Delta Air Lines is changing the way it boards flights…kind of. The minor tinkering to the boarding process is mostly lipstick on a pig but sparks a debate that will certainly divide flyers.
New New Boarding System On Delta Air Lines Embraces Group Approach
Delta currently has a “branded” boarding order, in which it boards in the following sequence:
- Pre-Boarding
- those needing more time
- active duty military
- Delta One or First Class
- Delta 360 members
- Diamond Medallions
- Delta Premium Select
- Early Access
- passengers traveling with car seats or strollers
- Delta Comfort+
- Sky Priority
- Platinum + Gold level elites on JV partners
- Main Cabin 1
- Silver-level elites on JV partners
- Delta SkyMiles Gold + Platinum members
- Other SkyTeam elites
- Reserve AMEX cardholders
- Main Cabin 2
- Main Cabin 3
- Basic Economy
Starting May 1, 2024, Delta will return to a numbered boarding zone system:
- Pre-Boarding
- now includes Delta 360 members
- Zone 1
- Delta One / First Class
- Zone 2
- Diamond Medallion + Premium Select
- Early Access
- Zone 3-8 (unchanged)
So the main difference is that 1.) Delta 360 members can board ahead of Delta One and First Class passengers and that 2.) Diamond Medallions and Premium Select customers can now board at once.
This chart summarizes the changes:
I’d imagine Delta 360 members will love this change while Diamond members will rue it.
But the changes strike me more as lipstick on a pig and I do not think that customers will necessarily find a zone number easier than the current system.
The Families With Children Dilemma + Elite Vs. First Class Priority
American Airlines and United Airlines allow families with children under two years old to board first. Delta has taken a different approach. Who has the better approach?
I do think there is some merit to giving premium cabin and elite status guests the chance to board first. It’s one of those things where it should not matter because everyone is going to the same place, but it does because there no one likes waiting around a gate area and there is still some concern about overhead bin space filling up.
But imagine families traveling with young children—and car seats, strollers, and baby bags. You let them board first and they can get to their seats and get settled. When elites and premium cabin guests board first, they get bumped by the families who board later.
United also allows its top-tier elites (1K members) to board ahead of first class passengers (American Airlines allows its Executive Platinum members to board with first class). I think recognizing long-term loyalty is more important than transactional loyalty and prefer that approach.
Thus, I do think Delta gets it wrong here.
CONCLUSION
Delta is introducing a new group-based boarding system on May 1, 2024. While these changes are mostly minor, the concept of allowing many passengers ahead of families traveling with young children strikes me as a controversial approach that may be an inconvenience for families and non-families alike.
image: Delta Air Lines
Someone please tell me how this is more efficient, faster, and fairer than Southwest’s system?
Not interested in a carrier that does not have assigned seating.
Are there many unassigned seating airlines left? Even on our local inter-island airlines (Canary Islands, average flight time 30-45 minutes), the reserved seating which was introduced during Covid has been retained. There are no premium seats and no boarding groups.
I don’t think it is faster. I think the main point of Southwest’s open seating is to be faster at loading the plane than assigned seating.
As for “fairer”– I have flown a LOT of Southwest and don’t dislike the airline in general– there are pros and cons to every system, but I don’t see the Southwest system as particularly “fair”. Southwest’s boarding has its own problems– saving seats, the inability to pay of a specific seat, abuse of the family boarding program, etc… With Southwest you can usually pay to be in an A1-A15 position, but that often costs hundreds of dollars more than an economy ticket and still does not reserve you a specific seat.
It seems more “fair” to me to be upfront with people at the time of booking about which seat they will be sitting in and when they will be able to board (if the passenger desires this information). Also most of the major carriers allow you to select a specific seat for a much smaller fee than buying a Southwest Business Select ticket.
As for efficiency that would have to be clarified in a way that is distinct from faster in this context in order to meaningfully discuss it.
It sounds cliche, but the biggest reason for the changes in boarding is that Delta is trying to provide a “premium” (for 360s and high spenders, first class, etc.), while also a simplified boarding experience for all passengers.
Source: My college friend that works in customer experience on the corporate side at Delta.
I see priority boarding as only serving two purposes: ego massaging and making up for failure to enforce hand luggage rules. Neither of these things concerns me as a passenger- sitting in the lounge is certainly preferable to being cooped up inside the plane, and even the gate area is arguably more spacious/comfortable than the typical short haul seat.
