Rude to walk in front of people in your same group/zone just before boarding?
Jan 2, 2019, 5:56 am
#46
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, IHG, Enterprise, Avios, Nexus
Posts: 8,355
Jan 2, 2019, 1:44 pm
#47
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: gggrrrovvveee (ORD)
Programs: UA Pt, Marriott Ti, Hertz PC
Posts: 6,091
The person who cut in front of me was around my age and was of the same race and gender as I am, and nothing about the person's clothing or belongings (or accent) indicated that the person was non-American. Thus I can't attribute a cultural reason for the person's behavior.
You keep adding more details to the story. Based on what you relayed, you were not in the chute and the other person went in front of you into the chute. Did you then block the chute, causing the person to tell you to let his spouse through? Maybe you call it rude and maybe the other guy calls it taking the initiative when you, for some reason, were just standing around. Maybe he didn't hear the announcement, or did but took it as a suggestion, or felt it was close enough to boarding to stand in line, or really wanted to get in line first for other reasons regardless of any announcements.
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if you're first or third of fifth or tenth in line, does it?
Jan 2, 2019, 2:25 pm
#48
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Programs: American Airlines Platinum, National Executive
Posts: 3,790
Apart from that, who cares? Everyone will see which zone I’m in and which seat I’m in when we board-and I want people to see my status and zone number so they won’t think I’m rude when I move to board with my zone.
Jan 6, 2019, 10:17 pm
#49
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 167
I don't get why basic queue etiquette breaks down so much at airports!
Here's a queue (G is the gate, X are people, E is the end person)
G
X
X
X
X
X
E
The only place you join a queue is at "E". You don't join at G or X. I will tell someone off if they push in front of me, but if they push in 2 in front, I have no power. I do think that queue attendants would build a lot more civility but would be an additional cost for the airlines/airports.
Here's a queue (G is the gate, X are people, E is the end person)
G
X
X
X
X
X
E
The only place you join a queue is at "E". You don't join at G or X. I will tell someone off if they push in front of me, but if they push in 2 in front, I have no power. I do think that queue attendants would build a lot more civility but would be an additional cost for the airlines/airports.
Jan 6, 2019, 10:19 pm
#50
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 167
I find the etiquette of this a bit confusing, particularly in the US where the current boarding group system started (and has largely been shown to be superior to other approaches and is being adopted everywhere).
Boarding a United Houston Bonaire flight the other day Group 3 was being boarded, but everyone in the waiting area was in a single line. I was in Group 3 and eventually just stood at the back of the line and boarded last (by which points Group 3 and 4 were boarding according to the monitor, though no announcements had been made since Group 2).
Boarding a United Houston Bonaire flight the other day Group 3 was being boarded, but everyone in the waiting area was in a single line. I was in Group 3 and eventually just stood at the back of the line and boarded last (by which points Group 3 and 4 were boarding according to the monitor, though no announcements had been made since Group 2).
Jan 7, 2019, 11:02 am
#51
Join Date: Jul 2011
Programs: AA Plat, UA 1K>Plat>moving to Silver
Posts: 2,075
I don't get why basic queue etiquette breaks down so much at airports!
Here's a queue (G is the gate, X are people, E is the end person)
G
X
X
X
X
X
E
The only place you join a queue is at "E". You don't join at G or X. I will tell someone off if they push in front of me, but if they push in 2 in front, I have no power. I do think that queue attendants would build a lot more civility but would be an additional cost for the airlines/airports.
Here's a queue (G is the gate, X are people, E is the end person)
G
X
X
X
X
X
E
The only place you join a queue is at "E". You don't join at G or X. I will tell someone off if they push in front of me, but if they push in 2 in front, I have no power. I do think that queue attendants would build a lot more civility but would be an additional cost for the airlines/airports.
Jan 7, 2019, 11:46 am
#52
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: GLA
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 2,958
I don't get why basic queue etiquette breaks down so much at airports!
