British Airways is modifying its boarding process in a way that’s sure to delight some, and cause confusion among others…
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British Airways adds pre-boarding for best customers
While all airlines claim to try to have as efficient of a boarding process as possible, airlines take very different approaches for accomplishing that. In particular, many airlines differ on the ways in which they break up their premium cabin and elite customers into groups.
Along those lines, British Airways is introducing a new, most exclusive boarding group. This has been trialed for several months, and has been progressively rolled out on many routes already, but will finally be coming to all routes.
As of March 26, 2024, British Airways will be rolling out Group 0 boarding on all flights, in addition to the existing Group 1-9 concept. Group 0 is intended specifically for British Airways Gold Guest List and Premier customers. Gold Guest List is for those who rack up lots of Tier Points (by flying British Airways a regrettable amount), while Premier is given to those who control big corporate travel budgets, and to other people who are very important to the airline.
The idea is that these Group 0 customers will be able to board before Group 1, which includes British Airways first class passengers, as well as oneworld Emerald members.
Now, personally I find the branding here a bit strange. Generally if you have a numbered list, you don’t start that with zero. I feel like that’s going to cause quite a bit of confusion — sure, those who have Group 0 boarding will know that it’s their turn, but I suspect other people may not understand that they’re not part of Group 0.
The funny world of airline boarding
Airline boarding fascinates me to no end, and in particular, how it differs around the world. In many parts of Asia, boarding feels rather relaxed, and it’s an orderly process. Meanwhile in the United States and many other countries in the west, you’d think there’s a competition to see who can get on the plane first, and that you’re going to miss your flight if you’re not lined up before boarding even starts.
There are of course multiple factors at play, including general cultural differences, carry-on policies and the need to gate check bags, and more. But I also can’t help but feel like breaking up boarding groups into so many small chunks draws out the process as well.
Take United Airlines, for example, where people generally have one of two takes — Global Services and Premier 1K members think United’s boarding process is great, while everyone else finds it to be kind of absurd. If you’re in first class on United, you might as well be in Group 11, based on how many sets of passengers are called before you.
To me, the whole process is inefficient and causes confusion. But here’s the thing — to the credit of United and other airlines, people really seem to love getting on the plane before everyone else. Those who get that privilege want to maintain it, while those who don’t have that privilege aspire to have it. Why? Well, I don’t really get it, to be honest. If you board with first class, you’re not going to be out of overhead bin space.
But this gets at the whole competitive and comparative aspect of frequent flyer programs. People do love to show off their bag tags, how much they fly with an airline, etc. This is part of what makes airline loyalty programs so genius, and the pre-boarding for special customers very much plays into that. It’s totally normal to hear people sitting next to one another on a plane comparing their flying “stats,” while you (hopefully) wouldn’t hear them doing the same about other aspects of their existence.
Bottom line
British Airways is joining the ranks of airlines offering pre-boarding for its most important customers ahead of premium cabins. British Airways is rolling out Group 0, whereby Gold Guest List and Premier customers will be able to board early on all flights.
This is ultimately a low cost way that the airline can better recognize its most elite flyers, and British Airways is following the industry trend here. At the same time, if you step back and look at the big picture, it can be kind of hard to rationalize just how unnecessarily complicated airline boarding has become.
What do you make of British Airways’ new Group 0 boarding?
At the risk of sounding like victor meldrew I’m lucky enough to be a gold for life holder and get assigned a 0 boarding. However it’s a bit useless when they currently seem to board anyone with children under 14 first!!! Completely fair under 2s or even into 5 and any old and infirm travelers but teenagers. Bonkers.
Ten boarding groups! It really is getting a bit ridiculous now. I think 5 is about enough. Honestly why not just board by cabin, first, then business, then premium (obviously depending on plane config) then split economy into perhaps status Vs no status. Why does someone in first who's gold need to board before someone in first who's silver for example.
I don’t get why folks in upper classes need to board first. They get to wait as long as the rest of us to get to where they’re going. Bragging about one’s airline loyalty with others while standing in queue is a silly elementary thing to do.
