Passenger Trains > OT: "Delta changes the way fliers board planes"

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/11/business/delta-new-boarding-process/index.html

"the airline will ditch zone boarding in favor of a new -- and more complex -- process based on ticket type and color.Despite the expansion in number of groups from six to eight, Delta said the new format hopes to "encourage fewer customers to line up in the gate area" and ultimately speed up boarding.The Atlanta-based carrier will still begin boarding with passengers that need extra time, followed by premium passengers sitting in its Delta One suites (applicable on select domestic and all international flights) and then its new Premium Select cabin on some international flights or First Class on domestic flights.After that, it gets complicated:"

My biggest boarding complaint is that they serve the 1st class drinks/snacks while everyone is boarding.  

Still,  better then some of the Amtrakd ebacles I have been part of.  

Southwest has the simplest and best boarding procedure.  Line up by number.  Open seating.  Why do the legacy carriers hang on to their complicated and time-consuming boarding systems?
 

Yeah right !

Seems when I go to board they call First Class, Premium, Premium Select, Passengers with pets, old ladies with blue hair, cheerleaders, Bonus points plus, Optimum schedule elite, first premium select advantage, diplomats with Polish accents, Zone 34, Zone 16, Area 51 and then as I stand the last one at the gate, All passengers Zone 4. After which I have to make my way back to Row 72 (the row behind the tail) with 2600 passengers, two crates of live chickens, a kid on a tri-cycle a lady trying to shove her exercise gym into the overhead bin, etc. Yes, I do like Southwest.

But why can't boarding be assigned a number with your reserved seat ? Fill the back first, with windows assignemts then roll it forward, windows, middles, aisles - each seat has a boarding priority number. 

Of course getting off from Row 72 behind the lady now trying to pull her excercise gym out of the overhead bin, I've got 1 minute and 36 seconds to get off the plane, go all the way down the gate to the FARTHEST gate possible and all the way to the end of that gate so I can be the last guy on the plane sitting once again behind the tail only to land at home airport at the farthest gate possible from the terminal. The logistics of the airlines coordinating and pulling such off so consistently is mind-boggling. Honestly I landed in Denver once in B Terminal at gates I never knew existed. I think I shuttled down from Cheyenne or something.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/18 12:44 by train1275.

stanhunter Wrote:
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> Southwest has the simplest and best boarding
> procedure.  Line up by number.  Open seating.
>  Why do the legacy carriers hang on to their
> complicated and time-consuming boarding systems?
>  

Because they've always done it that way?

The current coach boarding by "group" is supposed to preserve overhead bin space by boarding full fare, affinity card holders, etc ahead of leisure lowest price fare passengers with huge loads of luggage. If you looked for the lowest fare, you're not going to be in a hurry to pay $30 per bag.

In West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, United often does not allow carry on overhead bags for groups 4 and 5.  For a while, they attempted to impose a larger checked bag fee for bags taken from you at boarding. That did npot go over well.

stanhunter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Southwest has the simplest and best boarding
> procedure.  Line up by number.  Open seating.
>  Why do the legacy carriers hang on to their
> complicated and time-consuming boarding systems?
>  

Meh, cattle call.  Give me the assigned seating over the person saving a seat because they were too cheap to by more than one Early Bird any day of the week.

sixaxlecentury Wrote:
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> My biggest boarding complaint is that they serve
> the 1st class drinks/snacks while everyone is
> boarding.  
>

Damn those 1st class people for getting something extra!

stanhunter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Southwest has the simplest and best boarding
> procedure.  Line up by number.  Open seating.
>  Why do the legacy carriers hang on to their
> complicated and time-consuming boarding systems?
> 

because some people will PAY for an assigned seat in business class...........

66

Many people commute from Fort Lauderdale, Newark, NYC, Boston, during the winter. Fly up on Sunday night or Monday morning, come back on Thursday evening or Friday.

