of seats (depending on a/c type) fwd of zone 4, then board zone 6 as the section immediately fwd of zone 4, zone 7 was just ahead of zone 5, zone 8 just ahead of zone 6 and zone 9 just ahead of zone 7. This staggering of sections was supposed reduce congestion in the aisles.

I have heard that the system was tweaked in recent times to account for window/center vs. aisle seating unless pax were on the same PNR. I don't know if that was only for zone 4 and up or even if it is true at all.

vassilipan

This was a first-time experience for me, as every other Delta flight I took called medallions and elites first. I didn't know if this was CAE's personal preference or if there was a company policy; ergo, my post here.

By "incident" I mean a dialogue with the GA that could have been construed as such. With so many variations in the boarding process (see other posts in this thread), I am apparently not alone.

If you don't know the rules, you can't play the game. I'll try to keep my ignorant self on CO flights in the future.