OT: Southwest Airlines.. I don't know how they're gonna make it after losing all their handicap passengers.

[paindonthurt]

I’m curious how do all the memphos fly without an ID?

Don’t be racist!!

 

[paindonthurt]

Something I have never understood. Also, the last couple of flights I’ve taken, I’ve watched people in the back immediately jump up after landing and start pushing their way up the aisle like it’s a race to the exit. I used to fly all the time years ago, and it definitely didn’t feel this bad. Boarding and deplaning etiquette just seems to be getting worse....I’m not typically a “get off my lawn” type of guy, but a little common courtesy.

Nothing makes me madder. I’m jumping out in front and blocking them out every time until all in front of me are gone.

 

[FreeDawg]

Here’s what I don’t understand.

Why not board the back of the plane first? Have the attendants monitor the luggage space at the front of the plane.

Seems like things would go faster and smoother and I’d get to just sit out in the terminal and be on the plane less time.

It could work if they make whatever the % of folks in the back of the plane check all luggage. Can’t have the people that paid a premium not having overhead space. Albeit minor, I like my pdb even if it’s a juice on an early flight.

 

[paindonthurt]

It could work if they make whatever the % of folks in the back of the plane check all luggage. Can’t have the people that paid a premium not having overhead space. Albeit minor, I like my pdb even if it’s a juice on an early flight.

I’d just say you could make the bottom 20% of passengers check their bag at the gate. Aka a pink tag. You pick it up when you get off a flight.

also the flight attendants on delta already do a good job of monitoring overhead space so have all of the bins closed in the upper front 2/3s of plane.

then open middle third.

but navigating front to back and fighting the middle aisle seems like the worst logistical planning ever.

 

[rem101]

I want to board last. 17 sitting in that cramped seat longer than I have to. And 17 dealing with a lot of bags on the plane. I’ll gate check that before I get on.

I gate checked a bag once that went to Orlando instead of New Orleans. It was in Calgary and I presume switched during layover, but still baffling.

 

[patdog]

I gate checked a bag once that went to Orlando instead of New Orleans. It was in Calgary and I presume switched during layover, but still baffling.

I guess the bags just wanted to go to Disney. It does happen sometimes. Only issue I've ever had was flying to Boston for a weekend with my brother. Checked bags, got to ATL and a weather system about like this one in the northeast was coming through. So my flight cancelled. They couldn't get me scheduled for Saturday and were saying Sunday morning. I figured I'm not flying to Boston on Sunday just to fly back on Monday. So I got on the last flight back to Jackson (7AM - 10PM just to fly to ATL, hang out in the airport, and fly back). But my bags flew to Boston. I got them back Sunday afternoon.

 

[Dawgbite]

I’d just say you could make the bottom 20% of passengers check their bag at the gate. Aka a pink tag. You pick it up when you get off a flight.

also the flight attendants on delta already do a good job of monitoring overhead space so have all of the bins closed in the upper front 2/3s of plane.

then open middle third.

but navigating front to back and fighting the middle aisle seems like the worst logistical planning ever.

Slash checked bags to $10 per bag or god forbid, free. Require any size suitcase, duffel bag, or backpack bigger than a purse to be checked . Load from the back forward. It’s pretty common sense.

 

[paindonthurt]

Slash checked bags to $10 per bag or god forbid, free. Require any size suitcase, duffel bag, or backpack bigger than a purse to be checked . Load from the back forward. It’s pretty common sense.

I still don’t think it’s that complicated

you really don’t have to chance much with baggage.

maximum just make the back check at gate with a pink tag and have attendants monitor the space.

but yes loading from the back seems extremely logical.

this is coming from someone who is platinum medallion and usually boards first.

I’d much rather wait knowing there is a smooth and quicker process.

 

[Drebin]

I mean.. after WN went to assigned seats all their handicap passengers have vanished. Over the years you could always count on 5-6 passengers in wheelchairs boarding in the "extra time" group ahead of everyone else.. Unless it was a flight departing or flying to Memphis.. then there would be 10-15 wheelchair passengers minimum. Telling you man, Memphis has a LOT of people who can't get around without wheelchairs.

