So have any of you ever boarded before your zone, or seen someone try and get caught? Seems like if you don't try to board during first class they really don't check that often especially if your boarding pass is on your phone with your zone info "bellow the fold" as it were. I've never tried but I know how easy it can be to push into an area you aren't supposed to be in I'd you just look confident.

I don't. But I've seen others cheat and I always silently give a big HOORAH! to the GA who sends the cheater away

^^^ Like you, I've seen it. And I chuckle just a bit when they nail someone. Not that it makes a difference to me getting my seat, but because it embarrasses the cheater.

Seems like a stupid thing to try and get away with but yeah, I've seen it and don't condone the practice.

Except there is a reason for doing it, and the airlines themselves have created/exacerbated that reason:

Not enough overhead bin space, combined with fees for checked bags. Given that, why should someone with a less fortuitous boarding zone be penalized relative to other passengers, who may well have paid less or the same for a more advantaged boarding zone which gives them preferential access to a scarce resource?

If the economically LOGICAL resource allocation was done, whereby checked bags were free, but carry-ons that only fit in the overhead bins (which, after all, are the scarce resource) were charged-for instead, this problem would go away.

I guess I travel pretty light and have never had this issue but I don't think how much you paid for your ticket should be a factor. If you've failed to play the game as effectively as other folks then that's your problem. Even then, as long as you hang around the gate and line up as soon as your boarding zone is called then all should be well most of the time.

What makes you claim that boarding in a better zone than your BP entitles you to is not a very effective play of the game? I would agree, if you get caught, it's a failed play. But if you don't get caught, it's a successful play. Just as throwing a spit-ball for a strike out is in baseball, or holding on the offensive line or against a wideout is if you don't draw a penalty flag. Breaking the "rules" without getting caught is an art to successful play in any game.

A major reason that the Seattle Seahawks are the current Super Bowl champs is because they perfected the art of physical contact against wideouts by their secondary without getting flagged for it.

In one play you're an A-hole and in the other play you're not. I've played competitive sports in the past and there's not a lot of respect for the guys who deliberately break the rules.

On a recent flight from BZE to MIA, a guy squeezed in front of me during boarding for J. He was not in J and the when the gate agent pointed it out to him, he said "It's okay" and proceeded to board. Jedi mind trick?

I chuckled but I really wished the gate agent was more assertive.

I thought the machines bleeped if people were ahead of the group number. That certainly happened to my daughter at LHR when she was flying with me.

Interesting take on personal ethics there.

The underlying question is, what is the ethical basis for the "rules" in the first place? I would contend that there is none. Hence, observing the rules is no more ethical than flouting them when one can.

Who gets to decide that, and what is the underlying basis upon which someone has been given that authority? Last I saw, Gaylord Perry was voted into the Hall of Fame, and Richard Sherman is regarded as one of the best players in the NFL.

Poor argument imo. If I've bought a premium ticket I'm paying for the privilege (and yes, it's a privilege) to board first. You're essentially stealing.

I would ask you what the basis of "laws" in society are?

Simple. By playing an organised sport you've agreed to play under the specified rules in the same way that by flying with an airline you've agreed to follow their rules and reasonable instructions.

My assumption was, you DIDN'T buy a more expensive ticket than I did. You just happened to be in an earlier boarding group in coach - maybe because you prefer a window seat and I prefer an aisle. And I AM following the "REASONABLE" instructions - I'm simply ignoring the unreasonable ones - just as many folks here take issue with the arbitrary dictums of the TSA. As I said, Gaylord Perry is in the Hall of Fame, and Richard Sherman is being lionized as the best defensive back in the NFL - both because of successful rule-breaking abilities designed purely for them to maximize revenues and minimize costs.

Societal laws are generally based upon the implementation of representatives of a Democratic majority. I'm not sure what that has to due with the fiat of an Airline's policies.