Are the Airlines Doing a Better Job Boarding PassengersThe last month or so I’ve noticed a couple of the major U.S. airlines making some adjustments when it comes to boarding passengers. First, United came out with dedicated lanes for each zone to alleviate ‘gate lice’ (passengers who crowd the gate area making it a chore for those in first class and lower zone numbers to get by). Then just today, I noticed American Airlines listed what boarding zone was boarding on the screen behind the gate agents. I liked this tactic but I don’t think too many people spotted it since the information was rotating and was on a small screen. What would be better is to have the zone number on a large flat screen right above the boarding door.

United BoardingIn May, American Airlines also rolled out a new boarding process where customers without overhead luggage can board before Group 2. This makes sense. Alaska, Southwest and Frontier have all been doing it for a while and it seems to work. Two main reasons it makes sense? It speeds up the boarding process and it incentivizes people to check their bags, which is a  source of revenue for the airline.

830DeltaScreenDelta has been doing a great job for over a decade keeping passengers abreast on upgrades, standbys, connections and other flight information on their boarding area screens. Now if we could only combine the best from all the airlines, traveling would be that much better.

 

What do you think?

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