Zone What?!?
 

Saw this on a boarding card for the first time.

Gate agent had no idea. Purser was clueless. Gate agents on arrival in AMS were stymied.

Only explanation I can come up with is that this indicates a boarding group that is to use external stairs to the rear door. That doesn't chime with seat 2A, though.

Johan

Weird. KLM is going to start using both forward and rear doors for boarding to speed up the process, but as far as I understood only in AMS. Maybe IT has made a start with something new. The combination KL and IT has it's challenges, as has often been demonstrated in the past.

I've had this on my BP from BHX to AMS all the time recently. I just ignored it.

They already do. I've experienced this not only in AMS but also CPH.

The gate agents I spoke to in AMS said that the rear door will not be used in inclement weather.

Johan

Smart move.


Marching out on the apron and waiting under the tail of the plane for someone to open the rear door for you could cause all sorts of complications. :)

Johan

I wonder if they are, yet again, pondering whether to improve (:rolleyes:) boarding procedures. SAS, for the records, have had boarding zones for quite some time now – it tends to work at their main hubs but largely ignored in pretty much all other airports.

G

I boarded from the rear stairs on a KLM TXL-AMS flight a couple of years ago. It wasn't noted on the boarding pass though. I was seated in the 20s. It was a beautiful summer day and in TXL they just had us walk out onto the apron to board steps. There were ground crew steering you around the wings to board in the rear. I just thought it was an interesting experience. And efficient as well.

They are, and they had better get results.

In a recent Luchtvaartnieuws magazine interview with a Cityhopper honcho, this topic came up. KLC has already reduced the number of standby aircraft from four to two, and in a year or so this will be down to one. That will obviously affect their ability to deal with contingencies, so they are focusing on faster turn-around times to maximize utilization and minimize the need for spare aircraft.

Johan

I boarded at a non-hub last week.

Despite being in SAS+ my BC said "Zone B". The gate agent the proceeded to announce boarding for zones A and C (???), followed by Star elites of all shapes and sizes.

Needless to say, I just ignored all that and sailed through the BP checkpoint as one of the first.

On arrival I disembarked through the rear door, as did all other pax. SK figured it was a good idea to park a Schengen flight at a non-Schengen gate, so everybody had to be bused to arrivals. No doubt having planned ahead for this, it took them ages to find some external stairs and a couple of buses.

At CPH Norwegian uses the rear door as a matter of routine, and SK seems to be doing so more and more.

Johan

Surely one needs to question why row 2 should be boarding at the rear? :D

I also noticed this recently, being sat in the EC zone it had rear on. Maybe row 1 board from the front, everybody else the rear...

I also had a Zone REAR mention on my KLM boarding pass (flight out of AMS, boarding pass issued in OTP). It made no sense. I was seated in 1A, and boarding was through the front door only.

Maybe Zone REAR doesn't refer to boarding then hmmmmm :D

As have I, though not on that route! But yeah - no need to get so exercised by this.

Both AF and KL are back in the main terminal at TXL, as Terminal D has now been given over entirely to Eurowings. No more being bussed from the plane to the terminal, or walking across the tarmac to board the plane at TXL.

I just flew out of EDI, there was a lady on the bridge directing passengers in row 15 or above to go down the stairs and board via the rear steps. The rest of us could get on via the airbridge as normal. In the SP line at the gate a lady was asking peoples opinions of how SP boarding worked as there had been complaints. As there were mixed up lines for both sides that is not surprising.
I haven't yet had a boarding zone show up on a boarding card ,either printed or on my phone