British Airways will trial a new ‘Group 0’ boarding process from Tuesday

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• Suzy says:

  10 Sep10 September 11:15

  I think boarding by row – back of the plane first obviously – worked best…

  • will says:

    11 Sep11 September 22:48

    As counter intuitive as it seems it might actually be the slowest, and a random selection might actually be an OK solution to the problem.

    Why?

    If you board row by row from the back first, you immediately create a 6 person queue at the back of the plane. Everyone has to wait for the back row to sit down before they can move forwards, then the next row etc.

    What you do is absolutely ensure only 1 person at a time can sit down.

    At least when you board randomly some people are going to the back, while others are sitting at the front so you have multiple people stowing and sitting at the same time.

    The optimum would be to have someone sitting in every row simultaneously.

• Paul says:

  10 Sep10 September 11:22

  Airlines must just make economy seats bigger and with enough legroom for a person of a height of 2.3m. Boarding protocol should be the least of our worries. Them economy class seats are inhumane.

  • Bernard says:

    10 Sep10 September 15:43

    Erhem! They have.
    It’s called premium economy and available on long haul aircraft.
    But many choose not to pay for it.
    And before you go further, remember AA tried MRTC? Didn’t work as again people weren’t prepared to pay for it.
    So before anyone claims to speak for ‘people’, perhaps it’s best to accept the many see things differently?

    • paul-somerset says:

      10 Sep10 September 22:06

      I would love for easyJet etc to swap their 3 std front row seats for 2 X extra wide ones.

      I’d happily pay 50% more for a seat.

      AND they would solve the “fat person descrimination” lobby as such seats would be suitable for all sizes.

      In the same way a well off traveller can pay for first class, a larger person can pay for a larger seat if they wish to fly.

• AJames says:

  10 Sep10 September 11:23

  From my experience, boarding in row order, with Group 1 being able to board as they wish works well. For those of us who follow the rules there are continual annoyances: unorderly queuing and those pushing in causing a crush; oversize hand luggage being allowed onto the plane; multiple bags being allowed for one person; under seat bags put into the overheads bins; economy passengers using the club area overhead bins (and OK’d by crew); club passengers who put their bags in the earlier bins when they are seated further down the club cabin; crew bags blocking the first overhead bins both sides. And once you land there is the stampede for disembarking; the crush against the luggage carousel edge, blocking access to others, instead of the requirement to stand behind the line being properly marshalled. Years ago, traveling with BA was orderly and a joy. It still could be, but passengers need to be properly informed and marshalled, with the requirements enforced without exception.

• Rantallion says:

  10 Sep10 September 11:53

  I’ll be flying back to LHR from JFK this Wed – it’ll be interesting to see how this works in practice.

• Andrew says:

  10 Sep10 September 12:09

  Another stupid idea from British Don’t Care ways

• Anon says:

  10 Sep10 September 15:22

  The key question for the airlines is jot what’s the best way to board an airliner, the question is how can we make the most possible money out of this?

  Ryanair are the pioneers on this. BA will pretend they’re different for a while but will eventually copy.

• paul-somerset says:

  10 Sep10 September 17:03

  How hard can it really be?

  If entering at front of plane, board back 6 rows, middle 6, and then front 6, then back 12, mid 12, front 12 and then the rest.

  • Adam says:

    10 Sep10 September 17:36

    To true
    Unfortunately the airlines feel they need to keep the precious people happy.

• Adan says:

  10 Sep10 September 17:35

  The best boarding system ever used was during Covid, Back of the plane first working to the front, only 4 rows at a time. I’ve never seen planes board so efficiently and quickly.

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