But over the last month? ...None.. nada.. zilch.. I just don't understand. Can anyone explain it??

American is bad about this and it's a pet peeve. The first boarding are the "pre-boarders" that "need extra time. There's invariably at least 5 people who are otherwise perfectly fine who need extra time getting on the plane.

It's kinda like the fatasses on the scooters in Walmart. If they got their fatasses up and walked, they wouldn't need the scooter.....but then they wouldn't get to use the scooter and take advantage of everyone else.

 

[Drebin]

I wouldn’t fly SW for the herd seating. The word was they had a serious pre-boarding issue. People figured out you could say literally anything medical and pre-board with a basic economy ticket. That’s why I fly American. I can use my exp status to board first, almost always FC, & judge all the peasants that pass us to the back of the plane. Nothing like legroom & a pdb

you still have to wait for the "pre-boarders" to board first.

 

[Boosh]

Airlines should smarten up and load the plane from the back to the front. Then disembark from the front the back. So stupid to board the front first then everyone walk over them

MythBusters proved that the fastest boarding was outside in, window seats first to aisle seats.

 

[johnson86-1]

Slash checked bags to $10 per bag or god forbid, free. Require any size suitcase, duffel bag, or backpack bigger than a purse to be checked . Load from the back forward. It’s pretty common sense.

They don't necessarily need checked bags to be cheap but just have some logical pricing. On flights back home, especially direct ones, I'm generally happy to check everything but a laptop bag. But I'm not paying extra for the inconvenience.

People would lose their ****, but it'd also be nice and airlines would just weigh people and their bags at checkin. It's absurd to have people moving things from checked to carryon luggage to avoid a $100 charge for being 3 lbs overweight. Just decide how much you want to charge for weight and charge it. If somebody weights 250lbs and checks a 49 lb bag, they shouldn't be charged less than a female that weighs 110 lbs and has a 52 lb bag.

 

[johnson86-1]

MythBusters proved that the fastest boarding was outside in, window seats first to aisle seats.

Obviously outside to in, back to front, would be fastest if you could count on people to be logical and self sufficient, but not sure it's big enough of an improvement to break up passengers. Sometimes older people in a group or just women can't lift their bag into an overhead bin and most parents aren't going to want a kid younger than 10 separated from them to have a minor improvement in loading time.

 

[BTCMoonBoy]

Best loading should be by:
- military
- business class
- loyalty levels
- regular price tickets
- discount tickets
- families with children
- disabled

this loads the business travelers first who are not clueless how the process works. Then the slowest who don’t have to fumble where their seats are and have to move thinking someone will trade with them

 

[Bullldawg78]

Have flown Southwest for years (or Jesus airlines as my wife and I called them with all the healing going on from ATL to where we we went). Flew to Colorado for skiing last week and amazingly there were only 2 true pre boarders and they were sitting in assigned seats. Was amazing! Will have to go back to calling them their normal name. It had gotten so out of hand with them. I am A list, have two SW credit cards business and personal, and haven't paid for a ticket for my wife to fly in 10 years because of companion pass (SW is the best for that). But had been growing tired of the pre board charades. I'm glad they've gone to the new system, now the biggest problem is getting people to actually put real carry-on luggage in the compartments and their backpack and purses under the seat!

 

[dawgman42]

now the biggest problem is getting people to actually put real carry-on luggage in the compartments and their backpack and purses under the seat!

Not going to happen. SWA decided to just blend in with the rest, so do not expect the moronic tendencies of the masses to be any different.

 

[Dawgbite]

I flew American last week and they were stopping people at the gate and forcing them to gate check bags. A lot of people. I rarely ever carry on luggage, just a sling bag for laptop or iPad and it easily fits under the seat.

 

[Colonel Angus.sixpack]

American is bad about this and it's a pet peeve. The first boarding are the "pre-boarders" that "need extra time. There's invariably at least 5 people who are otherwise perfectly fine who need extra time getting on the plane.

