Moscowflyer

Limited sample size here but two weeks ago I was flying LHR-NAP. Got to the F lounge in T5 with plenty of time to spare. Time ticked by without anything apart from the flight number appearing on the board and eventually, with 30 minutes to go, the monitor said "boarding now". Quite a few people headed over then in a bit of a rush from the F lounge since there wasn't a lot of time to get there given it was 30 minutes to departure. When we got there (a C gate) nothing was happening. One of the BA staff managing the boarding told us that they had decided that they would be boarding groups 4-7 first because that group would have to give up anything except handbags as the plane had changed to a smaller one (it was the DAT leased plane). All of us in Groups 1-3 waited,and those with anything larger than a small rucsac had to give them up and were eventually sent down to the airbridge out of sight. Groups 1-3 were finally called to go down...only to discover that the airbridge was jammed full of people in Groups 4-7 standing there with their bags - all waiting in a long queue. The cabin crew eventually persuaded them to go somewhere else to leave their bags and so Groups 1-3 were first in line when we boarded. This was chaotic because it transpired that, when the plane had changed, the seat allocations had not been changed. Hence a lot of people were in the wrong seats and in some cases also in the wrong class. With all the confusion two passengers got into fisticuffs about whose seat it was they were both meant to be in, with one of them claiming to be with the Neapolitan mafia. Eventually the captain had to emerge from the cockpit (we were still on the ground trying to deal with the hand luggage issue) to restore order. When that was complete, the cabin crew checked all the boarding passes against where people were sitting which sorted everything out (and also revealed that the putative Neapolitan Mafia member was in fact a self-upgrader).
That seemed to me to be a lesson in how not to organise boarding, it seemed to be complete chaos from start to finish.

3 days ago I flew Cathay from London to HKG from T3 Gate 7. Assisted passengers then four queues: First/Diamond, Business/Gold, Premium Economy/Silver and everyone else (Economy and MPC Green). They let people on one queue at a time and it was really very smooth. Accepting that this flight was a long-haul flight with perhaps more space per head for carry-ons etc, I also flew HKG-SIN return this week and the same 4 queues solved the problem at Singapore and at Hong Kong, even with some flight disruptions in Singapore there was an air of calm that was quite absent at the T5C boarding process. To be fair, I also flew LAX-LHR on AA in the last ten days or so and the gate was so noisy and crowded that none of us had a clue which group was being boarded because a large sign welcoming us to the gate obscured the monitor showing which group was actually boarding. So perhaps BA isn't the worst in Oneworld when it comes to boarding...

KARFA

That does seem to be one of the worse boarding experiences I have heard. Whilst BA does not often do a job job of boarding, it isn't typically that bad.

TabTraveller

There are plenty of threads on here discussing BA�s inability to board but that does sound especially chaotic.

As you note with CX, airlines that have a dedicated queue for one group tend to do better as everyone is forced to stand in the correct line. The issue with BA�s approach of �1-3� and �4-9� is that groups 2 and 3 read the sign and stand in the designated line. Chaos then ensues when group 1 is called and they can�t get past groups 2-3.

scottishpoet

i do not get the seat confusion

anyone whose seat number had been changed would have been flagged as a seating issue when they scanned their boarding pass and a new boarding pass (which had probably already been prepared) would have been provided.

CE would have been the first few rows, just like any short haul aircraft, so nobody should have ended up in the wrong class.

for example if CE had been rows 1-5 those pax would still have been in rows 1-5 and everyone behind that in Y

Can I help you

Sounds like those customers in groups 4 to 7 who’s bags were tagged for the hold walked past the signed posted drop off area and went down the jet bridge with their bags?

TheChangingMan

Should there be a member of staff there to "assist"?

TabTraveller

It is surprising as that never normally happens 🙄

Can I help you

I know, in the past the “Node” as it’s known was manned by a member of ground staff to stop this kind of thing happening.

KARFA

sometimes it is manned, sometimes it isn't. also it almost depends on what the first person does, if they go there to bag drop those behind often follow. if they don't notice it and just head down to the aircraft, the rest just follow.

Can I help you

Same with the strollers.

Mikey Mike Mike

Boarding at T5 drives me mad. Only last week, travelling on the 99 to YYZ, at the advertised boarding time, the display in the B Pier lounge changed to gate open. Boarding starting 15 late., and went from boarding to last call to flight closing in 10 mins. Anyone in the main terminal would have been seriously caught out.
I appreciate that the gate staff may have got there late, or the aircraft wasn't ready but to reduce the stages of boarding information to get the aircraft away on time shifts an unreasonable onus on passengers. I've had the other extreme of heading from the B lounge at final call to find them still doing groups 1 and 2.
I also understand the strategy of calling each stage early to allow folk to get from the A gates over to B or C. But boarding at Heathrow from the B and C gates is a clusterf**k every flight. PA announcements are either lacking, or the person is trying to beat the T5 record for the fastest and most unintelligible announcement.
So last week, I got to the gate from the lounge - a whole 150 steps probably as gate closing went up, to find group 4 and 5 boarding. I asked to go to the front as group 2, and the staff member said no. A second person asked and was ignored and so I asked to speak to the supervisor at which point we were sent to the front. I'd say in the last 5 years I haven't had one decent boarding experience at T5. Always rushed, disorder at the gate (i know those who try and queue jump don't help. Compare that to the BA staff at YYZ who are great, enforce the boarding with some degree of order in a cramped space at C32/33, and get us away early - its like night and day!
PS - i have yet to see anyone board at group zero at Pearson. They seem shy of this new status, and usually the ones right by the desk who as soon as group 1 is called, lead the charge of the golds onto the aircraft.

col747uk

Amazing boarding experience at Split yesterday. Gate agent in charge just said "Boarding"

Moscowflyer

I suspect you're right - everyone followed the first person down the airbridge if they weren't familiar with how it all worked (and I wouldn't be either). Then everyone with a bag had to turn around and go back up the airbridge. It did give the rest of us time to board of course. It was the Danish Air Transport plane and it had shrunk compared to the plane originally scheduled. I can't remember if they had physically different seats in business and economy but there was a lot of exchanging of boarding passes etc between passengers (plus the added complication of the self-upgrading teenage mafioso). I did get a sense that the two very nice ladies manning the gate were freelancing a bit, trying to make sure that boarding went smoothly, which added to the confusion and subsequent delay. I was lucky, I had 2C or something and would have been in Group 1 so luckily I didn't have to change seats and was just observing the chaos. That said, the inflight service was very good and it prepared me for being in Naples...

Earthman

Yesterdays BA 11 was done perfectly at c65
group zero called first and boarded
Place was mobbed
Must have been a 100 or more in tbe group 1 to 3 queue alone
Anouncement then "we are boarding today by seat number so could we have passengers in rows 1 to 4 please'( First )
I was in 1A so breezed past all the ryanairesque queues,scanned boarding pass and on
much disgruntlement in that 1 to 3 queue 'why would they do that' mumble mumble