I was on a NWA flight from Detroit to Indy on Friday night. It was FULL to say the least. They loaded all the first class and elites, then they loaded anyone with just one bag that could be stowed under the seat - and they requested that people put them under the seat - not above. Then they let everyone on with 2 bags or one that couldn't go under the seat.

I had never seen this done before- and I travel by air a "medium" amount. I think they were trying to see if they would need people to gate check their rollaboards. It did allow those without massive quantities of carryons to get on first and not have to wait for others to stow, etc.

Has anyone else seen this - a wave of the future perhaps?

Interesting concept - was there any effect on the time it took to board?

Nothing that was perceptible to me. The planes that load the quickest to me are the ones with mostly business travellers. Nothing against vacationers - but most of them dilly dally around and put one small camera case in the upper bin,etc. etc.

This kind of thing steams me. Why should I, travelling with only a briefcase, have to lose some of the little legroom/footroom there is, while folks with larger roller bags get to enjoy the empty space under the seat in front of them? Encourages people to travel with bigger luggage.

Brian - I certainly agree with you and no one was forcing people to put things under the seat - just a little "carrot" of getting to board earlier....

Personally, I think they should load the window seats first.

I recently was on an AA flight and drinks where being served to some first class passengers as the coach passengers were boarding. And no, these were not coach passengers arriving late, but the bulk of them. Now THAT is an interesting way to handle boarding.

It's pretty normal to have drinks served to the FC passengers while the rest are boarded.

With the really large single-aisle planes like 757-300s, 737-900s or A321, it can really take a while. You can have the FC passengers go thirsty.

On my recent flight on a Continental 737-900 with all 149 coach seats filled, it took 40 minutes from start of boarding to door closed.

True, rkk
One can't have the fc thirst while waiting for the unwashed hordes to board. What ever came of noblesse oblige?

I like the airlines in Europe that load and particularly unload simultaneously from both ends of the aircraft. Of course, there is no jetway involved, but that is often the case anyway.

The worst loading I ever experienced was during the winters I was based in Florida. On one flight from BOS to RSW, we had 16 wheelchair passengers, and every flight was full of infrequent flyers trying to figure out where seat "A" was.

In addition, parents with small children constantly followed them up and down the aisles no matter how turbulence, ignoring the FA's, because "S/he just won't stay in her seat".

Northbound flights were a little better, except for people stowing their bags of citrus.

We sold the condo in FL, so this is only history, thank god.