It's kinda like the fatasses on the scooters in Walmart. If they got their fatasses up and walked, they wouldn't need the scooter.....but then they wouldn't get to use the scooter and take advantage of everyone else.

I like to call those people too fat to shop.

 

[mstateglfr]

People would lose their ****, but it'd also be nice and airlines would just weigh people and their bags at checkin. It's absurd to have people moving things from checked to carryon luggage to avoid a $100 charge for being 3 lbs overweight. Just decide how much you want to charge for weight and charge it. If somebody weights 250lbs and checks a 49 lb bag, they shouldn't be charged less than a female that weighs 110 lbs and has a 52 lb bag.

You are correct on both accounts.
- people WOULD lose their shit.
- someone with a total flight weight of 162 should not pay for luggage while someone with a total flight weight of 299 doesnt pay for luggage.

Similar to when we had to shift weight out of my wife's checked bag into my checked bag because hers was over the limit. Nothing actually changed- we still had the same total weight for the two of us and our bags, but shifting some weight to my bag made us compliant.


These rules are in place and there are silly exceptions because a more logical process is simply unrealistic to implement.

 

[Captain Ron]

Here’s what I don’t understand.

Why not board the back of the plane first? Have the attendants monitor the luggage space at the front of the plane.

Seems like things would go faster and smoother and I’d get to just sit out in the terminal and be on the plane less time.

A couple of reasons it doesn’t happen. One, many planes would tip on their tail. You might notice sometimes on some stretched aircraft, they actually put a tail stand under it to prevent it from tipping when it deplanes.

The airlines have gone through all sorts of tests to see what is the quickest, but that is also complicated by what people pay for a seat. Typically the people in steerage or the back of the airplane pay the least. In that scenario, they would get to board first and always have space in the overhead for luggage. Whether you agree or not, the high value customers want to board first and room for their luggage and they don’t want to sit in the back of the airplane.

Premium tickets make up a huge portion on any flight now and just like any other business, you want to make sure those people keep coming back.

 

[paindonthurt]

A couple of reasons it doesn’t happen. One, many planes would tip on their tail.

This isn’t true particularly when it comes to passenger planes like we are talking about.

The airlines have gone through all sorts of tests to see what is the quickest, but that is also complicated by what people pay for a seat. Typically the people in steerage or the back of the airplane pay the least. In that scenario, they would get to board first and always have space in the overhead for luggage. Whether you agree or not, the high value customers want to board first and room for their luggage and they don’t want to sit in the back of the airplane.

Premium tickets make up a huge portion on any flight now and just like any other business, you want to make sure those people keep coming back.

We’ve discussed this. Have the back third of the plane check bags with a pink tag. Flight attendants control overhead space as plane fills. They already do this in many occasions.

 

[Captain Ron]

This isn’t true particularly when it comes to passenger planes like we are talking about.

We’ve discussed this. Have the back third of the plane check bags with a pink tag. Flight attendants control overhead space as plane fills. They already do this in man

This isn’t true particularly when it comes to passenger planes like we are talking about.

We’ve discussed this. Have the back third of the plane check bags with a pink tag. Flight attendants control overhead space as plane fills. They already do this in many occasions.

This isn’t true particularly when it comes to passenger planes like we are talking about.

We’ve discussed this. Have the back third of the plane check bags with a pink tag. Flight attendants control overhead space as plane fills. They already do this in many occasions.

I dint know we were being airline specific, but I can promise you applies to many variants of the 737.

If you are talking about WN in particular, I can’t speak how they would “in theory” handle it since they still don’t board back to front.

I was speaking more to airlines that have several different levels of service. I know with over 30 years of experience in the industry, that at least at my airline, just about every option for speedy boarding has been tried, but it also limited by the things like I described early like having all the weight aft in the aircraft can cause it to tip and also trying to provide what your high value customers desire.

The picture is of a tail stand on a 737.

 

[johnson86-1]

You are correct on both accounts.
- people WOULD lose their shit.
- someone with a total flight weight of 162 should not pay for luggage while someone with a total flight weight of 299 doesnt pay for luggage.

