VX always seems to board and depart early
Jun 27, 2008, 9:44 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 350
VX always seems to board and depart early
3 out of 4 times I've flown VX we have boarded earlier than the 30 mins or so on the boarding pass and departed 5 mins early. Is this standard practice? The one other time the flight was delayed so it wasn't an issue.
Edit: I don't normally mind boarding and departing early but if it's a 6pm flight on a Friday it's not always optimal.
Edit: I don't normally mind boarding and departing early but if it's a 6pm flight on a Friday it's not always optimal.
Jun 27, 2008, 10:06 am
#2
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 4,052
It is indeed common, but they only leave up to 10 minutes early, which is also common among many airlines. Also, they only do it when everyone who is checked in has boarded, so as long as you use OLCI or at least get to the ticket counter reasonably, you should be fine.
The reason airlines can leave 10 minutes early is because that is the time when you could lose your seat anyway as standby passengers are cleared at that time.
The reason airlines can leave 10 minutes early is because that is the time when you could lose your seat anyway as standby passengers are cleared at that time.
Jun 27, 2008, 10:14 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 350
It is indeed common, but they only leave up to 10 minutes early, which is also common among many airlines. Also, they only do it when everyone who is checked in has boarded, so as long as you use OLCI or at least get to the ticket counter reasonably, you should be fine.
The reason airlines can leave 10 minutes early is because that is the time when you could lose your seat anyway as standby passengers are cleared at that time.
The reason airlines can leave 10 minutes early is because that is the time when you could lose your seat anyway as standby passengers are cleared at that time.
Jun 27, 2008, 10:20 am
#4
Join Date: Jun 1999
Location: NYC/LA
Programs: DL Plat, AA Plat Pro, Marriott Titanium, IHG Diamond Amb
Posts: 7,647
It was certainly surreal on a recent flight out of JFK when I arrived at the gate 30 min prior to departure to find that almost everyone was already on board.
Jun 27, 2008, 10:27 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 350
Jun 27, 2008, 2:33 pm
#7
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 4,052
Jun 30, 2008, 2:19 am
#9
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 153
Low pax
I bet one of the reasons VX flights seem to depart early/board quickly (I've noticed this too) is because there are fewer people than most of the other carriers. They're only pulling a 60% load factor (for a couple of months now!). Watch for VX (sadly) to go Chapter 7 soon.
Jun 30, 2008, 4:11 am
#10
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: AS MVP, Elevate, AAdvantage, Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,992
But I would say that of my VX flights, they have more often than not departed early, which certainly isn't the case with WN, and rarely with AS.
Jun 30, 2008, 11:23 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,453
I bet one of the reasons VX flights seem to depart early/board quickly (I've noticed this too) is because there are fewer people than most of the other carriers. They're only pulling a 60% load factor (for a couple of months now!). Watch for VX (sadly) to go Chapter 7 soon.