Priority Boarding?!

Back to Forum
Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • DoorsToManual
    Participant

    It’s become a joke. This week on one Club Europe flight and two Domestic flights the queues for Fast Track (Priority) boarding were longer than the General Boarding queue. To add insult to injury at Terminal 5 they boarded from BOTH queues at the same time, thus rendering any level of benefit to those in the Fast Track queue redundant.
    The following passengers are allowed to use Fast Track: Club Europe (or Business UK), Exec. Club Premium, Gold, Silver and Bronze; One World Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby. Basically if you’ve flown once before with BA you can now have Fast Track boarding. What is the point? Answers on a postcard…or at least below.


    openfly
    Participant

    If the BA gate staff comply with BA instructions the order is First, Club World/Europe, Gold (or One World equivalent), Silver (or One World equivalent) and Bronze. The only station that consistently complies with this is AMS.
    But so few BA staff bother with this system and, of course, third party handlers don’t have a clue. Some of the worst stations are Iberia handled….it’s a shrug of the shoulders, especially AGP.
    It’s all a farce.
    There has been a noticeable improvement at T3 LHR…they rule the boarding with a rod of iron. God help you if you try to queue jump!


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I only see one advantage of priority boarding and that is the locker space. When I am travelling without the need to secure locker space, I am always the last to board.

    Are there any other advantages of priority boarding??


    GivingupBA
    Participant

    Martyn, you said “I only see one advantage of priority boarding and that is the locker space. When I am travelling without the need to secure locker space…”

    You’re a wise man and you’ve cracked the secret of flying on BA within Europe!

    I can’t do it though. I’m never able to board BA without a [regulation size] wheelie cabin bag.


    Flightlevel
    Participant

    Martin you are right, and even that is difficult (see FDOS comments about overhead lockers) and the advantage is irrelevent on longhaul flights since there is room in the overhead lockers in Business and First. You just make a longer trip if you board early so unless you really need that glass of champagne take your time when you reach the gate.


    seasonedtraveller
    Participant

    [quote quote=792899]I only see one advantage of priority boarding and that is the locker space. When I am travelling without the need to secure locker space, I am always the last to board.

    Are there any other advantages of priority boarding??

    [/quote]

    Correct – it’s the only reason that I care to board sooner rather than later. As a lot of my trips are one city one day, I try to avoid checking in my luggage wherever possible so as to avoid the complex and frustrating situation caused by lost luggage.
    On this weeks BA LBA to LHR sector, the overheads in rows 1 & 2 were 50% full of crew bags – I find this to be unnaceptable when overhead space is at a premium and those seated in rows 1-4 are (generally) either UK Business or Gold.


    Ahmad
    Participant

    [quote quote=792933]

    I only see one advantage of priority boarding and that is the locker space. When I am travelling without the need to secure locker space, I am always the last to board.

    Are there any other advantages of priority boarding??

    Correct – it’s the only reason that I care to board sooner rather than later. As a lot of my trips are one city one day, I try to avoid checking in my luggage wherever possible so as to avoid the complex and frustrating situation caused by lost luggage.
    On this weeks BA LBA to LHR sector, the overheads in rows 1 & 2 were 50% full of crew bags – I find this to be unnaceptable when overhead space is at a premium and those seated in rows 1-4 are (generally) either UK Business or Gold.

    [/quote]

    Agreed. I also wait until nearly everyone else has boarded. Overhead cabin doors have seat numbers on them, when I find crew bags in the space assigned for my seat I always ask them to be moved. If other passengers have put their bags there it is more difficult to have them moved. Most crew members, when asked, help out in moving these bags or otherwise rearranging them to make space. I admit I have come across some crew members who either have no concept of bin space allocated for specific seats or just couldn’t be bothered.


    DoorsToManual
    Participant

    I’m off to Manchester again today, so I’ll see if things are any different this week and Spain on Weds and Germany on Saturday so 6 opportunities to see what happens. Will be sure to stop at Pret first today!

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Business Traveller March 2024 edition
Be up-to-date
Magazine Subscription
To see our latest subscription offers for Business Traveller editions worldwide, click on the Subscribe & Save link below
Polls