You would not get it if you're flying economy . Flying premium and being able to board first means having extra time to settle down, relax, have a drink, make few calls and do some business if they want to.
Believe me, it's a big deal on some flights where there are insufficient overhead bins. Gold are allocated to Row 1 with no storage at foot level so you have to get in fast or fight your way back on exit
Here something untied do not want people to know. They don’t check group numbers so you can literally board whenever you want from group one and beyond. Their logic is that there are 6 pre board groups ahead of group 1 so approximately 30/40% have already boarded.
BA would do better to improve the actual service... Ie. Answering phones, cleaning and maintaining cabins and replacing their insecure, unreliable clockwork powered IT systems.
Still a Madrid registered multinational harvesting cash from inherited slot dominance and #BestAvoided
The boarding process would be much more streamlined if airlines boarded by row numbers starting from the rear of the aircraft.
This has been in place for a while. Flying out of JFK last September they announced Group 0 which baffled everyone. They then proceeded to call “Group 0 - Golds” which then made it even more confusing for “standard” Golds… and all in all, a pointless exercise, at least in delivery!
Worked a treat on my recent flights to ATL and LHR. Really happy with the new system
I am always amazed at the speed of boarding in Asia on both long and short haul flights. As Ben pointed out, the boarding process is orderly.
The simple solution in the USA to be consistent on luggage being carried on board and people struggling to find and put luggage in overhead compartments (That is by the way I like the privilege of boarding early in USA as the wait times in the boardng ramp...
I am always amazed at the speed of boarding in Asia on both long and short haul flights. As Ben pointed out, the boarding process is orderly.
The simple solution in the USA to be consistent on luggage being carried on board and people struggling to find and put luggage in overhead compartments (That is by the way I like the privilege of boarding early in USA as the wait times in the boardng ramp can be long (more than 10 minutes) and then and the frustration of passengers being insensitive to how long they take to get their oversize carry-on in the overhead bins and the amount of time they take to get stuff out of their bags for the flight prior to sitting down.
Solution: The airlines created this mess and its costing them dollars for the amount of time aircraft stay on the ground because of long boarding times.
Yea to Asian airlines the limit carry-on and can board a wide-body 777-300 in less then 20 mins.
Asian legacy airlines can board faster because they generally have a lot more generous checked bag policy and a lot better baggage handling.
Every passenger can check a bag(and 2 bags for transpacific) for free, so they don't need to carry too many bags onboard.
And the bags very rarely get lost, so they don't worry about losing their checked bags.
The overhead bins never be packed and no one needs to...
Asian legacy airlines can board faster because they generally have a lot more generous checked bag policy and a lot better baggage handling.
Every passenger can check a bag(and 2 bags for transpacific) for free, so they don't need to carry too many bags onboard.
And the bags very rarely get lost, so they don't worry about losing their checked bags.
The overhead bins never be packed and no one needs to gate-check.
Free checked bag and reliability of baggage handling is the key to faster boarding.
The best flour for pizza is Type "00". I'm waiting for that status.
Tho I'd love it if they called us out individually - "Jack Smith, come on down!" "Sorry Mrs. Smith, your husband has higher boarding privileges". "The toddler? I'm afraid the toddler has to board himself - baby Smith has noooo status on this flight!"
I would not be happy if flying business or first class because I would be treated second toward their loyalty members. It is amazing that airlines come up with these concepts and then have to redo signs and information. What a waste of money.
I’m an AA Exec Platinum but I flew first class on a shorter United flight (~2 hours) on one of the smaller jets in the 1-2 configuration for first class. I was shocked home many people boarded before me and there were probably 3-4 first class passengers that had to put their carryons in bins well into economy. It would be great if you knew you would have space, then you could linger in the lounge and not rush onto the plane.
Just came back from LHR, and if the OneWorld Emerald status were applied, we should have been in group 0 rather than 1. Perhaps BA forgot? Anyway, we found the group 0 notion very odd.
OWE is not GGL.
Very high likelihood Gold Guest or Premier would be flying business or first anyway.
Personally, I always find it funny when infrequent flyers imagine that because they booked a business class ticket they are the most important person on the plane rather than just one of 50 business class passengers.
