Noticed on some recent short-haul travels with SQ, LH, BD, OS and SK that none of these carriers made a priority boarding announcement inviting their First/Business Class and STARGold passengers to board first. At SIN, KUL, AMS, FRA, VIE and CPH, there was just a mad scramble by everyone to get on board. Is this standard STAR policy? Is priority boarding limited to long haul on these carriers?

UA, AC and MX all make priority boarding for their front cabin and STARGold passengers on short-haul and long-haul flights, right after preboarding seniors and families with small children.

Is this another example of deminished benefits from STAR?

on SQ??? i fly several times a month and they always have pre-boarding.

Priority Boarding (only for Star Gold, never for Star-Silver) according to the Quick StarAlliance Reference guide for travel agents (may-2001, pages 16-19, in german, translation by Rudi):
* Air Canada: ok
* Air New Zealand: ok
* ANA: ok
* Austrian Airlines: ok
* British Midland: ok
* Lauda: ok
* Lufthansa: No
* Mexicana: ok
* SAS: ok
* Singapore: ok
* Thai: ok
* Tyrolean: ok
* United: ok (Star Silver too)
* Varig: ok

Referring to the fine print, Priority Boarding is a *A Gold benefit where available only. I cannot remember, that this benefit was available on intra European (short-haul) flights on BD, LH, OS and SK.

In my experience LH normally boards by "zones", isn't that even better than Priority Boarding (at least on short-hauls)?

To be honest I don't understand the big advantage of Priority Boarding on short-hauls anyway. But then again I will probably only make Gold next year.

If you board early (in Y) then you only have more people to let through to their window seats.

gunnar, I totally agree with you - especially on short haul flights. People in the back and window seats should board first.
The advantage of early boarding is luggage. If you board late, you may have no choice any more where to put the luggage. (But this is not a problem of the boarding process; it's a problem of too much luggage).

LH does boarding calls by "zones". But: after the first call the whole crowd is moving . The boarding announcement (zones or priority boarding) is one side - the conversion of the announcement is the other side. It would be very interesting to know on which airlines (??? or in which airports ???) the conversion DOES function!

the priority boarding (by zones) does, in practice, on LH flights:
* never function if you 'reach' the plane by a bus
* is enforced about 60% at ZRH airport (if no bus)
* is (until now, in my experience) never enforced at FRA, MUC, BRE, DUS
* the Gold status early boarding privilege 'works' at JFK, SFO, BKK, SIN

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 06-04-2002).]

boarding by zones: LH flights:
* never enforced at FRA, MUC, STR, HAM

1-time experiences where it happened:
priority boarding by status and/or booking class: SQ flight:
* enforced at JNB, SIN (agents checked very carefully)
priority boarding by status and/or booking class: AC flight:
* enforced at NRT (agents checked very carefully)
priority boarding by status and/or booking class: MX flight:
* enforced at LAX, MEX, CUN

From time to time enforced in FRA and TXl.

Priority boarding by COS often enforced by LH fro longhauls ex FRA.

ANA and United have so far never failed to offer priority boarding in any of my flights yet.

In fact, with the exception of one unpleasant experience at LHR, I don't think ANA have ever missed out of any Star Gold benefits for me yet either.

In FRA they have these fantastic quick checkin/boarding thingies where you can bypass the long queue at the gate, shove your etix boarding pass into the machine yourself and be on the plane in seconds. I found this a refreshing change after having flown a lot of segments in the US in the previous weeks, where I was selected for "random" checks at the gate every single time!

Priority Boarding's main advantage is that you actually get to put something in the overhead compartments! (They get full so quickly) And since I almost always book the window seat, I don't have to worry about letting anyone through. Now will you excuse me, I have seat 6A!



[This message has been edited by SGT Clair (edited 06-04-2002).]

*Golds get priority boarding on BD at MAN. (When they remember)

But this seems to be very inconsistent on short-haul European flights. I did not have it announced once in six such flights last month, thus my question. And at FRA on two occasions the so-called Express boarding gate was not in use. All flights were fully booked, so the idea of having priority boarding was to be able to have stowage space in the overhead bin.

This is particularly critical when travelling in the US, where for some reason there are always "road warriors" who seem to believe they are entitled to stow their bags in bins that are several rows from their actual seats. I suppose they want to relieve themselves of having to carry their full load all the way down to the back of the plane, where they are sitting.

On every US flight I have taken for decades, this happens. Some will even put their bags in the first class bins, then head back into coach. Others will wait until they pass the curtain, then stow their bags over the first couple of rows, and continue their trek to the back of the plane.

Thus pre-boarding often becomes a matter of simple survival, if one has a seat either in First/Business or in the first rows of Coach [as the Americans like to call economy class]. I have noticed only a slight reduction in cabin carry-ons since the new limits were introduced. Some how, those garment bags and large brief cases are still getting on board.

I don't give that much for priority boarding as I travel light, this means one small carryon. If I have more, bags will be checked. I may have been lucky but the only time my bags got lost was on AF... I don't fly them anymore.

Shareholder, agreed, I always wonder how people just put their carryons in the first available bin, but IMHO, the problem is the amount of carryons in the first place. People try to bring everything but the fridge onboard as carryon.