Here's a queue (G is the gate, X are people, E is the end person)
G
X
X
X
X
X
E
The only place you join a queue is at "E". You don't join at G or X. I will tell someone off if they push in front of me, but if they push in 2 in front, I have no power. I do think that queue attendants would build a lot more civility but would be an additional cost for the airlines/airports.
Here's a queue (G is the gate, X are people, E is the end person)
G
X
X
X
X
X
E
The only place you join a queue is at "E". You don't join at G or X. I will tell someone off if they push in front of me, but if they push in 2 in front, I have no power. I do think that queue attendants would build a lot more civility but would be an additional cost for the airlines/airports.
G
X
X
E
OOAOO
I.e. lurking behind the queue with others (O), but not actually in it, in which the new arrival acted perfectly reasonably in going straight to E.
Jan 7, 2019, 1:05 pm
#53
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SFO/TPA
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 199
The blob of people who aren’t in a line but who are congregating near the boarding gate are not my problem. Either you’re in a line or you’re not. I respect lines and will work hard to figure out which one is mine and join it at the back. That’s why, when flying DL, I’m pro-pillar. If I’m feeling cranky and inclined to point the finger of blame, I lean toward pointing it at the airlines for creating this morass in the first place. Airport gates weren’t originally designed to hold adequate seating plus half a dozen special lanes.
Jan 7, 2019, 11:45 pm
#54
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 167
The blob of people who aren’t in a line but who are congregating near the boarding gate are not my problem. Either you’re in a line or you’re not. I respect lines and will work hard to figure out which one is mine and join it at the back. That’s why, when flying DL, I’m pro-pillar. If I’m feeling cranky and inclined to point the finger of blame, I lean toward pointing it at the airlines for creating this morass in the first place. Airport gates weren’t originally designed to hold adequate seating plus half a dozen special lanes.
Jan 8, 2019, 12:52 pm
#55
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,542
(1) Every airline has a different system. There is no single universal etiquette.
(2) Most gates at most airports have no such queues. It's not four to six well-marked, roped off GXXXXXE queues. It's Gblob. Even within the AA system, it varies widely by airport.
Southwest is really the only one that tries for form queues everywhere using a system that is consistent throughout their network.
Jan 9, 2019, 1:58 am
#56
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: RNO
Programs: AA/DL/UA
Posts: 10,761
Given the number of boarding zones, not to mention the insanity of so many "priority boarding" levels (making "group 1" more or less in the middle), the other airlines should just do the same as Southwest. The highest priority 7 people get boarding numbers 1-7. The second highest priority 12 people get boarding numbers 8-19, and so on.
Jan 9, 2019, 6:32 am
#57
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,542
Jan 9, 2019, 11:54 pm
#58
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 167
In the U.S., it's two things.
(1) Every airline has a different system. There is no single universal etiquette.
(2) Most gates at most airports have no such queues. It's not four to six well-marked, roped off GXXXXXE queues. It's Gblob. Even within the AA system, it varies widely by airport.
Southwest is really the only one that tries for form queues everywhere using a system that is consistent throughout their network.
(1) Every airline has a different system. There is no single universal etiquette.
(2) Most gates at most airports have no such queues. It's not four to six well-marked, roped off GXXXXXE queues. It's Gblob. Even within the AA system, it varies widely by airport.
Southwest is really the only one that tries for form queues everywhere using a system that is consistent throughout their network.
Thinking outside the box - plenty of airlines nowadays give your carry on bag a tag - why not take the opportunity to give a colour coded tag for the boarding zones? I.e. "if you have a green tag..."
Jan 10, 2019, 6:50 am
#59
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Peoria
Programs: Southwest, Best Western Gold, La Quinta, Dollar
Posts: 819
Indeed! I laugh every time I read a post in the Southwest forum where someone is complaining about or making fun of the Southwest boarding process. I always wonder: Has that person ever flown on AA or Delta? Or United? Seems like they probably haven't.
