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Does Anyone Really Think the “New” Delta Boarding Zones Will Make Any Difference?

René by René
April 18, 2024
in Airlines
10
a group of people in a room

Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.

I have been flying Delta Air Lines (and Northwest before that) for a very long time. I have seen all kinds of Delta boarding order iterations and the latest move (as flagged by TPG’s Zach Griff) will likely make little difference other than upset Delta’s Diamond Medallion members.

Take a look:

a diagram of flight information

The Zone 1 remains basically unchanged tossing Delta 360s, that has swelled in numbers due to the recent million miler changes, can now board with the old folks and active military. I guess a few extra moments onboard will keep them spending a ton?

Zone 1 “B” is now Delta One or First Class, making Diamonds wait while those who paid up (or had their upgrades clear and such) to grab the best overhead space. Clearly, with a jet full of open overhead space the worst thing Diamonds will have to maybe endure is finding a spot not right above their seat – an annoyance that does bug me, I freely admit.

Zone 2 Diamonds now must scramble with Premium Select flyers. Again, I don’t see this as a major impact other than an annoyance and I do like this as part of Delta, as I posted about before, slowly making Premium Select a real Premium experience in more than just name!

Zone (the rest) 3-8 is basically as was, and unless you are the kind of flyer who booked Basic Economy, you are going to be able to find space for your carry-on bags, and other than taking a while, you are fine.

a group of people in a room

Overall, this really is a big yawn and maybe going back to numbers will help those who do not regularly fly Delta. But I can all but promise you folks will still crowd the gate area when is not their turn, gate agents will rush through each of the eight zones very quickly, some will board when it is not their zone, and Delta will not stop them – i.e. everything will be as it always is and has been.

What do you think of the latest “new” Delta boarding order? Do you think it will speed up boarding or just upset already upset Diamonds who don’t upgrade like they used to? – Rene

Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Tags: Delta Air Lines
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Miss a Flight Because Protestors Prevented You from Getting to the Airport? You Might Have Legal Options

René

René

René de Lambert is a contributing writer for EyeoftheFlyer.com - He is an avid Delta and SkyTeam flyer who has held Delta’s top Diamond Medallion status for many years and flown millions of miles.

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Miss a Flight Because Protestors Prevented You from Getting to the Airport? You Might Have Legal Options

Comments 10

  1. Bob says:
    1 year ago

    Once again, Delta is doing everything it can to downgrade Diamond. I have been Diamond for many years. However, I soon need a knee replacement and I will now limp openly to the gate and pre-board whenever I am not flying first or Delta One.
    I have also recently cancelled our DL Amex cards. Now AMEX (or AMEX/Delta) is offering some incentives (pretty minor) to get us to come back. I think enough DL ‘loyal’ customers have cancelled their cards, that AMEX may be trying to maintain its card membership.
    I am lucky enough to have enough MQM’s to maintain Diamond for three years, and am close to 3 million miles for lifetime Diamond (maybe be the end of 2025), so, I do not need the DL card nor am I feeling particularly loyal to Delta.
    Also recently, I flew twice in first class domestically on United. I saw little evidence that United was not as good as Delta domestically. I bought the United tickets significantly cheaper than the same routes on Delta. Delta seems to revere their tickets more than I do. And, I got into the UA clubs en route because I had paid 1st class tickets.
    Next week i am flying to Paris on Air France (business class). The tickets were purchased in January on the KLM site quite cheaper than anything offered by Delta and within $100 of the UA or AA prices. . They are both Skyteam members, KLM is owned by AF, and thus I am somewhat shocked that KLM was selling tickets cheaper than Delta.

    Reply
    • BJHK says:
      1 year ago

      Your experience purchasing tickets on AF or KLM site is something we’ve been doing for 10+ years. We find AF and KLM same routes in business class (all classes of service) are typically cheaper than DL branded flights. Hopefully you’re on AF metal or KLM metal as we find their customer service outstanding and leaps and bounds above DL (from check in, to gates, to lounge; culminating in superior inflight service).

      Reply
      • Bob says:
        1 year ago

        Yes I am on AF planes. B787 outbound and A350 return. I agree that their customer service is leaps ahead of DL and their planes are far cleaner. I also buy Virgin Atlantic business class tickets when I travel to London. I have bought these on KLM web site and also from AMEX Travel significantly cheaper than DL offers the same flights. Again I find VS leaps ahead of DL.
        DL does need to change one word in their logo to “descending”.

        Reply
  2. Kristina J says:
    1 year ago

    I have seen multiple times people trying to board when it is not their turn, and being turned away by flight attendants. Then they have to do what I call the walk of shame out of the boarding line.

    Reply
    • Chris Carley says:
      1 year ago

      I see the opposite, usually with Main Cabin boarding with Comfort+. I also see the occasional Comfort+ boarding with First Class. (And before anyone says anything, no, the little upgrade slip of paper isn’t produced when the gate agent scans the line jumper’s electronic boarding pass.)

      Reply
  3. dee says:
    1 year ago

    You are correct..It will only make the DM’s more upset as we get demoted again by DL!!!!!It seems everyone(including those with dogs”) runs on at Pre-Boarding and gets the best overhead bin spots…

    Reply
  4. Dave says:
    1 year ago

    Putting active service members in the first group might save a bit of time because there are often none, and at most one or two, so the agent does not need to announce them separately and then wait for anyone to show up.

    However, I think this might actually slow things down at times. Often, several passengers are in wheelchairs, and the agents should wheel them to the plane, get them seated, and get the wheelchairs back up the jet-way before the military and 360 people board since they will just get in the way.

    Overall, there will probably be little difference.

    Reply
  5. Elaine says:
    1 year ago

    Notice when they announce it will be a “full flight” and request people gate check carry-on luggage, how many passengers discover they need “extra time” and preboard?

    Reply
  6. TravelWarr says:
    1 year ago

    I don’t think it’ll make any difference. But, I am flying home from Montreal on 5/1 so I guess I’ll get to see it in action on Day One.

    Reply
  7. Chad says:
    1 year ago

    The system is only as strong as the gate agent. I have seen them turn away people occasionally who are not first class and try to sneak by.

    I also hate it when they call for pre-board and someone with kids and strollers try to get on. A couple times I’ve seen hate agents make them wait and sometimes not. I get it they take extra time but when I’m in first class, I want the bin space in first class. I know that sounds snooty but I also pay for first class. We’ll see how it works out

    Reply

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