Priority Boarding at LGW

My view is that if you are at the gate and priority boarding is called then yes you can have priority boarding but once general boarding has commenced then its tough luck.

Sorry Tontybear - I am a swaying voter on this topic
I think in an ideal situation the premium pax should have priority boarding even if they arrive late. That is surely the point of priority boarding as Neil says.

I couldn't disagree more. Virgin, like most airlines, offer priority boarding for their premium cabin pax, not priority boarding so long as you're at the gate when first boarding is called. One of the benefits of being a premium cabin pax is the ability to spend some time in the lounge and not have to hang around the gate area.

Other airlines manage to create a separate lane/area for priority boarding at any time, so why VS can't consistently manage this is beyond me. Sometimes they do it great, other times it just a scrum, probably poor management by the person in charge of the area.

However that said I dont know if I would make a huge fuss if upon late arrival at the gate I had to queue hmmm perhaps if I was a regular traveler then yes i would complain.
Perhaps this is one of those things that VS need to get right to bring consistency to the service.
If the manager in charge of the gate has never experienced priority boarding that went wrong then they would perhaps not really pay too much attention to the importance of this service?

Last couple of times when flying out of LGW the Clubhouse staff have announced boarding so late that by the time I have got to the gate most passengers were already onboard.

-Steve

that sort of is and sort of isnt right no?

Priority boarding should be about the choice to board in a separate manner to Y PAX. In that situation you could enjoy the CH for longer and have an easy path to board but thats not quite the same right?

Just out of interest has anyone had this problem at LHR?

This is an interesting topic (which I have already had my say on), but can we agree on the definition of priority boarding.

Is priority boarding literally "making" your way to the front of the queue on the air bridge and then onto the plane ?|

Or is priority boarding being able to bypass the queues at the gate entrance and join the end of the queue on the air bridge ?|

Thanks

David

(and as an aside, after flying from LGW around 30-35 times, mostly in P/E or Upper, I have never seen 2 air bridges used by Virgin. Yes at LHR but not at LGW)

My definition is:
Separate lane at the Gate and also on the Jetway.
Announcement should be made in the CH when Boarding is due to commence, giving you the opportunity to board at that point. If you chose to linger (for that extra Mojito) or are the type of business traveller who wants to arrive at the airport at the last minute then when you arrive at the Gate you should be able to simply bypass the Y PAX and board at leisure.
For me that is plan A priority boarding.

For me priority is being able to get to the gate at any time of my choosing and bypass Y up to the point of the airbridge. My view is the airbridge is out of VAs control really.

[Neil]

I also think the cut off point is on the airbridge, and there really isn't adequate space to make separate lanes for priority boarding.

For me the priority bit is that I can walk up the boarding pass check at any point without having to join a queue of a hundred or so other pax.

There should be a separate, clearly signed and designated area for this, it is unfair to expect you to push past people.

Neil

I just enjoy another cacktoil

had a couple already ???

Agreed if its one airbridge/jetway then you join the queue. There is not enough space for anything else.

If being on the plane first is that important to you, you should get to the gate early enough for the priority call.

If at a two jetway gate then you have that perk of being able to walk past ALL the queues when at the pointy end, regardless of when you choose to get to the gate..... or how many cacktoils you have enjoyed...

How long before departure time do they generally call priority boarding on the LGW flights?

I am Platinum member of KLM's Flying Blue program & as part of the Skyteam program they operate the Sky Priority system which offers a totally separate channel at the gate for boarding whenever you arrive. Admitedly if you are late you still join the queue on the airbridge but you don't have to go to the back of the Y queue at the desk! As Delta are also part of Skyteam I wonder if this will filter through to Virgin?

[honey lamb]

Just out of interest has anyone had this problem at LHR?

LHR can be hit and miss. On a good day, the call from the CH has come when boarding has almost been completed (and I generally wait till the second call) and I have walked straight on to the aircraft. However I have arrived in the gate area having been held up by the HAL staff closing off the corridor to allow arriving passengers to disembark while VS is announcing a last and final call for the flight. At the gate there have been separate channels for each cabin but boarding has not yet commenced. On that occasion, even though UC were invited to board first two elderly ladies decided otherwise! )

I have also arrived at the gate in LHR to find that two jetways are in operation and so there is no congestion, but last year's experience was the pits! I had left the CH just before the second call and following the instruction to do so from the staff in the CH, went to the head of the queue. They had only just started admitting people to the gate area and it was being monitored by a member of the LHR staff who refused to let me through as a UC passenger and ordered me to go to the back of the line. I told him that we had been told to go to the head of the queue and that I had priority boarding but he told me he would stop others entering if I refused to do as he instructed. I had no option but to step aside as he was quite capable of calling the airport police but once the line started moving, I snuck in somewhere down the line. This did not stop me from getting grief from someone who had seen the contretemps but the irony was that there was boarding from two separate jetways inside the gate area!!

