MotorCityMojo

PHX-MEM on Friday, GA boarded first-class, then exit rows and elite, then seconds later, "Now boarding all rows." A collective "Huh?" could be heard from the pax waiting in the boarding area before they all started rushing toward the door. It definitely seemed to slow the boarding process with people up front blocking the aisle as they stowed their carry-ons.

ON the MEM-DTW segment, they still boarded the old way: first class, exit rows, elites, then by rows from the back.

As long as they board elites before everyone else, I'm not too worried. But if you're in the bathroom or something when they start boarding, you're going to end up at the back of the line instead of being able to find a "gap" between boarding announcements.

The other problem: It's going to become even more necessary to push your way through a bunch of people circling the gate as non-elite pax figure out the new procedure and even more people start hovering around the gate as soon as the door opens so they can get in the front of the line.

Seattlenerd

It's odd that AS has decided to eschew cattle-call boarding and go back to a several step process and even put a special line in for MVP Gold and First Class passengers so they can board at their leisure, without waiting in the general boarding line ... at the same time NW is going in the opposite direction. (As an aside, there is no "MVP Silver," as noted in an earlier post -- it's just plain vanilla "MVP.")

Having seen the chaos that can occur with a normal boarding procedure on a NW 757-300, with its awful narrow aisles, I can't imagine this will be an improvement on that type of aircraft. And I have to wonder how often the GA will simply drop the Elite pre-board (with First Class and special assistance) because there are "too many" Elites on a particular flight.

I'll take a wait and see on this one. Or, at the airport, maybe just a "wait."

SchmutzigMSP

Technically, that shouldn't matter. If they're still boarding F at the same time as in the past, they should be able to do pre-flight drink service. It wouldn't matter if the coach passenger trying to wade through F is going to row 30 or row 7, they'd still have to get through F.

I guess my earlier comments stem from the fact that someday, hard as it may be to believe, I may not be elite. And I often travel with non-elites. Does NW really want a Plat traveling with a non-elite to feel this rush? Unless they can guarantee the Plat companion upgrade, the Plat companion may lose overhead space unless the Plat preboards and "reserves" space.

I just wonder how the really full flights where everyone has their road warrior roll-aboard are going to go out on time with every person stopping along the way to find space. And F pax are going to have to guard their overhead space much more closely as it's going to become a free-for-all on overhead bin space.

No, this directly doesn't affect F and Elite pax, but indirectly it will as people will be stopping well before their seats to cram stuff overhead. My rationale for this? In the past, people could reasonably assume that if they were in a middle row, say something like row 17, when they boarded, there would only be people on-board in higher rows and there would be space at least above their row, and if not, maybe a row or two closer to the front. Now, people may have to head further back to stow carry-on luggage and then wade back up against the flow of traffic to get back to their seat.

As I said before, this will be interesting in the coming weeks to watch.

thezipper

I can say this, as was with Coach Choice, this NWA moderator was not consulted nor informed of any policy change in advance...

oliver2002

Many/most other airlines pratice the "special assistance,F/C, Elite, then free for all" routine. Haven't observed it to be restrictive to boarding in a big way so far. I make it a point to board as late as possible even if I could be on the plane first. Why sit in that little seat and be bumped by all others passing you in your aisle seat when you can stay in the terminal a bit longer?

OnMedic

Interesting Post!

On our return from LAS, we connected in Madison and the gate keeper told a family with children that they no longer pre-board families with children. She said they were sued by some idiot for providing preferential treatment!

What is the world coming to?

speechguy3

I was on the LAX-MSP redeye earlier this week, and can confirm that the order was: FC, elite/exit row, general boarding.

Now, I also noticed that they started boarding at least 10-15 minutes earlier than typical. It helped that the incoming flight was early, but I'm curious what will happen if that flight isn't.

The MSP-LAX portion was done the old standard way.

Radiocycle

There have been multiple boarding procedures under test by GA's.

What has surprised me and other pax in the past is that there are certain situations like "late plane, fast turn senario" that allow the GA's to disregard the current boarding procedure and basicly do whatever they decide is best at the time.

The big bottleneck I have observed recently is that GA's have starting boarding too late (too close to scheduled departure time) and that the GA's have allowed too much carryon luggage which results in gate checking on board of luggage.

If the a/c is boarded by pax 10-15 minutes earlier then FC will be easier for the FA to serve pre-departure drinks and stow jackets/coats. The current boarding that I have observed is a continuous stream of pax from the second FC starts boarding. There isn't enough time allowed to have breaks in the boarding. Maybe the new boarding process will work better.

RC

Mill Creek Don

Here in SEA, the red-eyes (my usual flights) ALWAYS start boarding 45 minutes or so before departure. Definitely a "move em out" policy, which makes life easier loading up a 757-300.

MSP2SEA

Experienced the "press release" scenario on 757-200 LAX-MSP 4PM a week and a half ago. First Class, then All Elites (about half the plane including this PE), then everyone else.

The GAs were marching to orders, but clearly displeased with the new arrangement. As I waited in the jetway, one of the GAs walked down the line and gate-checked every single rollaboard bag because "it was taking way too long". I was the last one in line, and caused a fuss when she got to me. Managed to keep my bag and drew the ire of everyone behind me...

Seattlenerd

I seem to recall a rumor earlier here on FT that NWA may start charging for carryons. If true, sounds like the system is getting into place....

remedy

On the RJ flight from DTW-CMH yesterday morning, it was:

Rows 8 or higher
All Rows

No early boarding for elites. This created a problem for my colleague and I who had seats in 1 C and D and had a tough time finding space for our briefcases since we were in bulkhead seats and there was very little overhead space left by the time we boarded.

Palal

No, no such program exists. It's all based on check-in time. First 45 or so for group A, then next 45 for group B and the rest goes to group C.

The difference between what OP mentioned and and WN's process is that passengers on WN know that they don't have an assigned seat, which gives them an incentive to store the luggage in the overhead and then find their seat ASAP. If you have an assigned seat, there's no incentive to do this.

mrcimino1

In principle, the idea sounds like it might work for smaller planes. Consider that KLM has been using total general boarding for their intra-European flights for years, with no apparent problems.

Perhaps there will be slightly faster boarding for DC-9's and A319's, but it could be iffy on the A320 (especially a full one). And my general feeling is that on a full 757, only chaos will result. But I am willing to sit back (in FC!) and let the others work it out in the back. Time will tell if this really is a good idea or not.

Personally, I have always felt that the Zone System had a lot of potential, but have never actually experienced it myself. As some recent news articles have noted, the whole problem is trying to keep people from getting in each other's way during the boarding process. Why don't we just wait and see, and report on experiences for the next 30 days, before we conclude that this is a stupid idea? As long as Elites are pre-boarded ALWAYS, there should be no reason to complain for now.

rwill11

Like its not gonna be a stupid idea 30 days from now NW always sticks their toe in the water, then the other shoe drops. My guess is a $5 charge for roll-aboards (pay up or stand at BC for and extra half hour) followed by an uproar from elite flyers, followed by an announcement that elites are exempt. 30 days tic tic tic