tracy2cents

Were you on the United flight to SF late August where one of the last passengers on the plane had the largest bag allowed, a huge backpack and a coat all of which he wanted in the same overhead? The juggling of baggage that went on was unbelievable. Why the cabin crew catered to him was beyond me.

Has anyone figured out why business class boards first? I think they enjoy sucking down their booze while the po folks march by.

tracy2cents, point well taken. There are always, on every flight, those "head in the clouds" (I am trying to be nice here) passengers that perform exactly as you said. Too funny, but not when we are all standing in the miserable narrow crowded aisle waiting for them to finish their performance. Happy flights everyone!

Yes it really does feel like these people are putting on a "performance" sometimes...I have been known to smile and check my makeup just in case I am on Candid Camera.

I also love that jerk that always boards the plane 3 seconds before takeoff and sits in the empty seat next to me just as I thought i was gonna get lucky and have extra room.

Alaskan Airlines boards front to back. It drives us crazy!

tracys2cents, uhmmm, tracy, is there any chance we are always on the same flights? LOL. I know that jerk too!

And correct me if I am wrong but this is the same jerk that flops all over the place, takes up both arm rest, sort of snorts and sighs and oh you know, makes you want to be anywhere but in your airplane seat. Is this the passenger you are talking about?

And tbotzon, I swore the last time I flew Alaska Airlines it would be the very last time. I will not bore you with the details but what went from a great airlines years ago is now pathetic IMHO.

Flew USAirways last month - boarding passes had a "zone" number on it corresponding to when they told you to board. They actually refused boarding to people boarding before their time.

We flew last summer (American) and were surprised that they did NOT call families with young children to board first. We had our kids with us, including one with a car seat we had to strap in, and it would have been helpful to board early.

Luckily, no carry-ons for the overhead bin. The baby and carseat were enough to lug through the airport.

I've only flown Jet Blue once but both there and back they boarded from both the front and back of the plane at the same time. We were all commenting about how efficient it was. Come one, people! Break out of those routines and do some thinking so people will want to fly again!!! It seems like this is the time for the airlines to be using some imagination. I remember in the 60's (barely b-() when Braniff had "the Passionate Airlines" and all sorts of colored planes. Am I having a flashback or does anybody else remember this?

On one of the flights I took last year (it might have been Delta, but I really can't remember...) we boarded by zone AND seat letters, back to front and outside in. So the last 10 rows in the plane, seats A and F (windows), were boarded first. Then same zone, seats B and E (middle seats), then same zone again, seats C and D (aisle).Had any of us passengers known what was going on, and had everyone been there on time to do this, it might have worked. It was a bit of a fiasco, actually.

Oh wow, now THAT one sounds great! Tell Grampy and Grammy, who are in seats A & B, to board at different times? No wonder it was a fiasco. The poor old codgers already didn't know if they were on the right plane in the right airport in the right state, and had already forgotten where the heck they were going....and then you split them up to board the plane? Egads!

Why do they allow people to bring all their worldly goods onto the plane and allow the rest of us to stand around while they try to store them in as many overhead bins as possible regardless of what order they board in?

I was in Tokyo Narita earlier this year. DL and CO have gates in the same area, both flying 777 (to ATL, and EWR/IAH respectively).

About 10 minutes prior to boarding, the DL agent brought out a white eraser board and start writing out the rules about A, B, C, D zone, blah blah blah... which was pretty funny.

Meanwhile, CO didn't even care to board by row numbers. Just Business & Elites, and then general boarding. All passengers line up and board efficiently. And CO's flight boarded just as fast as DL and left on-time.

A couple of years ago my wife & I took an extended vacation to Australia taking numerous Qantas flights within the country. I don't know if they do it now but what they did then worked so well we were amazed. From the time of boarding to take-off was super quick & the flights were on time each & very time. People lined up in no particular order when boarding time was announced. The attendents controlled the tempo of loading, spreading people out within the aircraft. Of course carry on baggage limits were strictly enforced which, no doubt, helped.

Everyone is saying they have never been on a flight where they HAVEN'T boarded from the back first.
Am I missing something? I fly 3-4 times a year and I have only once seen this done, by Air Tran.
I ususally fly united, us, american. I have always seen them board from the front and the inefficiency makes me go bonkers.

I've never seen boarding from front to back, but I can think of a good reason to do it:

So the brother of the passenger that always sits next to "tracys2cents" doesn't get called for his seat in the last row, yet put his carryone (which MUST contain a bathtub or some similar object) in the overhead bin over row #6, which is mine it always seems (just 2 ahead of tracys2cents's). People seem less inclined to walk BACKWARDS to get rid of their bags.

Seems like true efficiency would board window seats first, then middle, then aisle -- but regardless, that late arrival always makes the flight late anyway!

I usually fly United, and it seems I'm always boarding last. Doesn't really bother me too much, except that you can almost guarantee that there will be no overhead space to put your carryon.

I have a "regulation size" carryon, and it really makes me agitated when I see people wheeling these huge suitcases onto the aircraft - and they're allowed to get away with it. Then when I can't find space to stow my carryon (and I don't want to put it under my seat), the FA tells me that I have to check it.

Trying to reason with the FA that one of the oversized bags should be checked instead is never successful - notwithstanding the fact that they are large enough to have been checked in the first place.

Then the kicker is the owners of these huge suitcases are sitting nowhere near the vicinity of their bags.

My main complaint is not just about people who have to carry on bags so large that they need to be checked, but I dislike the people that have to recline all the way back as soon as the plane takes off. I feel that all of the seats in the economy section should not recline, especially with the small amount of legroom. Just my two cents.

"Fasten your seat belts! Flight attendants prepare the cabin for takeoff!" And then, always, just as the plane is about to finally move, you see that bladder-compromised fool heading down the aisle looking for the restroom.

Tada...no way!!!! Have you ever sat in front of the emergency exit row so the seats don't recline during a 4-hour or more flight? Well, I have and it is pure hell. I don't really have bad back problems, but after that experience I did. If the seats don't recline the headrest juts forward and you end up head tilted forward and straining your neck just to keep it upright