December 12 will mark the day when British Airways will change its boarding policy, introducing a similar solution as airlines such as American Airlines or Iberia for reducing queues during boarding – based on what you paid.
The idea is not that bad
People who have been on a few flights already or people who fly on a regular basis can probably relate to the problem: Once boarding opens, it feels like everyone who was waiting suddenly storms to the entrance in hopes of being one of the first to enter the plane and mostly, just creating unnecessary stress.
The solution, allocate every passenger a group and then board by group – easy.
However, while it would seem obvious to allocate groups depending on the class you are flying in but otherwise totally random, British Airways will be going another way.
Frequent flyers and First/ Business Class customers will be prioritised and everything below will be categorised based on the fare paid – this caused a lot of backlash.
What many don’t realise though is that this system is already being used by other airlines and is very common in the US for example. It was merely only a matter of time until other airlines would adopt it and implement similar measures.
There are many sides to this discussion, but it will definitely reduce stress during boarding.