Emerald is Group 1, not Group 0.
Emerald is equivalent of BA Gold so group 1 is correct. Group 0 is only for the "exclusive" status levels at BA, i.e. GGL and Premiere. If BA ever extends it to other airlines's programme, it's likely gonna be ConciergeKey or similar.
It's the overhead bin space as the key factor. Even in domestic first, you can board to find all of the overhead bin space taken (due to everyone putting every bag and backpack there instead of one under their seat). Many times I've had to snag MCE overhead bins while in first. The airlines could enforce this and make boarding much more manageable, but they don't.
I disagree. I like to have some space firmly feet instead of having my backpack there, even if it fits. In Business (LX) I can take two bags in the plane but if I travel light I should instead have a disadvantage and less space? Doesn’t seem right.
"...by flying British Airways a regrettable amount" is a silly comment that would be better applied to the American carriers. And what's so confusing about 0? It comes before 1.
Just took a Qatar flight from Doha . Flight was remote gate and business was called very last . Had its own bus however . Strange but not bad.
"by flying British Airways a regrettable amount"
Oh c'mon, BA isn't *that* bad lol
I am waiting for one of the airlines to come up with group -1 (minus one) for super duper elite!
There’s ALWAYS a queue in the jetbridge, so the boarding process / group system is not the bottleneck / inefficient part of the process. I love assigning the pre-boards their own group # and wish American would follow suit.
What I don’t get is I rarely see any enforcement of seemingly young and/or fit people utilizing pre-boarding. Occasionally gates agent announce “or anyone needing extra time” and I’d imagine those with basic would be most likely to take advantage
United 1K passengers are the worst gate lice in the industry. It reminds me almost of southwest boarding
@Chris: you obviously don't know anything about WN's boarding process. Everyone boarding has a boarding sequence number. There is absolutely no need for anyone to line up until their "group" is called and in fact if you are B23 you can wait until B22 is just about to board before you even step in to the boarding line right after them.
This is in sharp contrast to the 100 or so passengers in Group...
@Chris: you obviously don't know anything about WN's boarding process. Everyone boarding has a boarding sequence number. There is absolutely no need for anyone to line up until their "group" is called and in fact if you are B23 you can wait until B22 is just about to board before you even step in to the boarding line right after them.
This is in sharp contrast to the 100 or so passengers in Group 2 on United who have lined up 30 minutes before they even start boarding.
I'm a 1K and Delta Diamond Medallion, I agree and prefer Delta's boarding process.
As a 1K, I often don't know where to stand and I even have to ask the gate agents where they want us to be.
The whole "line up for zone 1/first class" thing is crazy. I think United does it based on like a 777-300ER with 60+ Business class seats, but on all the domestic flights it's much more chaotic than Delta.
I will never understand why in Premium cabins passengers are eager to board first (well, except people like Ben who wants to take pictures) - especially for long haul flights, where I am very happy to save at least half an hour before getting caged for flights more than 10 hours long.
Depends on the flight...I take a lot of flat bed Hawaii redeyes and short TATLs and I can get an extra 30mins of sleep on the ground when I get on early.
Also, if you're on a domestic narrow body in F you still need to fight for overhead bin space with economy pax who might take that open space over your seat if you're too late.
757s and the mid cabin boarding doors are really incredible for this--you never need to worry about boarding first.
A few weeks ago, I concluded my business trip to California. Returning from LAX to the Northeast on AA, I was in First Class, which typically boards as Group 1. I assumed I would be among the first to board after the preboarding of children and passengers requiring assistance. To my surprise, a group called "concierge something" was summoned to board before Group 1. I was unaware of the existence of such a group. It...
A few weeks ago, I concluded my business trip to California. Returning from LAX to the Northeast on AA, I was in First Class, which typically boards as Group 1. I assumed I would be among the first to board after the preboarding of children and passengers requiring assistance. To my surprise, a group called "concierge something" was summoned to board before Group 1. I was unaware of the existence of such a group. It seems that BA is now implementing a practice that some other airlines have already adopted.
The "concierge something" you refer to are ConciergeKey members, AA's highest status tier.
