Priority boarding for OW Elites?
 

I have seen signs near gates for priority boarding for OW Emerald only and not for OW Sapphire members. Does QF allow priority boarding for other OW elites besides OWE?

I know BA allows OWE and OWS members to board "at leisure" and AA has priority boarding for all OW elites in their priority access lanes, but was unclear what QF's boarding policies were.

QF restricts domestic boarding to Plat/OWE only as otherwise on some flights there would be more with priority boarding than without. As it is, it is fairly inconsistently done with limited policing and signs often in the wrong place.

Internationally it is also offered to Gold/OWS

I see. I suppose on routes like SYD-MEL, there would be a lot of elites. However since some flights board from both the front and rear of the plane, it seems like priority boarding is not a major benefit. As a OWE on a domestic business ticket, I was asked to wait to board once because they were only boarding passengers from the rear door initially.

I have never seen QF jet flights board from anything other than the front door at SYD or MEL. If you were on DJ or JQ or reading other incorrect information, then this is different.

If you want priority boarding, get to the gate early.

I would be interested to know what percentage of elites are on board an average QF flight vs an average AA flight - my suspicion is very high % on QF and very low on AA. I've always enjoyed (as PS) the priority boarding on AA, and it's always seemed to me like a small queue of people. On QF, as PS I don't get it, and it's usually an enormous queue - sometimes it seems like more than half the plane is priority boarding.

Time traveller: I see you are from the USA. In Aust, for many, priority boarding means boarding last, spending more minutes in the QF club and not crammed in some small metal tube. Aust is not like the USofA

I think it all depends on the route. If you are looking at SYD-MEL, there are probably a lot of elites. The same goes for ORD-LGA.

However if you look at SYD-AYQ, I assume most are leisure passengers with few elites. On my AYQ flight, I was only 1 of 2 passengers in business class. They boarded and disembarked from both the front and back of the plane at AYQ. Too bad they don't have a QF Club at AYQ, since I wouldn't have minded boarding last :)

Had you mentioned AYQ in earlier posts, you would have got a different response.

No idea for AA, but with UA it's not uncommon for over half the plane to be elites on popular routes - to the extent that UA now have 4 groups of "priority" boarding before they get to the plebs.

On other routes the number of elites can be as low as about 10 out of over 100, or even less...

(It's relatively easy to tell roughly how many elites based as the size of the First class upgrade list, which is available on their website)

And, despite boarding last and minimising the uncomfortable time on board the aircraft, still having a reasonable chance of finding space to stow one's cabin baggage.

I am usually in the last 10 to board and have been last many times. :cool:

Several decades ago, I was late for checking in for an AR domestic flight (a 727) at AEP. After check-in, I was told that although the gate had closed, I could still go out to the plane (a remote stand) by crawling through the bag converyor and then running to get on before the steps were pulled away. The door was closed behind me and I got seat 1C (all Y seating). Ahhh- the days before paranoid levels of security!

Whilst I understand why QF does not offer priority boarding for oneworld Sapphire on domestic flights, they are technically going against oneworld policy; http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/oneworld-benefits/

I have a suspicion that the full meaning of the oneworld rules may be that Sapphires from other airlines should be offered whatever priority boarding the airline offers its own Sapphire-level members - ie QF couldn't give QF Golds priority boarding but refuse other Sapphires. If QF restricts priority boarding to QF Platinums and other Emeralds, it might well be that that's consistent with the oneworld rules, even if that chart isn't explicit about the detail.

Is it any different to AA denying its Saphire (Platinum) and Emerald (Executive Platinum) members access to their lounges on domestic flights? No.
So why does QF deny priority boarding to OW Saphires - bescuase it is all to confusing and will delay boarding as the gate agents explain why the QF Golds cannot priority board domestic flights but OW Saphires, except QF SG, can.;)