I am not a frequent flier by any means, I’ve been on three round trips…all on American Airlines. But I’ve got to know, why to they board the plane front to rear? They have the seats sectioned into five groups (on a 757) and first class. First class in first, then group A, group B and so on. This makes absolutely no sense to me. All the group E schmucks have to squeeze through a plane full of people trying to cram their luggage in the overhead and trying to figure out what seat they’re in. It would seem so much simpler to board rear to front.
I gave this same rant in a post a few months ago. I fly around 15-20 times a year for work and I’ve experienced this annoying practice many times lately as well.
I left that old thread thinking I was being delusional as very few concurred with my contention, so thanks for being possibly the only other person in existence who sees this.
They board the premium passengers first: first class passengers, because they want the plebs to walk past and see them alrerady sipping a drink, and the those with high frequent-flier miles, to reward them for that.
I think another thing that comes into it is that they don’t want people in row 40 to start filling upo the overhead bins in row 4, so they don’t have to carry their bags all the way back, and can pick them up again on their way out. That would mean the people in row 4 would have to put their stuff in aft of where they are siting, causing chaos as they try to walk back in a crowded passageway.
According to an article I read in Wired a couple of months ago, seating time efficiency is still being worked on (which doesn’t answer your question per se, but may somehow be involved in the answer). You can see it here, just without the shmancy diagrams: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70689-1.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1
I was on a Frontier flight once that used the window-middle-aisle system and it was a total disaster. Instead of having to work through a few rows where somebody is stowing luggage the middle seat people were backed up as the whole length of the plane had window seat people in the way and then those with aisle seats were even further backed up. It took twice as long as normal to get everybody seated and made the overheads worse since people were giving up trying to get their luggage through the crowd and just shoving up in the first open spot they could find.
I just want to say that I read the thread title about five times, trying to parse it to make sense (Is it about American boarding-houses? Something to do with US attitudes to lumber?) and then just had to open it to find out what it was all about.
I’d considered adding “Airlines” into the appropriate location in the title, but I had thought it would have sounded too wordy. In hindsight, I may have made the wrong decision.
That’s a good question… it’s always driven me nuts to see such inefficiency. And to somehow play it off like it’s a “perk” for first class and frequent flyer travellers. The last thing I went right before boarding a plane for 3 hours is to be “lucky” enough to get on first. If you really want to reward first class, give them the luxury of last in, first out.
Well, first class does have the option of boarding whenever they want and I agree that I don’t see why they want to sit there while everybody hustles by. The frequent flyers and the rest of the plebes in coach usually want to get on first to secure their coveted overhead bin space, lest they have to check their ginormous “carry on” or encroach on their foot space.
King Friday I think most airlines board back to front, although there are some variations. Perhaps the most maddening is Southwest’s method: there are no assigned seats. You are assigned a group (A,B, or C) based on when you check in. The plane is then boarded in groups who make a mad dash to secure their desired seating. The best part is that they have an actual cattle chute at the gate where the various groups line up before boarding, sometimes an hour or more before the plane is scheduled to depart. I think it is an experiment to see how much crap customers will put up with for cheaper tickets.
Anecdote. I sued to fly (for buisness reasons) a lot more than I do now.
At that time (anout 4-5 years ago), it really depended on the airline itself. Some boarded 1st class first, than back to front for coach. Some did it the other way around.
FWIW, Air Canada boards back to front for the regular seats. First Class goes first, then “people who need assistance”, families with small children, and “Star Alliance”(frequent flyer) people, and then they board the back half of the plane, followed by the front for everyone else. It seems to make a lot of sense to me.
People who need assistance or have small children always go first, before first class. Take it from a frequent first class flier who’s heard the Air Canada boarding speech about four hundred times in the last four years. Personally I don’t give a hoot that they let me on before the coach folks just because I’m a frequent flier, and I’d be happy if they stopped that, but to be honest, the first class passengers almost never hold the proceedings up, anyway, because
They have more room up there so it’s easier to get out of everyone’s way when the coach passengers come in, and
First class passengers are usually experienced fliers and get their asses into their seats pretty quickly. The twits who carry on eight different things and take five minutes to get their shit sorted out before they can sit down are usually in the back.
Of course, while tehy let the special-needs passengers on first, they never actually give the people who need extra time very much time before they hustle everyone else on. I never understood that. “Alright, Grandma, you can go first, there you go dear… OKAY THAT’S THIRTY SECONDS! HUSTLE IT UP! GO GO GO!”
Northwest is a free-for-all. After boarding first class first, everyone else boards next, and that includes people requiring assistance, adults with children, normal people, abnormal people, dogs, cats, etc.
Having endured Northwest of late, Southwest’s approach is a cakewalk.
I admit that the last few months (and I do mean the LAST) I flew Southwest it was in 1996, so things may have changed. But back then, THEY were the ones who just let everyone on the plane for any reason. I once counted thirty-two pre-boards, including a family of 8 because they had one under-12 passenger. I almost bolted for the door at the thought of being cooped up in a flying cigar tube with a child so terrible that it took 7 other adults to control her! , but true.
One thing to remember in first class, though, is that there is not as much overhead space as you might think. On some planes (like the DC-9), one of those has the oxygen bottles/generators/whatever they are, and they don’t have the luxury of stowing their stuff very far ahead of where they’re sitting (as the Captain doesn’t want their crap in his/her lap), and if they have to stow their gear back in coach, then they’re going to be trying to “swim against the current” to get back to where their stuff is.
I’m not taking sides, just adding some stuff, since I don’t live on a plane any more.
And I flew United on Friday, which had a window first policy.
I think the reason it seems that the front boards first, for some airlines, is that frquent fliers get to board first, and they typically get seats up front. I was in first class on a crowded flight, and it seemed half the plane was boarding at the first call.
As for Southwest - their cattle chutes are a big improvement from their old system with three unruly lines.
Back-to-front used to be the rule (after, of course, those needing help, First Class, Business Class, etc.). Lately, other rules have been showing up; I’ve seen a lot of front-to-back lately. I presume this is intended to avoid the situation of people dumping their carryons into early overhead bins and then sitting in the back; noone in their right mind would sit in front and put the luggage in the back if they can help it! <lol>
Personally I don’t give a hoot that they let me on before the coach folks just because I’m a frequent flier, and I’d be happy if they stopped that, but to be honest, the first class passengers almost never hold the proceedings up, anyway, because