DALLAS (AP) — Airlines are trying to save time by speeding up a part of flying that creates delays even before the plane leaves the gate: the boarding process.
This summer travel season, Delta plans to preload carry-on bags above passengers' seats on some flights. Southwest wants to get families seated together more quickly.
Airlines have tinkered with different boarding systems almost since the days of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who tossed a coin to decide who would fly first aboard their biplane. Plenty of people have offered ideas for improvement, but no perfect method has ever emerged.
Most airlines let first-class and other elite customers board first. After that, some carriers fill the rear rows and work toward the front. Others fill window seats and work toward the aisle. Some use a combination of the two. Airlines have also tried other tricks, like letting people board early if they do not have aisle-clogging carry-on bags.
It's not trivial stuff. With many flights full, anxious passengers know that boarding late means there might not be any room left in the overhead bin.
And it matters to the airlines. Slow boarding creates delays, which mean missed connections, unhappy customers and extra costs.
Researchers from Northern Illinois University once figured that every extra minute that a plane stands idle at the gate adds $30 in costs. About 1 in 4 U.S. flights runs at least 15 minutes late. Multiply that by thousands of flights each day, and it quickly adds up for the industry.
Delta's Early Valet service will offer to have airline employees take carry-on bags at the gate and put them in the bins above assigned seats. The airline wants to see if its own workers can load the bins faster than passengers.
The service began Monday on about two dozen flights, and that number is expected to rise steadily during June, Delta spokeswoman Morgan Durrant said.
Early Valet will be offered through August on some departures from Delta's busiest airports — Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
It will be available only on flights that typically have a high number of vacationers. Presumably, business travelers know how to board a plane efficiently. Specially tagged bags will be stowed on the plane before boarding begins, Durrant said.
Delta tested the process last summer in Atlanta and Los Angeles and saw some reduction in boarding time, Durrant said.
Gary Leff, co-founder of frequent-flier website MilePoint, said the service will be the biggest help to passengers in the final boarding groups — the ones most likely to find the overhead bins full. Their bags will go in the cabin instead of being gate-checked as cargo.
"This has the potential to come across as a nice, high-end service," Leff said, "but I'm skeptical that it will go mainstream" because of labor costs.
Southwest Airlines wants to reduce complaints that families can't find seats together because flights are so crowded.
Unlike most airlines, Southwest does not offer assigned seats. Instead, passengers line up at the gate by group — first "A," then "B'' and finally "C'' — and pick their seat once they are on the plane. The system lets families board together after the "A'' group, but only with children up to 4. Some families pay extra for priority boarding to improve their odds.
Flight attendants often have to ask other passengers to move to accommodate older children or families that don't get to the gate on time. That usually works, said Teresa Laraba, a senior vice president who oversees customer service, but Southwest recently tested expanding family boarding to include children up to 6, 8 or 11.
"We've always tried to finesse it," Laraba said, but the test is designed to see "if there is a tweak that would improve the overall experience for everyone."
The airline is now surveying customers and expects to make a decision in a few weeks, she said.
How much will this gate valet service cost? Sounds like just another way to add revenue to the airlines. Why let those gate agents stand around? Put them to work!
As long as they weigh those overhead bags I am good with it. My concern is the airline employees hurting their backs as a result of lifting overweight carry-ons.
I think the rule with bags should be this - it is carry on, if you can carry it. If you cant lift it into the above seat storage, its not carry on. Also, lets teach people to count to 2. That would be great lol.
I think the rule with bags should be this - it is carry on, if you can carry it. If you cant lift it into the above seat storage, its not carry on. Also, lets teach people to count to 2. That would be great lol.
I think the only way this will work is if it is free. That's one of the main reasons people don't check bags in the first place (that and the amount of time saved not waiting around for your bag to show up) so asking people to pay for this is probably not going to happen.
However, I get extremely cranky when I have to gate check a bag so MAYBE would pay to do this on flights that are overbooked and I'm in boarding group 5.
My Dad thinks people should be loaded like cargo containers. At each gate you get into a pod with seats etc. that is essentially a plane interior. Then they load the whole thing into the plane. Just slide it on in. Lol.
My Dad thinks people should be loaded like cargo containers. At each gate you get into a pod with seats etc. that is essentially a plane interior. Then they load the whole thing into the plane. Just slide it on in. Lol.
Shoot - I kind of like this. Everything is self contained and it no longer matters who is sitting next to you. Wish we could do it on public transportation (the guy next to me today stank and kept picking things out of his hair - so gross).
I think the rule with bags should be this - it is carry on, if you can carry it. If you cant lift it into the above seat storage, its not carry on. Also, lets teach people to count to 2. That would be great lol.
And they also need to make sure people seated in the back aren't throwing their bag in the first open space they see and then walking back to their seat thereby screwing the people in the front of the plane. Your bag goes above your seat. Stop it.
Oh I hate that. You get to your seat, you look up to store your bag and someone has already filled it up with their shit. Makes me want to be one of those pasengers and start throwing crap in the aisle. That all plays through my head as I quietly shove their items to the side and put my bag in (if there's still room of course).
We flew Icelandicair this weekend, and the gate attendant would eye your bag and if it was questionable, they'd make you stick it in a box. No fit, no carry on. I wish all airlines did this, lack of space in the overhead b/c someone thinks their bag that won't fit wheels first into the overhead bin is still a carry on makes me ragey.
There was a FB group for the trip we took, and people were freaking out about non-US airlines actually enforcing carryon size requirements, some were even buying these ridiculous looking wearable suitcases.