Ahhh, Okay. Thank you. I was trying to remember. I thought Executive Platinum was the highest tier. I have learnt something new.
Boarding AA planes, especially at Hubs, can be EXTRA annoying. The gate agent(s) never give enough time inbetween groups AT ALL. They never enforce the groups AT ALL. And because of those w things: the passengers act crazy and become a hoard of frenzied and greedy boarders. It's ridiculous. Also, FA's rarely, if ever, stop main cabin passengers from putting their bags into the First Class bins OR any passengers from storing their bags properly...
Boarding AA planes, especially at Hubs, can be EXTRA annoying. The gate agent(s) never give enough time inbetween groups AT ALL. They never enforce the groups AT ALL. And because of those w things: the passengers act crazy and become a hoard of frenzied and greedy boarders. It's ridiculous. Also, FA's rarely, if ever, stop main cabin passengers from putting their bags into the First Class bins OR any passengers from storing their bags properly (standing up on the side). Lastly to my fellow passengers: if you can't lift up AND STORE your carry on properly, then you need to check your bag. I'm not helping you lift up your 50lbs carry on and throwing out my back on a work trip. No thanks.
If Gate agents would make stern announcements like no one will be boarded out of order and no one is to enter the boarding lane while pre boards are being boarded (BTW most of those people just scamming the system) that would discourage people with Group 9 jamming up the boarding lanes. It amazes me on an A321 there's more than 100 people crowding the boarding lane entrance at the beginning.
Again a comment about "Generally if you have a numbered list, you don’t start that with zero. I feel like that’s going to cause quite a bit of confusion"
You, like most American, certainly get confused when you find out that the floor 1 in most of Europe is not the ground floor:-)
The European arrogance and presumptive speech is getting really annoying.
As an American (I guess not “most”) who’s dabbled in a bit of computer programming I don’t find the notion of a numbered list starting at 0 confusing at all. :)
This would be a great idea if boarding wasn’t a chaotic scrum. BA rarely enforces boarding groups and even when it does there’s always a crowd around the desks so you have to push past the unwashed masses anyway.
I have been on at least 20 BA flights in the past year both short and long haul and they have ALWAYS enforced boarding groups, I think your talking rubbish tbh.
"(by flying British Airways a regrettable amount)" - brilliant, sir, brilliant!!!!
I think this is a semi-rational herd response by passengers to the airlines race to the bottom on customer service.
To me it seems mostly due to bag fees and crowded planes that drive this weird behavior on the traditional carriers. (Southwest is a different story--there's the sit together problem, facing forward problem, etc.)
I personally don't care about boarding early unless I have to have a large carry-on and I had to settle...
I think this is a semi-rational herd response by passengers to the airlines race to the bottom on customer service.
To me it seems mostly due to bag fees and crowded planes that drive this weird behavior on the traditional carriers. (Southwest is a different story--there's the sit together problem, facing forward problem, etc.)
I personally don't care about boarding early unless I have to have a large carry-on and I had to settle for a cattle quality seat. Even when in premium economy, if I have a tight connection there's a good chance of my bag ending up way behind me because somebody further back dumped their bag in front to make sure they got a spot.
I just try hard to emulate packing like airline personnel with a carry-on that fits under the seat in front of me. And make friends with the FAs so they can help find a spot for my bag up in first at times.
"for those who rack up lots of Tier Points (by flying British Airways a regrettable amount)"
The vast majority of my flying (tier points) for GGL was from CX F, you only need 4 flights on BA metal so actually you barely need to fly BA to get GGL. Otherwise I never would have!
Isn't this just pre-board. Like UA pre-boards?
Yep . . . and BA is just now thinking about doing this for its very best customers.
I always prefer to board last and enjoy the spaceous terminal a few minutes more, before cramming myself into my economy seat.
But give me a boarding pass saying "group 2" and suddenly it's a privilege I can't pass on. I'll stand for 15 minutes in my group's queue and pity the poor souls in group 3.
But, this new policy in no way denies those in boarding groups 5 through 9 the privilege of crowding the gate entrance.
You get it on a codeshare also if the flight is operated by American. I’ve seen UPG 0 on upgrade lists ahead of concierge key. D3Kingg exclusive.
