Queuing to board?

I don’t think cabin crew care (on short haul flights anyway) who sits where. People book seats but then you might get moved around anyway if cabin crew need to sit families/disabled people elsewhere so no I don’t think “assigned seats” is important but I could be wrong. I’ve been moved from a normal seat to an exit seat before. The people who booked the exit seat were not suitable to open the door in an emergency so they needed to move them. So they had to move people about and I ended up in an exit seat. Then I’ve been moved as I mentioned before when a family just took over an entire row (they didn’t book so had been split up) and all of us in that row just needed to be moved to anything spare as cabin crew didn’t give a monkeys.

I would however imagine if someone plonked themselves in first class with an economy ticket then they’d be able to move them though and wouldn’t take off until they had moved.

I only ever have a small bag with me which I put under the seat so I don’t queue to board. Dh is obsessed with putting his equally small backpack in the overhead locker and gets incredibly irritated if he can’t use the one above his seat and tells me how annoyed he is. After thirty eight years together I just smile and nod…

If I need to put a wheely case in the overhead lockers I find it very stressful wondering if there'll be space, especially on the kind of flights where everyone is on a weekend break.

If I just have a small backpack then I'd sit and wait.

What would happen if you didnt queue?

Families are allowed to board first due to the faffing the parents with outside voices telling the rest of the plane who should sit where, what would they like from hand luggage etc

Faff, faff, faff.

I find the psychology of all this really interesting. How pompous and derisory people get about other people when travelling. How if they've taken more than a couple of trips recently, they are above everyone else. Who cares if people want to queue to get on or queue to get off. They might be desperate to get off, need to stretch legs, need to get a connection - whatever. It doesn't matter does it? I can't say I've ever given a shit. I have been one of the people desperate to get off as I was late to board my next flight and was worrying. Most of the time I just wait a bit but my bum is always really numb from sitting for ages so I am happy to stand up for a bit anyway!

I think they are 'buses in the air' to most people....?!

Team husband! I’m always baffled at people standing in a queue when all the seats are allocated! Especially ones with small children, just why?

I agree completely, the Ryanair type model has changed the way people fly and the whole dialogue around it. Back in the day, the notion that your ruck sack would be under the seat in front was completely unknown, coats likewise. That space was supposed to be your leg room that you might share with a handbag but not really anything else.

Fair point. I’m disabled and get a seat allocated appropriately so they would likely have to move. It’s never happened on any of the flights I’ve been on though.

Yes that's another fear of mine. Someone in my seat! The staff should make them get out of it - aren't we supposed to sit in our assigned seats? Not that I always have as sometimes with friends we will shuffle around our own seats but not in anyone else's!

I’m happy to sit anywhere. The same as I am on any public transport.

Depends if you want the seat you booked. As I and others have mentioned, if someone sits in your seat it isn’t guaranteed they’ll get out of it. And they won’t always be forced by the crew. So if you’re happy to sit anywhere on the plane then yes that “seat” isn’t going anywhere. But if you’ve booked business, premium, a specific window or aisle seat etc, then yes if you board late you may not get the seat you wanted.

I wouldn’t be faffed queuing for a flight. It’s not like they’re going to go without you, are they? That said, I fly quite a lot so the novelty has worn off. They’re just buses in the sky to me now.

I prefer to board asap, rather than find the overhead lockers already crammed. Which they almost always are if you board later.

OTOH boarding later may well avoid that mass of bloody annoying people blocking the aisle as they faff and dither, fussily stowing their umpteen pieces of hand baggage, coats, etc.

I’m flying today. There will be 4 of us. I used to fly a lot on business now just for holidays. I just let everyone do what they do. I’m conscious that some folk get very anxious flying, that there is always a minority of absolute bellends on any flight, and it’s all just part of life you can’t control so now we don’t have small kids we just sit and chill and board once the scrummage is over. I can’t get in any way exorcised over what other folks do. Thank goodness DH and I have a similar outlook on this sort of thing.

It was Virgin, I wrote to them, wrote to the executive office etc, pursued the complaint and was told "Cabin crew make decisions regarding safety on boarding and these can change assigned seats"
They just ignored me on the flight and gaslit me, it was a 12 hr flight and £760 difference in prices.

Ah no @holachicatita he can’t say you are wrong but use you as a place marker! That’s the conversation to have “ok, so I expect you will stop trying to queue jump and will make your own way and hope to be able to get your bag in the same locker as me - see you on-board”

BA are one of the worst for allowing large amounts of hand luggage on. They have status holders (who they dont want to upset) and there is a long thread on Flyer Talk about it. If you are an infrequent flyer in Economy then if there is no room in the overheads they will put your hand luggage in the hold.

They wont 'always find a space'!

Oh don't get me wrong I like to get in early to check in luggage for the hold. It's standing to queue early for entry on to the plane that amuses me 😂

I recently flew with one of the budget airlines, from a very hot country. We were waiting in an a/c equipped waiting room with plenty of reasonably comfortable seats.

They started ‘onboarding’ before the plane had even landed, including putting a wheelchair using, profoundly disabled person, onto the boiling hot tarmac without any shade. He and his family were out there for at least 20 minutes, as were all the other passengers that rushed to get through the doors, before the incoming passengers had even started getting off!

The waiting area was ground floor and glass panelled, so you could see there was no plane and no shade, but people still jumped up to get in the queue when the gate staff rocked up. Each to their own, but it didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

DH & I are like this - he boards while I have another drink with friends at the bar and pootle on once the queue is almost gone.

yes,saw this with Easyjet. People kicking off saying that they have never had issues before blah blah blah.Flying often brings out the worst in people.

We were flying from Doha last year. Doha is a big hub and these two idiots from the UK were shouting and laughing at each other at the boarding gate. One of them decided to sit in Business Class as they got on late. Problem was that after he had taken a glass of champagne the women whose seat it really was got on too. She gave him such a telling off. The cabin crew were no where to be seen. She did a fab job and of course he did get up. He said to the rest of the cabin ' well it was worth a try'!

I’d sooner wait until everyone else has boarded and get on last. Your seat isn’t going anywhere!!

They'd sell you the time of day if they could get away with it.

Nothing wrong with queueing and nothing wrong with waiting.

As illustrated by this thread, it's down to personal preference and whether or not you want to be near any carry-on luggage you may have.

Scientifically, the quickest way to board a plane is to onboard window seat passengers first, then middle-seaters, then the aisle seats. Sadly not practical in real life.

I do think though that boarding should be strictly controlled to fill the back of the plane first (or whichever section is furthest away from the doors); if it's a free for all then passengers seated near the doors hold up those who need to reach the middle or the end.