Simply another example of the decline. This is normal for non western cultures BTW - take whatever you can by whatever means you can. The reason Hammurabi had to resort to his code.
Wheel chair early boarding example
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
The airlines created a .... bottleneck.
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
IIRC @Astro14 discussed a study that resulted in showing that boarding window seat, them middle seat, then aisle seats was the most efficient way to board a plane. The issue with that method is passengers traveling together don't board together, especially children. Which is why the method you describe may be the second most efficient, but is more feasible than the window, middle, and aisle method.
All I know is I have years of boarding Bluebird buses and cattle cars, and boarding these with tons of "carry ons" attached to my body. Nothing works better with carry ons than boarding the rear to the front.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Oh man - done like that - I’d pay to watch him look for spots for his way above the limit carry on bags
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
Supplemental to this thread, waiting for a flight to El Paso. Guys with cowboy hats almost always closely board with urgency after the wheelchair pax board.
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4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Allot of air miles status at play these days - I can be holding a 1A boarding pass in my hand - but will be in the 4th boarding group bcs I don’t fly that airline enough …
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
First, your workflow efficiency isn’t entirely accurate. Some folks in wheel chairs have difficulty moving. Don’t make them board with others who bump into them. They really do need extra time. Some also need an aisle chair. That chair blocks the entire aisle. Do that first, prior to everyone else so that the staff can get the chair up and down the aisle without waiting for other passengers. It’s about them being able to board at all, they are not interchangeable with other passengers. That IS the better process flow.
Second, it’s not always about workflow - it is also about customer recognition. By your “workflow” the guy holding seat 1B, the million mile flyer, boards last - without recognition, and with no overhead space left. Not a way to keep your best customers happy.
Third, airlines have tried other methods, and the combination of overhead space, handicap accommodation and customer recognition has them pretty much settled back on roughly: wheelchair/assistance, families with small children, elite status, and descending status.
Even Southwest lets wheelchair board first. And, notably, they have revised the “cattle call” to the groups above.
Abuse of the system is a separate issue.
GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
And OJ was found not guilty of criminal homicide.
If your theory is correct, yes we will never know who killed OJ's ex wife and Mr. Goldman.
Many people are horrible and the airline industry is about as efficient as herding cats. Nickel and dime people, inconvenience them and they will find hoops to jump through to make their life easier, whether right or wrong.
Limit/enforce carry on. Don't add fees for everything and incentivize people to check their bags. Load the fastest people first and the slowest last.
Enforce that people use the carry-on spaces assigned to them, directly above their seat only. Currently after the first 10 people board and put their carry on where it is most convenient, it throws off the whole plane.
The slowest passengers who board last will have their assigned carry on spaces available. If someone's carry on is not in the assigned overhead space it gets taken by the flight attendant to get put in the belly of the plane.
But this will never happen. Profit wins. The airline industry wont do what is right and incentivize people to be honest and efficient for the sake of a "good flying experience". If they can nickel/dime everything and can make more money doing it....they don't care product is inefficient and unhappy.
Limit/enforce carry on. Don't add fees for everything and incentivize people to check their bags. Load the fastest people first and the slowest last.
Enforce that people use the carry-on spaces assigned to them, directly above their seat only. Currently after the first 10 people board and put their carry on where it is most convenient, it throws off the whole plane.
The slowest passengers who board last will have their assigned carry on spaces available. If someone's carry on is not in the assigned overhead space it gets taken by the flight attendant to get put in the belly of the plane.
But this will never happen. Profit wins. The airline industry wont do what is right and incentivize people to be honest and efficient for the sake of a "good flying experience". If they can nickel/dime everything and can make more money doing it....they don't care product is inefficient and unhappy.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
You have a lot of suggestions on “what” they should do, but you have no suggestion on “how” they could possibly “enforce” “assigned” overhead space.
Double the flight attendants to watch them? That cost would never be accepted.