"The idea is that these Group 1 customers will be able to board before Group 1". I assume you meant Group 0?
Will this also include AA ConciergeKey passengers? Typically they regard Gold List and CK as same. Not sure here if this applies.
I have one simple request. I would like my carryon bag to fly with me in the same row +/-1 . The earlier I board the likelihood of that outcome increases exponentially. Yesterday I boarded at the beginning of group 2, instead of my usual group 1. I had to swim upstream 3 rows upon arrival.
Bin space can be just as much an issue on 2 cabin narrow-bodies in F as some 3-4...
I have one simple request. I would like my carryon bag to fly with me in the same row +/-1 . The earlier I board the likelihood of that outcome increases exponentially. Yesterday I boarded at the beginning of group 2, instead of my usual group 1. I had to swim upstream 3 rows upon arrival.
Bin space can be just as much an issue on 2 cabin narrow-bodies in F as some 3-4 cabin wide bodies in business and premium economy. Board late, good luck.
I care about nothing else, but I board early to ensure I have a smooth exit of the aircraft upon arrival. When I don’t have a carryon that only fits in the overhead, boarding priority doesn’t matter.
I’m happy to play my part, one regulation size carry one and a reasonable sized backpack, but the confluence of external factors outside my control often conspire against me in achieving what I think is a simple request. Hence I’m right there upfront waiting for the starting gun to go off.
Can we talk about de-boarding the plane?
When will someone invent an efficient & fast way for pax to get off the plane?
Is the solution “no carry-ons” at all?
Aegean does priority disembarking for business class, it's very welcome.
And of course, people not bringing huge bags on board would solve the problem. But it's airline's own fault, they have created this mess when they started charging for checked bags. It was all good before that.
So they will call for "group nil" to board? Doesn't sound very elite!
“People with no class!”
I normally don't care when I board, and I generally board last when flying alone, even if I have access to earlier/premium boarding groups.
When I was growing up, I would fly quite often, and almost always with my mother. She was always a pre-board, so I grew up being the first person on the plane. Like, the gate agent would instruct us to wait, and then call us specifically to board before everyone else...
I normally don't care when I board, and I generally board last when flying alone, even if I have access to earlier/premium boarding groups.
When I was growing up, I would fly quite often, and almost always with my mother. She was always a pre-board, so I grew up being the first person on the plane. Like, the gate agent would instruct us to wait, and then call us specifically to board before everyone else (Yes, I am incredibly spoiled in this regard). Before I turned 18, I could count on my hand how many times I had flown without my mother. When I turned 18, I started flying solo a lot more. The first few times waiting in the standard TSA line was so annoying!!! That's why I got Global Entry/Pre-Check before my 19th birthday lol.
I also never waited in any lines with my mother at the airport. We would skip everyone in the check-in line, security, immigration, and we would board the plane first. I loved traveling, and I loved flying even more, including airports. I guess part of that was what attracts most people who loves airports and airplanes, but it was easier for me because I also didn’t have to deal with the annoying stuff (waiting in lines) growing up. I was so spoiled that I didn't like traveling alone with my father (who had top tier status with AA and WN) because we would have to wait in line and board with "everyone else" lol. I got over the boarding first thing quickly though, because now I love to walk around the terminal and planespot, so now I'm normally the last one on board.
Is W short for Prince William?
I'm guessing no, as I am highly doubtful that King Charles III has ever held top tier status with WN.
Lol. No, not a prince unfortunately. Reading back my comment, your guess doesn't seem too far out lol. That was extremely clever!
My mother was in a wheelchair. That's why she got pre-boarding.
I remember back in the dim and distant (90s) travelling with my dad, when gold was the highest you could be on BA (apart from the mythical FBA status), back before bag fees and HBO, He would wait in the lounge till the last possible minute and board.
TBF I still do the same on QF if I’ve only got something that fits under the seat. It’s no privilege to sit on the plane longer than everyone else.
Group 0 eligible traveller here. Experiences are mixed. At LHR (well that’s BA’s hub!) no Group 0 boarding (about half a dozen flights taken since they introduced it).
