I am in no doubt, should that have been the case, I'd have been sat next to her !

Reminds me of our experience in the SEA elite security line awhile back.

No way. I always, always get in the F line with NW and I always, always go next when there's one line. If someone starts complaining, I ignore them. I fly 120K+ miles with the airline and Platinum Status and the special line means I don't have to wait in the Economy line.

Same when loading the plane. If there's an Elite boarding lane, it takes priority.

Preferred check in etiquette is having the non-elite check-ins waiting in line scatter rose petals ahead of us and bow and curtsy as we sashay past them to the first available check-in agent.

Just kidding. We almost always travel with carry-on only and print our BPs on line, and head directly to security, bypassing check-in. At some stations there's an elite security line; at others there isn't. But that's another thread.

On the occasions we do use airport check-in, we get in the F/elite line and wait for an agent to call us over. Sometimes it's a dedicated F agent; sometimes it's one of the others, who calls the F pax over ahead of the next general pax; whichever, I guess it's correct to wait to be aknowledged, rather than just barge up on one's own.

I think the key point here is that you waited to be called - rather than just jumping into an unmanned queue and pushing unbidden into the front of the general line at the first opportunity.

I think all pax understand that there are premium services for people who have paid premium prices (not sure they all understand the concept of frequent flyer status) and accept this. What is galling, though, is if you are in a general queue for a desk that is not marked as premium and someone decides to create their own premium service by pushing in front of you without being called by the agent.

This is really interesting. It would have never occurred to me that I was supposed to stand in the general line at a small station where they have an elite line to the side of the general line.

I have always gotten in the F line and waited for the agent to call me over. I don't jump ahead without being called, and only once did it appear I was going to stand there forever--it was at DCA and I was extremely miffed.

The idea that they merged into one line on purpose is a totally different perspective with which I don't think I agree, but I had never thought about it before.

I guess it's the idea that elite pax are supposed to be served by a dedicated person. I never assumed that to be the case. After all, if you have 1/3 the pax being served by 1/3 the dedicated agents then the queue throughput will bethe same and there will be no benefit to the elite line at all! The elite line only confers a benefit if there is either a greater ratio of dedicated agents->pax or if all agents pull from the same queue and elites go to the head of the line.

That's why I don't buy that I'm supposed to wait just because there's no dedicated agent.

Instead, what I expect to happen is that they may call a few additional pax out of the Y line and then call an F, then call a few more Y, then an F, etc.

OT

Hello Robb - your descriptor made me smile. I had a vision of you - whatever you may look like - visiting the airports of the world like Father Christmas to moderate any naughty LGBT travelers.

Sounds good to me.

Is it asking to much to have the welcome us with a beverage of some sort once we do reach the counter?

With Northwest I use the First Class/Priority line, and I expect the agent to call me next, ahead of people waiting in the coach line. It sounds like the USAir agent didn't handle it too well. She should have made it perfectly clear to the other customers that you were next. You didn't do anything wrong, and as long as you could document you were flying First Class, you owed no one a long explanation. The people from coach who tried to bully you to the back of the line were in the wrong, and who cares if bullies are upset. Being a short female, I encounter any number of people who want to yell at me and send me to the back of the line, even though I'm in First and they're not. As far as I'm concerned, it's music to my ears when a bully is embarrassed and left sputtering in shame. It should happen more often.

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry 8700: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

That sounds about right.

sure get in your elite line but if the sole ticket agent says "next", the person in the economy line has as much right as you to push you aside and go. if it happens that the ticket agent is blind and after you wait a few passengers, you realize that the agent is never going to say "next elite passenger" then maybe you go and barge ahead. but no need to be rude till then.

the line does exist for you to get in. but theres nothing written there (or even necessarily implied) that says you have to be the next passenger assisted. you get in your line and you wait till you are called. (think about it theoretically, imagine if the travel agent could serve a passenger in 60 seconds, but every 60 seconds a premium member showed up, then by your theory, no economy passenger would ever be served - obviously thats a simplified scenario.).

exactly, but that wouldnt be possible with the attitude of some people on here who believe they are next even if the agent does not call them explicitly. in that case only F's would get served.