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

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• S says:

  9 Sep9 September 07:26

  Didn’t Southwest spend an awful lot of money trying to work this out in the 80s/90s, and they couldn’t find a faster way than a free for all?

• MT says:

  9 Sep9 September 07:28

  So they are going to board First Class passangers after group 0 and have them still queue with all the Golds. Considering there are no more than 8 on many flights now is seems like a way to easily enhance one of the things least First class about BA.

  I really radical idea would be to have a sign at the sign that Group 0 & First can go to and essentially skip the queue, allowing them to board at their leisure, now that would be an actual enhancement.

  • Sarah says:

    9 Sep9 September 11:02

    Yes, F passengers really should be in Group 0, if BA really feel the need to introduce this

• Bernard says:

  9 Sep9 September 07:29

  It won’t be called group 0, but VIP .
  The other change is group 1 boards BEFORE those who volunteer to gate check wheels bags. In theory anyway.
  So this will affect anyone in group 1 for the better

  • Rob says:

    9 Sep9 September 07:50

    The internal BA doc calls it Group 0.

    • James C says:

      9 Sep9 September 08:15

      As does the GGL benefits page on ba.com:

      As your group will be the first to board, you’ll be able to settle in and relax before take-off. Listen out for the gate boarding announcements which will invite eligible customers to board with Group ‘0’.

    • Bernard says:

      9 Sep9 September 15:08

      Indeed
      But the public application will differ.
      You may be missing all the details in what has leaked to you

• Scott says:

  9 Sep9 September 07:48

  I fly twice a wee every week with BA and consistency at boarding is non-existent. What’s worse and what I observed on Thursday was the new domestic ID checks taking place at the gate at Heathrow slowing everything even more and sending people away when they have been through security and waited ages for the late flight. Shocking treatment.

• G says:

  9 Sep9 September 07:54

  0 – those with disabilities, special needs or young children. premier, ggl
  1 – GFL, First, Gold
  2 – Silver / Business
  3 – Bronze / WTP
  4 – Economy, checked
  5 – Economy, HBO/standby
  6 – standby from non oneworld airlines
  7 – crew standby

  Actually enforce this and we’d all be happy.

  There needs to he a crackdown on hand baggage on BA as well. I see plenty of people taking the mickey on HBO fares with cabin bags, backpacks and duty free.

  • Andrew. says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:30

    If people are allowed to bring on a Cabin bag, personal item and duty free, of course they will carry it on.

    I’m not sure of any airline that bans duty free purchases being brought on board. Even Norse and RyanAir allow a duty free bag in addition to the cabin allowance.

    • Phillip says:

      9 Sep9 September 08:48

      Some airlines make it explicitly clear that a bag of duty free items counts as an extra bag – so either put it in your hand luggage or pay excess.

      • cin4 says:

        9 Sep9 September 09:30

        Which ones? I’ve always used the duty free trick to bypass any cabin baggage requirement.

    • Matarredonda says:

      9 Sep9 September 12:04

      I believe part of airlines agreement since airlines pay less and less for landing fees and thisvis the way the airport gets money back since the shops pay a basic rent plus an ‘add on’ based on their turnover.

• Andy says:

  9 Sep9 September 08:01

  When travelling for work (small backpack) I get to gate area in decent time, take a seat near a plug and work on laptop. Once everyone else has boarded I move and go on.

  If there is no luggage to go in the overhead locker I don’t get the panic to sit in an uncomfortable chair for an extra 45 minutes!

  • soloflyer1977 says:

    9 Sep9 September 10:08

    Me too plus I usually have a suit carrier which easily sits above any small suitcase.

• Derek Scott says:

  9 Sep9 September 08:05

  For me, airlines don’t take account of human psychology. We all see those who want to board quickly, even if row 20+. Why? To ensure they can get their bags in the overheads lockers (which fears are inadvertently played on by gate crew announcing “a very full flight”).

  Added to that, people like to try and beat a system with one extra bag (as my little old shop purchase of boxed shoes as bag #3 won’t matter), or the main cabin bag being clearly bigger that the stated limit, and strap extra items to it don’t count.. thereby taking up extra space or trying to force it into the locker, taking up space meant for others who block the aisle trying to find a space in the surrounding lockers… or trying to move already placed items to squeeze yours in.