At ZRH on the other side, they called Group 0 explicitly. That’s when about 15 pax (including me) went to the gate. All of them eligible for Group 0. I knew that ZRH is a very important market for BA, with a lot of top level elites,...
Group 0 eligible traveller here. Experiences are mixed. At LHR (well that’s BA’s hub!) no Group 0 boarding (about half a dozen flights taken since they introduced it).
At ZRH on the other side, they called Group 0 explicitly. That’s when about 15 pax (including me) went to the gate. All of them eligible for Group 0. I knew that ZRH is a very important market for BA, with a lot of top level elites, but I was still surprised to see about 10% of the pax to be Premier/GGL :-o
You were expecting to be the only elected and chosen one?
No, not at all. But Premier is by invitation only and GGL requires 5000TP for initial qualification and 3000TP for requalification. A longhaul flight (between 2000 and 5999 miles) in Business Class awards 140TP. So 3000 or 5000TP is a lot of flying …
One might even say it is a regrettable amount of flying?
A real benefit would be for those travelling in first/business class to have guaranteed overhead bin space so you have the luxury of boarding at the end of the process, especially if it's a narrow-body plane where everyone in economy has to walk past. It's hardly a serene experience having 160 or so passengers board after you, via a single aisle. A widebody plane with 2 jet bridges obviously is a different scenario.
Omg you don’t wanna watch and be bothered by the 160 peasants going through the aisle while you are seated in your golden-club-orchid-platinum-extra-diamond FTQV throne?
People don’t have more money because they are flying in first class. They are the same peasants but fly more frequently than you.
“They are the same peasants but fly more frequently than you.”
Huh? Lots of people pay for first class.
"Now, personally I find the branding here a bit strange. Generally if you have a numbered list, you don’t start that with zero."
You clearly haven't programmed in C-like languages ;)
I'm of the camp that thinks that boarding should be as quick as possible and not a marketing opportunity that parades the ranks of society like an Easter procession in a medieval village. It makes sense to put frequent flyers in first, because they generally have experience getting on a plane and getting out of other people's way.
Beyond that, having people mill about in corrals is kinda ridiculous. Group 0? If they're that...
I'm of the camp that thinks that boarding should be as quick as possible and not a marketing opportunity that parades the ranks of society like an Easter procession in a medieval village. It makes sense to put frequent flyers in first, because they generally have experience getting on a plane and getting out of other people's way.
Beyond that, having people mill about in corrals is kinda ridiculous. Group 0? If they're that important, don't even announce them. Just board already.
To be very fair, often on European ULCCs the gate closes while everyone is still lined up to actually get on the plane, so I kind of get the rush to be first onboard.
(As in, after everyone boards and is stuck on the tarmac waiting to get on)
I would love when traveling first class to board last… but fa’s who put their luggage in the bin and do nothing to monitor bin space will ensure if I don’t participate in the hunger games, I’ll get my bag checked or placed way in the back of the plane causing the upstream battle on landing. And god help me if I have the first class bulkhead. It’s hardly a premium experience.
it could be easily done, with a simple master locking mechanism to keep the overheads closed in First Class.
Flight Attendants on US airlines just watch as Economy people load up the bins, and dont say a thing... They should learn how to run an airline like most Japanese airlines... Of course, they either have 2 jet bridges or board at Door 2, Economy go right and First go left.
Ok, now try Scoot where the boarding process is often Group 1 -> Group 4 -> Group 3 -> Group 2, leaving many Group 2 people confused and crowding around the boarding area as they expect to go after Group 1. Silly people!
I must be hanging out with the right group of people, since I’ve never compared flying stats with anyone.
Boarding in the US is a funny process. Its always amusing to see how hung up everyone is on status and how smug and important people feel when they get to board first (with most of them then making their way to the back of the plane...).
As someone who flies J / F most of the time, I really dont care when I board...generally the later the better.
It isn't about "smugness" - it's simple for me (a United 1K, who will never spend enough to make GS) - it's about the guarantee of having overhead bin space.
If you're someone who flies J/F all the time (which you said you are) than yeah, your overhead space will be protected, but otherwise its a free for all.