On the red eye from SFO to BOS and the flight is full and already running late. The gate agent added a creative twist to get people to gate check carry ons: premier boarding in addition to the customary waived fee.

I have never seen this done before and thought it was pretty clever. Though I laughed when I thought of adding even more people to the premier cattle call - wondered if this was to get the flight out on time or just policy now.

Anyone else see this in the field or other creative gate management techniques?

Not sure I follow.... They wanted the expedite the boarding, so the creative agent did what exactly? Sorry, I think I am being dense!

That's SOP on Virgin America - maybe the gate agent stole the idea!

But if you're checking a bag, why on earth would you want to get on the plane any earlier than you have to?!

Well...I remembered I read a thread in FT about op-up.

And it said that gate agent are evaluated based on on-time departure.

So IMO, this is how the GA wants to make the flight depart on time.

Allowed people who gate-checked bags to board early.

So did it work?

I would like to think so because:
A) Fewer kitchen sinks to deal with late in the boarding process.
B) People without kitchen sinks should be able to board more quickly.

Hmmm just thinking out loud.....

I wonder how much impact it would have on elite boarding if:

Elite boarding now would include a caveat to allow those with zero carry-on's (and I'm talking nothing... other then the shirt on your back) to utilize the red/blue carpet after F/C/elites/etc.

Heh, most pax probably don't realize they've been bamboozled until they're already on the plane.

A new strategy to board early: buy a very cheap bag, gate check it, and never bother waiting for it, rinse and repeat for every flight.

I've seen this on a few AS flights - may even be their new SOP, if I am recalling correctly.

I don't think that is it.

Most airlines (ie: not Southwest) charge to check bags. This causes people like me to carry on bags that are carry-on legal and which get checked on airlines that allow free checked bags.

For example, when on the return leg of a trip, I'll be happy to gate check my rollaboard for free, since it is likely full of nothing but dirty clothes.

I find it amazing that the airlines basically force you to carry that bag aboard and take up the bin space when you have no intention of accessing anything in it for the entire flight.... you are only carrying it on to avoid their bag check fee.... and then since you took up the bin space, it runs out and others are forced to gate check stuff that didn't want gate check.

Letting me gate check it for free means that I don't have to lug around my dirty laundry... and to then give me priority boarding for free as well... shows just how screwed up that checked-bag-fee policy is...

But we're talking specifically about the case where early boarding is used as the incentive.

The only reason to offer early boarding is because you think it will entice pax to check their bags -- pax who wouldn't have checked their bags anyway for other reasons (such as the reason you gave). These pax are checking their bags to get early boarding. And as far as I can tell, early boarding is pointless once you've checked your bags.

Hence my comment about the pax essentially being bamboozled.

I don't have a problem with it. I'm just saying. :-)

+1 - The only reason to board early is for OH space. Back in the day, F was boarded last. If you don't need OH space or much of it, let the kettles rush on and you can board at your leisure.

This isn't a new practice for CO at SFO but we have found that it works to speed up the boarding process. Most of the people that bring their bags to the gate are doing so to avoid the checked bag fee and are delighted to give up their bag at the gate before boarding. This incentive is aimed for the infrequent flier that always is clogging the boarding area and must get on the plane asap. Also if we get these bags early enough the rampers can load them and close up the cargo bins sooner.