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Delta tests speedier boarding tactics

A gate agent uses a handheld device to assist a passenger. (Image: Delta)

Delta Air Lines is using three gates at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson to try out a multi-faceted program aimed at moving passengers onto the aircraft more quickly.

The company said passengers who use gates T1, T2 and T3 at ATL will be the test subjects .

Among the changes:

  • Gate agents will be equipped with handheld devices they can use to handle routine tasks like making seat assignment changes, checking bag status and so on without having to use a computer terminal.
  • Employees will also be using “mobile agent pods” – small podiums that can move around instead of large fixed podiums, creating more space at the gate for passengers.

Pillars will organize passengers into four lines as they wait to board. (Image: Delta)

  • Passengers waiting to board will be organized into four parallel lines by “boarding pillars” that show boarding group numbers – similar to a concept Southwest has been using for years. Delta started deploying the pillars last spring at some ATL B Concourse gates.
  • As they proceed onto the aircraft, passengers will use new e-gates to self-board. Instead of giving a boarding pass to an agent, they simply scan their own boarding pass, whether it’s a paper one or on their smart phone.

Southwest has used numbered pillars in boarding areas for years. (Image: Jim Glab)

“Later this year, phase two of testing will focus on increased agent mobility, the customer’s digital experience at the gate and how to integrate biometric boarding based on testing under way at Reagan Washington International Airport,” Delta said.

That biometric test at DCA lets passengers use a fingerprint instead of a boarding pass to board domestic Delta flights. It is available to persons enrolled in the CLEAR trusted traveler program, which uses fingerprint and iris scan biometrics to let members go directly to security screening. Delta is a part owner of CLEAR.

Delta said the new procedures and equipment in the three-month test are expected to “accelerate the culture of hospitality by minimizing barriers between agents and customers.”

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Comments

  1. In Asia, they have agents holding signs that follow wherever the end of that line is, and when people get in the line, they check the ticket to make sure they are in the correct line. Goodness help you if you try to get in the wrong line, they basically point to the seating area with a “shooshing” hand motion. This does solve the log jam of zone 3’s clogging up priority / FC boarding but requires 6 people to work the gate. I actually kind of like it, but I am never (or rarely) in zone 3, so….

  2. I’ve encountered this system a lot lately. Agree with two observations: there isn’t space in the gate area to implement this so the queues run haphazard through the seating area, irritating those seated; and it speeds up the scanning so we all wait longer in the (hot) jet bridge.

    One other observation: if you miss your boarding time (and First Class doesn’t queue up, btw), there is no accommodation to just to the head of the current boarding group and jump the line. The agent is too busy scanning as quickly as possible (are they being timed?) to look up and allow people who arrive late for their first class seats to board until that entire zone is scanned and standing in the jetway.

    Because the inherent cause for the delay in boarding is the passengers on the plane, the only way to speed it up is to do what I remember from my childhood: board front and back doors at the same time. But airports are no longer configured for multiple jet bridge access, except for a few International jumbo jet gates (and I’m not sure if Atlanta even has those – other airports do). Delta is solving a problem (scan boarding passes faster) that doesn’t exist – it’s rarely been about the gate agent not processing people fast enough. It’s about getting the people on the plane to stow and sit.

  3. One thing that might help would be if people were rejected if they scan their boarding pass before they are authorized to do so and sent to the back of the appropriate line. At the moment, that does not appear to be done. I have very seldom seen a Delta agent reject boarding for someone trying to board before their zone. I doubt that the automated system will enforce it either. Of course, enforcement could add some additional challenges as people protest being rejected but, if Delta is trying to create a “culture,” they need practices that reinforce the desired culture. It is not clear where they will put the first class/Diamond passengers for boarding. Will they be in an unlabeled line or mixed in with the SkyPriority line? If mixed in, chaos will continue. Have any of you who have used the new system observed what they do about first/Diamond boarding? As Sam noted, it appears that SkyPriority is usually the longest line. I also agree with the multiple comments that observe that the biggest delay for boarding is due to people slowly and inefficiently stowing their things and sitting down so that others can move by.

  4. Sadly, they can’t fix stupid.

    Stupid people jamming up around the gate when boarding is even hinted at is one problem. WE ALL TAKE off at the same time! Idiots. Blocking the way for people who should board before you just slows everything down.

    Stupid people who won’t sit down and block the isles is another problem. I typically wait until the last to board. But it never fails, no matter how long I wait, I walk down the now empty gang plank, step on to the plane, turn right and SOME IDIOT is ALWAYS standing in the aisle between me and my seat!

    The airlines can keep trying, but until they figure out how to boost IQ, even temporarily, stupid us going to rule boarding.

  5. Delta’s use of boarding pillars is similar to what United does now and what Southwest USED to do many years ago. However to compare it to Southwest’s current practice misses the “genius” of the current SW approach — because your boarding pass indicates a boarding number not just a group you don’t need to get in line until the group you are in in actually called.
    United’s preferred boarding group 2 is a joke; 25 to 50 people in line 15 minutes before noarding is even supposed to start.

  7. it could be solved with an aggressive approach:

    1) Greatly restrict carry one bags

    2) Adopt the SouthWest approach to boarding, where people are motivated to board quickly because there will be a better choice of seats. The laggard gets the middle seat at the back.

  8. If the goal is to board the plane faster, I don’t see the bottleneck being how quickly you scan your boarding pass. The problem is always how long it takes people to settle into their seats on the plane. How many times have I scanned my boarding pass only to then encounter a long backup on the jet bridge and stand there waiting while people try to find a place to stow their bags on the plane? If Delta or any other airline can solve that problem, then the entire boarding experience will be dramatically better.

  9. The “cattle chute” approach just doesn’t work with the space available. we’ve been stuck with that a few times in ATL and you cannot tell what line anyone is in as the ribbons/ropes only extend so far. And with Sky Priority being the largest group in Atlanta, good luck finding the end of the line without cutting people off or being cut off. That approach works in banks because they have a lot of space–airports–not so much!.

  10. Agreed. They had cut down to a single agent now I see them moving to two (2) people. There isn’t enough room in the gate area. The assumption is everyone knows what to do and that is the issue similar to the precheck lanes allowing people who did t pay for it. Not sure how you segregate the “know what I’m doing” from the ” I have know clue so please help me” groups.

  11. I used one of the pillared gates last weekend in ATL. While I have always liked the concept (when UAL embraced it a few years ago…but seems to have abandoned), there’s just not the physical space to be effective. There are usually 5-7 people who can actually line up in the lanes, and everyone else piles on in a single-group mashup behind. So there’s no point, and actually more stress/confusion. Southwest’s system totally works because there’s a designated space for each passenger, and you are called up to the numbers in shifts.

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