We flew Icelandicair this weekend, and the gate attendant would eye your bag and if it was questionable, they'd make you stick it in a box. No fit, no carry on. I wish all airlines did this, lack of space in the overhead b/c someone thinks their bag that won't fit wheels first into the overhead bin is still a carry on makes me ragey.
There was a FB group for the trip we took, and people were freaking out about non-US airlines actually enforcing carryon size requirements, some were even buying these ridiculous looking wearable suitcases.
Post by shananagins on Jun 2, 2015 12:03:06 GMT -5
We flew Spirit once and it was the quickest boarding process EVER because they charged as much for a carryon as checked bags. You could have one small bag for free and that was it, so no rolling bags to jam into overhead bins. It was super quick.
When we flew an airline (can't recall the name) in Germany from Berlin to Munich they marched everyone out onto the tarmac and people boarded in both the front and rear of the plane depending on your seating. We deplaned that way too. It was speedy and kind of awesome. Full-sized plane too.
Post by delawarejen on Jun 2, 2015 12:11:25 GMT -5
There simply isn't room on planes for everyone to have a wheeled carry-on. On a full flight, there might be a small number of people who don't use the overhead, and a very small number of people with duffel-type bags that can fit in oddly shaped spaces. If everyone has an appropriately-sized carry-on it helps, but people are still going to be gate-checking.
Post by cookiemdough on Jun 2, 2015 12:15:45 GMT -5
Charging per bag, losing checked bags, inability to secure your checked bag resulting in stolen items, slow baggage claim, etc. I am not sure how they will ever make it appealing to check luggage and make boarding more efficient. Add to that there are fifty types of specialty boarding now. First class, Bronze members, silver members, platinum members, people in wheelchairs, people with kids, veterans, passengers that have to pee. I mean it is endless.
Post by Black Lavender on Jun 2, 2015 12:18:26 GMT -5
I agree that the airlines have created the issue and its also our inability as a public to follow instructions. "Save the overhead bin space for larger carry-ons, place smaller items under the seat in front of you". Why can't people do this?! Whichever boarding method followed would work if people would just find their seat, put their shit away and sit the fuck down.
There simply isn't room on planes for everyone to have a wheeled carry-on. On a full flight, there might be a small number of people who don't use the overhead, and a very small number of people with duffel-type bags that can fit in oddly shaped spaces. If everyone has an appropriately-sized carry-on it helps, but people are still going to be gate-checking.
My backpack under the seat in front of me says you're welcome.
When we flew an airline (can't recall the name) in Germany from Berlin to Munich they marched everyone out onto the tarmac and people boarded in both the front and rear of the plane depending on your seating. We deplaned that way too. It was speedy and kind of awesome. Full-sized plane too.
Alaska did this at SeaTac last year, but we didn't go on the tarmac, they just had an extra long walkway from a second, adjacent gate.
Remember when flying was fun? No? Me neither. Buy I've heard it was once upon a time.
Ah, the good old days (as reimagined by Mad Men):
Flying used to be fun. Your loved ones walked you to the gate and loved ones would greet you at your destination. You had food service even if you weren't in first class. You got the whole can of soda instead of a cup. I feel like there used to be more leg room (although this might be in my head), you didn't have to get to the airport hours early. No security lines. You could keep on your coat and shoes until you decide you don't want them....it was the life man.
I always do a rolling carrying on (that fits perfectly in the overhead bin, wheels first). I rarely check a bag, because I don't trust the airlines not to do something stupid with it, and I sure as hell am not going to be checking a bag that contains electronics that will definitely be stolen or broken. Not happening. I also don't feel like I need to check a bag, when I can fit all of my stuff (and if it's just a weekend trip, all of my husband's stuff) into that one small rolling bag, and I get myself out of the airport without waiting around for 30+ minutes for my bags to show up.
It would all go a lot smoother if they'd make people use the bins above their head only (none of this pop a bag in sideways at the front of the plane before trotting off to the back), put up signs about wheels first, and if they don't fit you have to gate check, and actually make sure that people only have the 2 pieces they're allotted. I've been on some flights (usually returning from Vegas) where people have been shopping and they bring on their rolling luggage, their purse/backpack, and then half a dozen shopping bags that they are all precious about being crushed.
Charging per bag, losing checked bags, inability to secure your checked bag resulting in stolen items, slow baggage claim, etc. I am not sure how they will ever make it appealing to check luggage and make boarding more efficient. Add to that there are fifty types of specialty boarding now. First class, Bronze members, silver members, platinum members, people in wheelchairs, people with kids, veterans, passengers that have to pee. I mean it is endless.
Its all this, plus the TSA and the endless stupid things you are forced to do that result in utter contempt for the whole system.
I came back from Canada a while ago - I had to show my passport and boarding pass - thats fine. Then I had to walk 10 feet down a corridor to a room where I had to scan my boarding pass and passport and type in info into a machine. Seemed a bit stupid, because I already did that with a person and there was no other route I could take, but okay. Then I had to walk another 20 feet or so to go through a door to another person and show them my boarding pass and passport. Bear in mind there was no other places I could go to. So by this point I am like "really?". Then I had to walk to the rapeyscan machine (pat down please, Im feeling farty) where I had to show my...of for fucks sake. Really? Really? I have moved like 50 feet down a single way corridor watched by cameras and staff and been through 4 security checks and now I need to show that I haven't somehow become a totally different person with no credentials during that time?
Hope I didn't bring some deadly water with me in my shoe!
After the security stupid comes the airline stupid. God I hate it. One of these days I am going to show up with passport, boarding pass, and be wearing only speedos. My hand luggage will be a parachute.