Yes.

"In a continued effort to streamline the boarding process, we are pleased to offer Group Boarding. If you are seated in the main cabin, you will notice a group number 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 on your boarding pass. These numbers correspond with particular rows on the aircraft and frequent flyer status. Customers are invited to board by group numbers on the aircraft instead of row numbers. However, Group Boarding has not changed our customary procedure of boarding the aircraft from back to front. In addition, prior to making the general boarding announcements, customers identifying themselves as those who require extra time or assistance in boarding will still be preboarded as time permits. Too, our first class and business class customers will continue to board before the customers in our main cabin."


Similarly,

"Zone 1 is First class and the first row of coach. Zone 2 is for Delta's Medallion frequent-flier members. Zone 3 is premium members of Delta's partner airlines.

After that, Delta boards its planes from back to front in zones 4 through 9."


As stated previously, back-to-front boarding is pretty much the way every airline the I have travelled with (except for Southwest) does it.

Re-stating/clarifying/re-asking the questions won't change the answer :)

And doing it this way won't cut 25% off because it's already done this way. The only way to improve it is to whack the elite/F pre-board and make it purely back/windows first, and we know that's not going to happen.

I'm really curious about this. I've seen it mentioned here a few times before, and actually recall a whole thread about how people deal with it, but I've never encountered it before or even been near an obvious conflict over this.

Do you think it's more common on some routes than others, like NY-FLA or any routes with more once-a-year (or once-a-lifetime :p ) leisure flyers?

It just baffles me that people really put up a fight... I mean if the person whose seat they took shrugs it off, ok, but if they actually appear to care, how can they justify sitting there?

Could it be routes from airports served by Southwest, where people are trained in dash-to-the-seat methods?

Eliminating elite pre-boarding would cut off a few minutes, but not 25%. I disagree that boarding back windows first, etc., would cut any significant amount of time, because the amount of time spent boarding is wasted while people shove their rolling suitcases into overhead bins.

The only way to speed up boarding while continuing to allow rolling suitcases inside the aircraft cabin is to board something like this: (25 rows on a 737)

25A, 24F, 23A, 22F, 25B, 24E, 23B, 22E, 25C, 24D, 23C, 22D, 25D, 24C, 23D, 22C, 25E, 24B, 23E, 22B, 25F, 24A, 23F, 22A, 21A, 20F, etc.

You would also have to require boarding in this exact order -- no families boarding together, and if you miss your place in the order, you lose your reservation.

Gee, it seems that it would be a lot easier to check suitcases into the cargo hold, but we just can't have that. :rolleyes:

It probably would speed up things. However, there is no guarantee that they are not going to take the overhead bin space that first/biz/elite passengers should get first shot at. And then first/biz/elite passengers would have to board in a big mass pack along with the rest of the pack.

Never gonna happen on a major!

In my limited experience, it's usually been an oversight, not intentional. I would just rather eliminate the possibility of having to switch seats at the last minute when it's time to go.

Luckily I'm rarely assigned a middle or aisle seat, but when that does happen, I board at the last minute, hoping that someone poached my seat, in which case I will happily look for what is assuredly a better seat and not bother the poacher. :D