Having such an elaborate system with up to 8 zones is just overkill and only goes to show that certain airlines are just focusing on the wrong things . I also bet that the complexity means that strolling to the gate 15 minutes before departure would confuse a number of agents who would put the priority passenger at the end of the queue instead of letting them board on arrival.
1. Numbered boarding is fine. Zone 2 vs Zone 4 is easier to recognize compared to First Class vs Sky Priority
1b. Amex “priority boarding” spelled out clearer as Zone 5, and is more of a joke perk in this new verbiage
2. Nitpicky on 360 preboarding: There aren’t enough of those guys in the solar system to ruin families’ pre boarding prvileges
3. Still too many zones. Korean Air had F, J and Sky Priority board together as Zone 1, then Zone 2/3 together, and we were still able to board a whole ass 777 in 15 minutes. But maybe that’s more of a culture thing.
4. No matter the boarding order is, DL is still better than UA and AA rofl
5. I had to rewrite this long post on mobile because uour ads hogs too much RAM and the browser resets with just a bit of scrolling. iPhone 14 pro Max. Damn your ads.
I may be missing something here but why not board the plane starting from the last row and upwards? Let people that are sitting at the back of the plane board first so you don’t have a huge backlog of people walking by other seated passengers. Is that a bad way to board? As for the new system, total BS. How many Delta 360 are out there? Other than in major hubs, probably none. I was a 360 member for 2 years and I did not see any advantage over Diamond since I always fly non stop so I don’t need a Porsche to take me to my connection.
I suspect you may already know this, but Delta and other airlines have done versions of back to front boarding in the past– I remember doing this as a child. In real world application it actually turns out to be a slower way to board. There are scientific papers on this and experiments and real-world trials; it seems like back to front would be best, but it isn’t.
In my recollection, before around 1990, the idea of taking all of your luggage as carry-on was relatively uncommon. I remember the first time I heard of someone doing this in the mid 1980s– I remember thinking that there were advantages to carrying on all of your luggage, but it seemed totally unnecessary. Now, it appears to be the majority of folks try to carry on large bags, with little to no enforcement of size requirements– and thus the war for overhead bin space is waged.
That’s correct, the problem is that some of the people in the back walk slow or stow their carryon in the front, which then slows down the entire line.
The best way to board is fastest to slowest, which is similar to Southwest’s system since the people fervently refreshing the check in page to get an earlier boarding spot also tend to board in a hurry as well
I thought the big issue was having too many people in the same small area board at once made folks much slower in getting their luggage stowed and getting into their seats. You need folks to be a bit more spread out in the cabin to be more optimal.
Standing by for Diamond Delta Dunn to tell us how we are all wrong, that this is an industry leading move.
Your Tim Dunn derangement syndrome is insane, lmao, go back to OMAAT
Thank you!!
I am so sick and tired of everyone on all the travel blogs attacking my daddy when he is NEVER wrong about the universe’s #1 premium airline. It’s almost as bad as someone here blaming Trump for travel woes.
Tim Dunn does comment on OMAAT…quite a bit,
Main Cabin 1 to Zone 5 for AMEX cardholders certainly has a less premium ring to it, one advantage of the branded boarding was they could make each zone name sound as priority or as basic as they wanted.
Lipstick on a pig?
More akin to “Polishing The Turd.”
First-class / business passengers must be so annoyed when all the other passengers have to go by them after they board first (most planes).
I understand early boarding for parents with children, those with disabilities (special needs for the touchy types) and First Class. After that, just board the back of the plane forward. I’m retired military and when I was active didn’t care about the “special treatment”.
I want to depart as quickly as possible and get to my destination. We don’t deplane by class or disability, so why board it that way.
Back to front is not as efficient as window/middle/aisle.
(Un)popular opinion: Families should not get any special boarding. Full stop. Just let them board with the group in which they purchased tickets. If they need to gate check a stroller or whatever, fine. They can do so before boarding begins and leave their children-specific items on the jetway.
They board early because they take longer. It’s not some altruistic thing.
It probably does not matter much as when they announce Pre-Boarding–needing more time…SO many healthy looking young people an of course those with dogs run up to the GA and scan their boarding pass!! No questions asked..