Thanks for that HL
Wow that does sound like a few bad experiences.
I have always been lucky then at LHR.
There has always been a separate queuing system at the gate and sometimes two jetways. I'm guessing the use of two jetways though is not always in the control of the VS ground crew right? As not every gate has two jetways in place?
HL - from what you said, is the boarding call in the clubhouse separate from the general boarding call?

[honey lamb]

Thanks for that HL
HL - from what you said, is the boarding call in the clubhouse separate from the general boarding call?

Yes. It's made from the concierge desk and usually gives a time-frame about getting to the gate. It's followed by a second and final call

Yes. It's made from the concierge desk and usually gives a time-frame about getting to the gate. It's followed by a second and final call

Thanks HL.

[Darren Wheeler]

Use to be:
First call (order another drink).
Second call (Finish drink for leisurely to gate)
Final call (quaff drink and speed walk to gate)

Use to be:
First call (order another drink).
Second call (Finish drink for leisurely to gate)
Final call (quaff drink and speed walk to gate)

Lol I will write it down lol
So is the first call in the CH made before the general call at the gate ?

Thanks for all the great comments, my take on priority boarding is that you board the aircraft before other passengers irrespective of what time you get to the gate, and that should be to the door of the aircraft because that is the point you board, if it just at the gate this can be a problem at LGW getting to the front of the queue, I don't think this service should be offered by VA or any other airline for that matter if it cannot be fulfil it.

For the most part with VS flights, I'm with Darren and others on this, in that 'priority boarding' to me means being able to spend every last second in the CH before a leisurely stroll/manic sprint (delete as appropriate) to the gate, where there should be no issues with queues as you'll be one of the last on. For that, I'll happily sacrifice a pre-flight glass of Lanson.

Of course real priority boarding is where you drop your coat on the CH steps as you leave, get half way to the gate before realising then return to the CH before returning to the gate (breathless) getting on board where a member of cabin crew is waiting with a glass of bubbles 'because you might ''be thirsty after your trek' (brcause CH medsaged them) and then manages to give you a second glass as long asI promise to hold onto it during take-off.

I don't actually care about it as I always end up in a queue on the airbridge.

I tend to join the Y queue anyway as I want them to see my turning left.

I get the impression from some of the posts that priority boarding is not a priority, if this is the case what is ?

For me it is a priority.
I think the main problem appears to be once general boarding has commenced where there is only one jetway in operation. And I'm guessing that the number of jetways assigned to a gate is fixed and there not in the control of the airline therefore either priority pax need to either arrive at the gate at the first call or at the final call
Or the airline needs to find another solution

How do you cope in MCO, LAS, LAX, ORD, IAD, JFK, MIA, JNB, CPT, del,BOM, SYD, etc..

Guess the best thing to do is get to the gate really early or wait until last call and walk straight on.

I feel that like priority baggage, priority boarding is mis-named.

It is really early boarding - get to the gate early and you can be amongst the first cohort on the plane. Arrive later and you can still use the priority gate check - so bypassing a longer Y queue - but your still in the same queue on the jet-way.

IMHO priority boarding does not give anyone the right to push the way to the front of the line at the plane door (unless of course as with some very premium pax on some airlines where a member of staff will escort you). After all you may be pushing in front of others who also have priority boarding and are you a higher priority than them?

Look at the maths

According to seatexpert there are 320 seats on an LHR 747. Of which 116 are in PE or UC thus qualifying (lets ignore any Y flying gold card holders) for priority boarding.

That means that 36% of passengers qualify for priority boarding.

So it's really not very exclusive at all is it??

I feel that like priority baggage, priority boarding is mis-named.

It is really early boarding - get to the gate early and you can be amongst the first cohort on the plane. Arrive later and you can still use the priority gate check - so bypassing a longer Y queue - but your still in the same queue on the jet-way.

IMHO priority boarding does not give anyone the right to push the way to the front of the line at the plane door (unless of course as with some very premium pax on some airlines where a member of staff will escort you). After all you may be pushing in front of others who also have priority boarding and are you a higher priority than them?

Look at the maths

According to seatexpert there are 320 seats on an LHR 747. Of which 116 are in PE or UC thus qualifying (lets ignore any Y flying gold card holders) for priority boarding.

That means that 36% of passengers qualify for priority boarding.

So it's really not very exclusive at all is it??

If that is the case the service should not be offered