ajeleonard

Why shouldn't people who pay far more than you get a more comfortable experience?

Dover2Golf

Thinking of DOH but I'm sure it applies in other places too, even at the normal gates (the A380 gates are on two levels with F&C upstairs - a bit like on the plane!) have seats marked out for premium passengers. It's only right too, you pay for a premium experience and mixing with the riff-raff is to be avoided.

lokijuh

For some reason most people want to be right at the gate where they will be boarding - perhaps understandable at Changi, with gate based security, but elsewhere not so critical. Remember once at DPS, flight delayed for about 1 hr and another flight leaving at gate sharing same seating area. Gate seating was a mess, people standing, people sitting on the floor. I walked 2 gates away, less than 50m, and shared the whole gate seating area with about 7 or 8 other passengers. Peace and quiet and room to spread out.

WorldLux

It's not that unusual to have divided gate areas.

You get what you pay for. You're flying economy. Take it up with MNL...

And has reserved Priority seating (next to the seats reserved for PRMs) in gate areas that are not "segregated".

mapleg

Now that's travelling in style.

krispykrme

From a business class passenger perspective.

Why should i pay more to share same area with you?

You want better services. Pay for it!!!!!!!

Simple as that.

SilverChris

I've flown Spicejet a couple of times and I've never encountered such discriminatory practices.

yauee

Think OP might had posted in the wrong forum. SG=Spicejet hence might not related to the stewardess in batik

PiperAtGatesofDawn

davidj1

Perhaps they could also introduce segregation of the aircraft. One aircraft for Economy and another for the rest

vbroucek

And of course, not seeing any sympathy, @downinit with 128 posts does not ever come back to face the music based on his pointless rant... How FT typical...

downinit

Actually, I have been traveling nonstop since this post. And I did not encounter gate seating assignments in my following flights out of SIN, HND, KIX, or LAX (only segment on SQ was out of MNL). This is definitely not normal practice. Almost all gates have specified seating for seniors/disabled people, and of course the boarding is divided by class and status. However, seat assignments at the gate are still very rare and absurd. It is not like there are different qualities and comfort levels in the bench seating at the gate. It really makes no difference where a person sits, since boarding is done separately (so there is no real advantage or logic behind this policy). If they want to put out massaging recliners for 1st class passengers at the gate, I would understand placing a bouncer in front of the velvet rope. But at MNL, they were just blocking the seats that had some kind of airflow.

The main reason that it was an issue here was because of the horrible conditions inside the terminal due to MNL's absurd lack of functioning AC. While walking past the gate, I noticed a very clear difference in temperature between the adjacent areas. And you are required to undergo a secondary screening before entering the gate area.

Ignoring the arrogant and entitled people with status commenting here (who rarely if ever actually pay for their own flight out of their own paycheck), it would stand to reason that seating in any waiting area is first come, first serve. The people who will be there the longest SHOULD be able to find the most comfortable place. Especially when the airline tells you to get to the gate much earlier than the actual boarding commences. You special people with status and $10k tickets can relax in the lounge until the final boarding call, and if you are flying a premium cabin, you have no need to board early, since there will always be plenty of room for your bags. It is only the working class scum that need to worry about overfilled luggage racks.

downinit

We were sitting at an empty gate for a while, before the gate opened. After walking past our gate (which does require additional screening to access, I noticed plenty of open seats in an area that was cooler than most of the terminal. After collecting our bags and proceeding to the gate, we were told that this area (which was 1/2 of the entire fenced-off gate seating area) was only for boarding groups 1-3 (out of 7). There was no one in this area at all, while the much warmer 1/2 was 1/3 full of people. If not for the lack of AC and the additional screening at the gate, I typically do wait in a different area as you advised.

w4rd

Comrade, fear not, come the revolution they'll all be standing - against walls!

But really, when I, or my employer, is paying 3x for a premium ticket I think I expect the best seat whether its in the terminal or the plane. They're really both areas to wait for the destination.

Please do complain to the airline though; you have a contract with them not the airport and its up to SQ to put pressure on MNL to improve conditions for all passengers.

TravelwhileyouEat

But wait isn't this one of the basis of your complaint, that there were seats that had a better comfort level (i.e. better climate control/airflow) to that which you got?

Honestly, one of the factors airlines in MNL have this segregation is because a lot of the locals are not good at following boarding priority or queuing (gate lice anyone) just like a lot of other places ... most likely because they are not frequent travelers or think that the boarding order is a suggestion not a policy. Perhaps you didn't notice that even Delta and KLM (which uses a glass enclosed gate for extra screening) segregate the gate area between SkyPriority and regular passengers in MNL because the SQ gate is away from the other gates and you didn't really walk around the terminal (or you flight was not timed with the Delta/KLM one).

Airlines have been pressuring MNL to improve but the government could care less unless they line their pockets with absurd amounts of cash... which is why I try to stick to staying inside the lounge as long as possible but given how even the sound system in the terminal is bad, you can't rely on boarding announcements to be audible either.