Queuing to board?

[holachicatita]

So.. currently waiting to board my flight and me and my husband have had a disagreement. Seats are already allocated but I still like to queue and get on the flight once the gates open. He likes to sit and wait until the last minute, looking down his nose at all the silly little people queuing. AIBU to start to queue once the gates open?

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.

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 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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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 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....?!

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.

What would happen if you didnt queue?

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.

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…

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.

@Brokene

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 doubt they'd even notice unless the seat was reserved for someone else who found their seat was occupied. I can't imagine the cabin crew check boarding passes a second time once people have got onboard.

I think they pay more attention to who's in first class and wont want to be giving stuff away to people who haven't paid for it. It's not just the seat, it''s the service and freebies.

Small claims?

Depending on the airline I think for first class (not business class) they might. I flew actual first class once as I had to get to a funeral and it was the only ticket available. Cost an arm and a leg. But anyway the cabin crew greeted me by name every time they spoke to me. They knew exactly who I was and in which seat.

I don't desperately start queueing early to try and get on board ASAP. However, I don't wait until everyone else is on then swan in at the end, either. If everyone tries to board first there's a long queue. If everyone tries to board last then the plane will never be ready to depart. Just go forward when the gate staff ask you to.

I've flown long haul business a few times and the cabin crew have always checked my boarding pass. Maybe I just look like I belong in economy 😂

If someone is sitting in my seat when I board, I tell them to shift it. Nobody has ever objected. They normally just act dumb and pretend they didn't realise.

Errr yeah they’d notice. In both business and first. There are a host of things they need to do for each passenger in business and first. Including greeting by name! They’d notice and remove the passenger. If the passenger fails to move, depending on airline, they refuse to depart. I was unfortunate enough to be part of a whole plane disembarkation due to some idiot thinking they could be funny.

Many years ago I remember being on a long haul flight were we were delayed taking off. Eventually an announcement was made to say the reason for the delay was that two people who had sat down in first class and refused to leave had now moved. A red faced, smartly dressed couple appeared to clapping in economy.

Bit of trivia for you: the overhead locker is still known in some official documents as the “hat rack”.