The Line Forms Here

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

30 Jun 2006 11:54 PM

As if you needed another reason to fly first-class (or another reason to despise the people who do), Northwest Airlines has just announced that it is offering first-class passengers and elite frequent fliers their own boarding line at airport gates.

With the creation of these new lines, Northwest's elite customers will be able to "bypass the line of coach travelers to board the plane if they've missed their first boarding call." Basically, the change means the airline's most-frequent customers and first-and business-class travelers will "never wait in a long line to board the airplane."

Technically, Northwest elite fliers can bypass the line anyway, but this new line gives fliers who use it an option to avoid the line filled with non-elite travelers, without feeling bad about it. This of course has some customers crying foul. After hearing about the policy change, one Northwest passenger asked, "Am I even worthy of getting ON? What other forms of elitism will we be subjected to by the airlines now?" Personally, I find the new policy humorous. It makes me wonder how many "elite" passengers who missed the first boarding call complained about having to stand in line with non-elite passengers like ME. Were these passengers mocked? Verbally abused? Or did they merely have to endure hearing Aunt Edna and Grandpa Joe argue about who would get the window seat? Or, perhaps, they were made to contend with a stroller-bound toddler whose wayward foot found a home on their expensive laptop case? We may never know.

What we do know is that the change comes on the heels of the airline's elimination of row-by-row boarding for coach travelers. It was replaced by a first-come, first-serve boarding policy. The airline claims that policy has helped it trim about seven minutes off its average boarding times.

Look for the new "elite lines" at airports in Detroit, Michigan; Bismarck and Fargo, North Dakota; Phoenix, Arizona; and Portland, Oregon. The new policy will then be implemented in other cities during the next two months.

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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