I like to board early because once the plane starts filling up you have to try to get past the people who are standing in the aisles trying to push their oversized bags into the overhead bins. And the people who are coming down the aisle the wrong way because they went to the wrong row. And the air waitresses who are responding to the people who get on the plane, find their seats, and immediately press the call button to ask for a blanket. I like to get on as early as possible, put my bag under the seat in front of me, sit down, and start reading.
Put everything in your checked luggage. Redesign the cabin to give more headroom and eliminate the bins.
That’s me, except instead of reading I just try not to watch the other people boarding because I find that only makes me mutter murderous thoughts under my breath.
Boarding first in first class is great so you can kick back with your alcoholic beverage and watch the parade of poverty go by.
Or, the people who choose not to waste their money on a wider seat and getting free drinks.
The shape of the plane does not make that realistic. If they moved the floor up, there wouldn’t be space for all of the seats.
You can already check your bags and opt out of using the overhead bins, leaving more room for the rest of us. Sometimes it’s really important to have your clothes and other essentials upon arrival at your destination. Airlines lose luggage rarely, but misplace it and take extra days to get it to you often. If you are traveling, your whole trip can really get hijacked when you are forced to wait days for your luggage.
Wow, tough crowd!
I don’t care when I board, or when I exit, if I’m on the aisle or window or middle seat. I kinda care if hubby is beside me, especially of it’s a long flight, but it’s not a deal breaker, by any means.
I’m not very big, as people go, so I can pretty much be equally comfortable in any seat. Also it’s pretty easy for me to squeeze through any tight space without annoying anyone too terribly. And the only carry on I’m bringing will stay at my feet, not go overhead.
If I’m taking three planes, over 23hrs to reach my destination, I’m not letting little stuff upset me along the way.
If I have a seat, and we leave in a somewhat timely manner, I’m good.
I don’t know what % of first-class seats are actually paid for, but I bet it’s under 10%.
I fly in first either because I got a free upgrade, or because I’ve used frequent flyer miles for my ticket. I bought a first class ticket exactly once, and that was because I was booking 2 days before the flight, and the difference was ~$50 between first and full-fare coach.
When I flew a lot domestically, I was always baffled as to why more people didn’t t utilize the gate-check option. You mean I don’t have to drag my carry-on down the plane & narrow aisles, fight for overhead space, then drag it back down the narrow aisles when I get off? And essentially zero chance of the luggage getting lost? Yes please!
I now fly only 3 or 4 times a year, but all business or first, and all 12-hour+ flights. I generally get on as late as possible since I hate being on the plane any longer than necessary, and usually I’m trying to stay -up- vs sleep (depends on the flight tho). For family flights, we have two small kids so we’re getting on absolutely as late as possible; we try to spend the pre-board time having the kids run laps around the terminal. I’m only half joking.
BTW - don’t do what some jerks do - they’re sitting at the back of the plane, but they’ll throw their bag in an overhead compartment at the -front- of the plane while they run to the back. So now when people get on at the front of the plane, their overheads are already full. Well, when flight attendants are trying to move stuff around to see if what will fit, and they grab your bag to say they want to gate check it 'cause it’s taking up way too much room, and they ask around the seating area and nobody claims the bag…guess what, your bag is going to be taken off the plane, and will not be going with us. Always loved seeing the look on Mr Important Businessman’s face when he gets to New York and realizes that his bag, laptop and Important Papers ™ are still in San Diego. “I put it right here, above seat 13A!” “Where were you sitting?” “46C”.
Also: the longer the flight, the less likely you should want to take a US airlines; they suck monkey balls. British Airways is only marginally better. Virgin is fantastic; most of the Asian airlines are fantastic. Swiss Air was quite good, but that was several years ago.
I generally get too grumpy at people if I rush off the plane, so I tend to hang back. On international flights, however, I am running off as quickly as possible. I tend to travel without checked luggage, so if I hustle I have a good chance of getting to the front of the customs and immigration checkpoint. Being stuck at the back of one of those is miserable.
If you’ve got a window seat, you can put that pillow between your head and the window.
I agree with even sven - I’d rather be on the plane than sitting at the gate, knowing that whatever I’m doing will be interrupted any moment. A little extra time to get the Firebug settled if I’m traveling with him (which is the norm for me these days) or time to get back into my book otherwise.
I always wait to get on. I learned long ago that I will not get an overhead bin so I do the gate check if I have a larger bag. I carry a small backpack on the plane with me with some reading material and my laptop if I’m travelling for work which I keep under the seat in front of me.
I’ve noticed that as people begin to board there are a group of people who really don’t seem to understand the concept of lines. If there’s a line of people waiting patiently to get on the plane before the boarding is announced they’ll form a second line right next to the first and try to zipper in. I’ve seen one case where there were more than 5 distinct lines all trying to vie for position. The initial boarding is just chaotic as all this mass of people pushes to get onto the plane. Once those people are on board the remainder all tend to be polite and don’t crowd into personal space. Ditto with deplaning - if I’m not trying to make a tight connection I’ll happily let the crowd off and then trail behind.
But on a lot of planes, first and business class aren’t between economy passengers and the door usually used for boarding. And they’re usually the planes with the most impressive premium cabins.
A new terminal in Dubai is going to have a separate floor just for first class passengers. They’ll check in, go through security, wait for the plane, and board without ever having to mix with coach passengers.
I fly close to 100,000 miles every year. I approach flying the way people who live way out in the exburbs approach commuting.
I must say that the first time I ever saw this behaviour was last weekend when a couple of douchebags left their carry on luggage in a business-class locker and continued down the aisle. Had I been a flight attendant I would definitely have become very nasty.
I usually select a seat near the back of the plane…and I don’t take any carry-ons except my shoulder bag. But if I don’t board early, I have a long wait in the aisles while every single passenger sitting forward of me stashes their bag and takes their seat.
I usually select an aisle seat in the next to the last row. Not the last row cause the seats don’t recline. Unless it’s a full flight I usually end up with an empty seat next to me because seat selection tends to move from front to back.
I have seen flight attendants on Delta politely disallow this bit of assholery. I was impressed. In my experience Delta staff usually finds the right balance between customer service and not taking any shit from people.
I like to get on early because I always get a window seat and don’t want to climb over anybody to get there. And I hate having to gate-check my small wheelybag.
Yes. The same dislike of conscious waiting motivates some of my other preferences, e.g. preferring a 30-minute open-road trip to a 20-minute trip with traffic lights or side stops.
I have never understood why they just don’t board passengers from the outside rows in instead of by row numbers. First, board all of the window seat passengers, then just work your way toward the aisle seats. Aside from stragglers, no one would have to climb over anyone else. It seems completely counter-intuitive to board by rows, rather than seat numbers. I don’t get it.
Because no one would comply. First, a good half the people on the plane would have no idea if their seat was a window or the aisle; second, families will want to board together, and refuse to abide by the rules.