If you're flying south on a Thursday evening, it's not unusual for 1/2 the plane to be "early boards" on global one pass medallion etc. Many are greeted by name, which I'm sure is a nice touch.

(Others are flown by private plane to Stuart, Lantana, etc)

stanhunter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Southwest has the simplest and best boarding procedure.  Line up by number.  Open seating.
>  Why do the legacy carriers hang on to their complicated and time-consuming boarding systems?
>  
Because they don't want to admit anything else can work! SWA has used this procedure since it was a small intra-Texas airline; they copied it from California carrier PSA. .
BTW SWA was only major carrier that still made money in the months after 9/11. 

hazegray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> stanhunter Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Southwest has the simplest and best
> boarding procedure.  Line up by number.  Open
> seating.
> >  Why do the legacy carriers hang on to
> their complicated and time-consuming boarding
> systems?
> >  
> Because they don't want to admit anything else can
> work! SWA has used this procedure since it was a
> small intra-Texas airline; they copied it from
> California carrier PSA. .

They have not used the line up by number approach.  They used to have a first come first serve procedure, which resulted in people sitting in a line at the gate for hours before the plane departed to get the best seat choice.  

story

Maybe TO should add another discussion forum, and call it "Airlines".

Kind of wondering the same thing along with another that says always quote someone that takes up about half a page extra.   Hate to say but some aircraft require boarding front to back due to center of gravity while on the ground. Most aircraft dont use tail stands and doing rear to front would require them.  Just an fyi for some on here.

NOW about trains and boarding them???????????

oh boy.   Opinion outweighs knoiwledge, as usual...

 

train1275 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah right !
>
> Seems when I go to board they call First Class,
> Premium, Premium Select, Passengers with pets, old
> ladies with blue hair, cheerleaders, something.......

You forgot to mention going through customs when traveling outside of the country.  I had to do it twice on my last trip to Europe and in both airports, I just made it to my connecting flight a few minutes before they closed the gate.

When I got out of the Army, I had a military standby ticket on Western Airlines, Oakland to LAX.  They boarded full fair passengers first.  No problem there.  Then they boarded the college reserved (2/3 full fair) followed by the Military reserve (again, 2/3 full fair.)  Then they boarded collage standby (1/2 full fair) and lastly, the military standby (1/2 full fair) if there were any seats left.  It was their way to protest the Vietnam war.  I guess it was also their way of controlling the crowd at the gate.

John

stanhunter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Southwest has the simplest and best boarding
> procedure.  Line up by number.  Open seating.
>  Why do the legacy carriers hang on to their
> complicated and time-consuming boarding systems?
>  
I hate open seating, especially if connecting. My Virgo nature desires an assigned seat, which I march to and plop down.
Beats wandering through the plane as some do, searching for that perfect seat (with all their carry-on crap).
Of course, I haven't been on a flight in 4 years, but have a few coming up in 2019 (with assigned seats).

TJY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/18 17:41 by icancmp193.

Most Southwest flights are pretty short. I know I can put up with an unassigned seat for an hour or two no problem.
Now an six hour flight to Hawaii or the East Coast, yeah an assigned seat might be nice.
But it won't stop you from having to deal with a packed cabin with all seats filled. Which is what the airlines strive for.

As a strategy to reduce the amount of time for flyers to board a plane and get settled in their seats, perhaps airlines could provide free checked baggage and charge for any carry-ons which cannot be stored under the seats.

RuleG Wrote:
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> As a strategy to reduce the amount of time for
> flyers to board a plane and get settled in their
> seats, perhaps airlines could provide free checked
> baggage and charge for any carry-ons which cannot
> be stored under the seats.

That's pretty much what Southwest does. 2 free checked bags and 2 free carry-ons.

Same old, same old.  "Ticket type and color" amounts to the same thing as the prior
zones, only more of them.  What is different is that the classification and boarding
sequence is now more opaque to the passenger.

Which is to say, "Baffle 'em with Bullsh!t."