Similar to when we had to shift weight out of my wife's checked bag into my checked bag because hers was over the limit. Nothing actually changed- we still had the same total weight for the two of us and our bags, but shifting some weight to my bag made us compliant.


These rules are in place and there are silly exceptions because a more logical process is simply unrealistic to implement.

Weighing people would be unrealistic because you’d have to weigh checked baggage and then weigh them again at the gate (unrealistic aside from the PR nightmare), but they could make the processes easier if they weren’t addicted to fees for revenue. If the first five pounds over were $20 instead of $100, you’d probably have some people pay rather than moving Things around at checking. Or even better, reduce the allowed pounds to 45 and charge them $2 per pound for the next 10 pounds, although that is probably too small of a fee to cover the administration costs. But those are off the table

Similar to the free carry on but expensive checked baggage. Make the numbers somewhat reflect economic reality and you’ll get reasonable decisions from people. $100 for one pound over is just a money grab. I'm not sure how costs for baggage handling are treated, so there may be some real savings for people to not check bags, but considering how much effort is spent trying to get people to gate check and slowing down boarding because of people trying to find overhead bin space, I can't believe that zero is the right price for an overhead bag.

 

[paindonthurt]

I dint know we were being airline specific, but I can promise you applies to many variants of the 737.

If you are talking about WN in particular, I can’t speak how they would “in theory” handle it since they still don’t board back to front.

I was speaking more to airlines that have several different levels of service. I know with over 30 years of experience in the industry, that at least at my airline, just about every option for speedy boarding has been tried, but it also limited by the things like I described early like having all the weight aft in the aircraft can cause it to tip and also trying to provide what your high value customers desire.

The picture is of a tail stand on a 737.

It’s happened but it’s fairly rare and their are easy precautions that can prevent it.

Usually it’s more about cargo and fuel than passenger loading and even then it’s rare.

 

[onewoof]

Ain’t that the damn truth. And the people in the back who immediately stand up upon landing…….

take it easy on the tall guys, standing up is not to get off the plane first

 

[Captain Ron]

It’s happened but it’s fairly rare and their are easy precautions that can prevent it.

Usually it’s more about cargo and fuel than passenger loading and even then it’s rare.

And one of the precautions is how you board the aircraft. The reason they put a tail stand on a 737 is because of deplaning. If the people in the front deplane quickly, you have just simulated boarding the aft part of the aircraft first and boom, the tail is on the grounds.Sure it is rare, because precautions are in place and it isn’t like you want to rely on a tail stand just so you can board from the back first.

Fuel will not cause an airliner to tip.

Agree, cargo can be a player.

Any of the stretched narrowbodys like the Airbus 321 would be a candidate for this to happen. The point is, is it worth that sort of risk of damage to an aircraft just so you save 2 minutes in the boarding process?

I mean let’s be real. We have had some amazing leaders in this industry like Kelleher, Richard Anderson etc. That idea is not new, Do you not think they would have been all over if it were that simple?

 

[paindonthurt]

And one of the precautions is how you board the aircraft. The reason they put a tail stand on a 737 is because of deplaning. If the people in the front deplane quickly, you have just simulated boarding the aft part of the aircraft first and boom, the tail is on the grounds.Sure it is rare, because precautions are in place and it isn’t like you want to rely on a tail stand just so you can board from the back first.

Fuel will not cause an airliner to tip.

Agree, cargo can be a player.

Any of the stretched narrowbodys like the Airbus 321 would be a candidate for this to happen. The point is, is it worth that sort of risk of damage to an aircraft just so you save 2 minutes in the boarding process?

I mean let’s be real. We have had some amazing leaders in this industry like Kelleher, Richard Anderson etc. That idea is not new, Do you not think they would have been all over if it were that simple?

Its very rare. FACT.
There are simple precautions to prevent it. FACT.
Fuel absolutely could contribute in some planes (lack of fuel or too much fuel in aft causing center of gravity to change) BUT it is still very rare. FACT.

There are amazing leaders in lots of industries who do and don't do some simple things.