The airlines respond to what customers choose. Period. It’s not about “doing what’s right”, it’s about “responding to customer demand”.
Example: American added extra space between seats 20+ years ago. Advertised it. Bragged about it.
And the passengers chose the airline with the cheapest fares, not the ones with more legroom, causing American to lose a ton of money. So they quietly stuck all those seats back in on their airplanes so that they could also make a profit.
Since de regulation, the customer has spoken. And what they want is cheap more than anything else. If there’s a $10 difference in fair between two Airlines, most of the time the infrequent flyer will choose a $10 cheaper airline and then be shocked, “shocked I tell you”, that they don’t have the amenities that American or United or Delta would have offered them. How do you think, JetBlue, spirit, and others grew so rapidly?
Let’s talk carry on luggage.
United has spent over $500 million upgrading the interiors of a lot of their airplanes to be able to handle 50% more carry-on luggage. The larger bins allow you to place the luggage on its side, instead of flat, to fit more .
United does not charge for a checked bag, unless you buy the super cheap fare - again that’s what customers choose. But if you buy the regular fare, and there are several fare classes, you can check a bag for free. During boarding, if overhead bin space runs tight, United will check your bag for free even if you purchased a fare that did not warrant a free check bag.
There is no “nickel and diming” here there - this is simply responding to the customer demand for more carry-on bin space and hundreds of millions of dollars is “doing what’s right”, or, it’s doing what customers want. Your choice, but in either case people want carry-on bags.
But not one customer buys on United because they know United spent that money on interiors. They choose on the basis of fare or schedule, and then they expect that there will be room for their bag. We want to meet that expectation.
The thing that you call, nickel and diming, is what customers wanted. They wanted cheap above all, so sure, you can pay less money for a small smaller seat and no carry-on. It’s tailoring the product to the demand of the customer. It’s no different than cell phone plans, some plans have extras and unlimited data, but they cost more. Not everybody wants to pay for that stuff.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
US carriers have clearly worked hard on global standards of service - United gives me 1-2-1 seating in business class - and partner LH does not … Taking Polaris B777 in 3 days for just slightly more than a
340 …A couple years ago I was at the gate waiting to board as the previous flight was deplaning. One escort was pushing 4 wheelchairs! She told two of the passengers she was going to take the other two to the restroom and she'll be back when a third lady that was with the other two loudly expressed she was supposed to have a wheelchair too! The escort says we had one, you didn't wait for it. The escort goes back to the jetway to get the wheelchair and the lady demanding the wheelchair stormed off.
Also witnessed an older couple try to preboard without a wheelchair. Gate agent scans ticket and they're in an exit row and says oh you can't preboard and sit there, you need to be able and willing to assist in an emergency. They said they would wait to board with their group. Gate agent says nope, stuck them in middle seats in the back.
Also witnessed an older couple try to preboard without a wheelchair. Gate agent scans ticket and they're in an exit row and says oh you can't preboard and sit there, you need to be able and willing to assist in an emergency. They said they would wait to board with their group. Gate agent says nope, stuck them in middle seats in the back.
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GON
$175 Site Donor 2026
United without a doubt is America’s only global carrier, and is not the United I went out of the way to avoid in the 1990s. I don’t fly UAL often, but when I do I clearly see United widening the product it offers between itself and its former peer competitors. United doesn’t have any peer U.S. based competitors, although one could argue Delta is.US carriers have clearly worked hard on global standards of service - United gives me 1-2-1 seating in business class - and partner LH does not … Taking Polaris B777 in 3 days for just slightly more than a
I am currently on an American airline flight. My wife is currently in a United flight. When ask her how her flight was, she will respond saying how much better it is flying United.
4wd
$50 site donor 2026
Entitlement fits very well, as does "selfish liar".
The definition of entitlement:
"A mindset where someone believes they deserve privileges, rewards, or recognition — often without earning them."