  For me, when I observe the boarding at EDI as my principle, 4 things need to change:

  1) Group lineage needs used to be used and enforced and vigilantly managed at boarding time. EDI gate areas are already blocking people getting past by people milling about in the walkways to get near the front. When group boarding first introduced, it worked well… people are like sheep and will follow if it’s enforced. It these days it isn’t. Let people use them before boarding announced, it keeps the surrounding areas clearer.

  2) enforce baggage limits and sizes that need to be checked pre-security, for everyone. No excuses.

  3) board front and back doors.. the number of times we see queues on board just to get to seats, so halving the problem should half the time (in theory), and with turnarounds of roughly 1-1.5hrs, no wonder flights are late in departing when boarding only starts 25 mins before supposed departure.

  4) those with more or bigger bags in each boarding group are held back to board in their groups. Those who volunteer to check bags into hold at the gate do so at the aircraft door, no priority boarding. Their ticket air carriage conditions are a part of their purchase contract, so no special treatment

  If you look at another area of an airport where throughput has to not get clogged, is security. Lots of work on clear progression at every stage, with lots about the preparation. The key here is compliance with the expectations and flow.. follow simple steps, and with some randomisation thrown in, most people don’t clog up the system. It’s those who try to beat the system that are caught and slowed down…airlines should look at this principle

  • Rob says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:17

    If boarding groups were enforced people would learn. But they are not, so they don’t.

    And, frankly, why should outsourced staff outside Heathrow give a toss?

    • BJ says:

      9 Sep9 September 09:21

      … because whatever thrir job people should take pride in it and gain satisfaction from doing them well. Unfortunately many employers and/or customers leave them feelimg unvalued at best and abused at worst …. which brings us right back to your point – why should they care?

  • Phillip says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:53

    At the end of the day, isn’t it human psychology the reason that so many trials just cannot get the job done perfectly? It’s not just about finding the best possible process, it’s making sure everyone involved plays their part to follow it!

    • Panda Mick says:

      9 Sep9 September 10:12

      Exactly right. And people did during the pandemic, when they’d get just a couple of groups to stand up, get their stuff and deplane

      When you tell people what to do (like remain seated when we get to the gate because we have to deplane someone who needs medical attention [me a couple of weeks ago at LHR]), people do it. When you rely on their commence sense, chaos will ensue

  • Ruralite says:

    9 Sep9 September 09:09

    Totally agree with point 2. We were at LHR a couple of months ago, flight was mainly full of what seemed to be US students on a tour of Europe. Call to check cabin bags in for free as too many, as usual not many takers. Many bags were quite obviously, even from a visual check, way over the size & probably weight limits and some had 3/4 cabin items stacked. Staff shouldn’t even have bothered asking they should have just walked around (perhaps with a tape measure for back up) and just told travellers with oversize bags they were going in the hold or they didn’t board the aircraft. It makes it pointless for the people who do ensure their cabin bag is the correct weight and size. Instead we were then held up after going through the gate whilst staff moved passengers with cabin bags to one side and started weighing them and checking sizes until enough had gone in the hold! If you set limits for cabin luggage, stick to them – I don’t fly Ryanair much but at least you know where you are with them and cabin bag sizes etc.

    • John says:

      9 Sep9 September 17:23

      If only. Travel Ryan air this summer and even swapped one carry on case as it was too fat only to see folks boarding with crazy size cases that would only fit sideways and Mary Poppins holdalls. Nothing said and the bins were quickly overwhelmed. I agree that if carrier
      S set a policy that should enforce it fairly and effectively.

      • Ruralite says:

        9 Sep9 September 18:49

        I can guarantee that on the day I turned up with an oversize & overweight cabin bag it would be the day that Michael O’Leary declared enough and got the sizing gauges out again and I’d be charged to put my incorrectly sized bag in the hold! 😂

• Sonnyb says:

  9 Sep9 September 08:05

  We need to do something about when we leave the aircraft. The economy passengers should remain seated until first and Business class passengers has left the aircraft.

  • mark2 says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:31

    On my 3 or 4 flights in F we definitely left the plane.
    I would prefer to be the last to board. In vancouver y passengers boarded through F because of the airbridges

    • mark2 says:

      9 Sep9 September 08:32

      Left first

  • Phillip says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:55

    This is one thing that Aegean gets so right! Crew quickly stand between Business and Economy, and in Athens if arriving at a remote gate, there is always a dedicated bus for business, even if there’s only one passenger!

  • Paul Douglas says:

    10 Sep10 September 15:28

    Today on my Qatar flight to Oz, they closed the curtains at business to let them all off first then opened them to economy

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