Sad EBCI work-round?
 

Today CUN to FLL . I'm trying to queue up with A18... 3rd passenger in line had A29, after 2 BS passengers. I ask her what her boarding number is. She replies "A29... but the order doesn't matter because the monitor says A1-30." I politely mention that the order does matter and move in front of her. A second announcement made... "line up in numerical order." She doesn't budge... Awkward. My sense was that she was fully aware of the protocol and firmly dug in. She's now between me and A19, whose eyes roll, but says nothing. At the boarding scan I mention (in Spanish, to avoid any miscommunication) that the passenger behind me is out of numerical order. The WN gal smiled and thanked me, then allowed the passenger to board right after me. Why pay $25 + on EBCI if passengers can ignore the boarding process. How often have you seen situations like this? With only 10 boarding slots at play, was I right to mention the situation to the agent or was I nitpicking? Should the agent have acted on my comment?

Unfortunately it seems on WN (as you saw by A19 not doing/saying anything) many people don't really care who goes in front of them or where they line up, so long as they are in the general area of their number. I make it a point to move back a couple of people when I realize there are people in back of me who have a lower position and make my way forward when someone has a higher number in front of me. Many really don't care though if A17, A18, and A19 are not in 100% the correct order but A29 lining up toward the front is definitely a stretch.

Yeah, there's a big difference between being in your set of 5 and jumping up 15+ spots. I notice that she was careful not to jump all the way to BS, so she knew exactly what she was doing.

At CUN, they're probably not WN employees. The self-entitled have fewer concerns.

Or the 2 BS pax were already in line and she stood right behind them. Regardless, unfortunately if the WN employee doesn't care, why should the customer? Nothing requires self-policing so you've really got nothing to lose by trying. Sad thing is that most people who buy EBCI probably wouldn't know if someone who didn't was able to board out of order. As long as they don't know, WN isn't likely to rock the boat on the issue. Money in the bank for them. Had a colleague who forgot to buy BS one time and got about mid B's. He said he was just going to board with those of us who did have BS and were somewhere in the A1-10 range. I told him there's no way they will let him on with the BS pax and I was going to laugh at him when he was turned away. The Ops Agent didn't bat an eye and let him board with the rest of the BS pax.

I'm a callous .......; I would have made a bigger issue there at the gate. Their signs and the little cartoon video that they show on the monitors at the gate specify everyone is supposed to be in numerical order. Not within groups of five, not anywhere within 1-30. In numerical order.

The scammer is behind OP when he boarded. Thus, none of his business. If WN (or its contractors) can't be bothered to enforce the "line up like pre-schoolers" approach, that is a WN customer problem. I would have stayed out of it.

I think the real news here is the OP paid for EBCI and got A18.

Perhaps Cancun is different, but when I flew out of SJD a few years ago, there were no poles to mark off the spots. It was just one giant clump, 1-30, 31-60 etc.

Why is that newsworthy?

Maybe I just spend too much time here reading about people buying EBCI and getting a mid B or something like that.

I've read those too... I think if someone gets a mid-B with EBCI, its because they bought their tickets (or their EBCI) relatively close to their travel date. Probably not worth the money for EBCI. But looking at the bright side, at least they're still ahead of those who check in at T-24.

I also read of the folks here who buy their tickets the day they go on sale. Those are probably the ones getting A-18.

A-18 EBCI means very few A-Listers. ;)

Had this happen about 7 years ago on a WN flight to Vegas. Told myself that would be my last ever WN flight, and it was. I don't put up with that nonsense.

These scammers cannot be allowed to get away with boarding-line cutting, but it seems that there is no interest in enforcement by WN personnel.

FWIW, for years I traveled exclusively WN, on mostly BS fares but occasionally not and then would get very low A's being AL+.

I was obsessed with getting any exit row seat as a bit of claustrophobia set in and I would line up behind the (generally few) BS passengers and stroll right up behind them

Only once did a GA pull me aside with a dirty look until the other 3 or 4 A'ers went ahead. Think of a sassy nurse type in Chicago. Otherwise no one blinked an eye or cared.

I was always amazed at how many BS or early A's never go anywhere near the exit row.

Don't you judge me.:o