- Prioritize pre-boarding duties, minimize the time the galley ops spend hiding in the galleys.
- Keep crew hovering near the front of their respective cabins and being as interactive as possible with pax during boarding, keepign the flow going, maximizing space in hatracks, moving pax out of the aisle space when they stand there holding up traffic as they dig in their carry ons for their iPods.
- When a group is seated across the middle seats, don't pedantically divide them up between the two aisles, send them all down one and let them fight it out who sits where.
- When pax express horror and dismay at being asked for their boarding card as they board the aircraft, don't start spouting on about 'security regulations' and 'official requirements' etc... Give them the option of going of the back of the queue so you can explain it after all the other pax have shown their boarding cards, or simply tell them you're just making sure they get on the right aircraft. Any further explanation invites argument and stalls the whole process.
- Talk with the ground staff as much as possible. Work out how many are missing, when you can start pre-deps, when you can start reseating as early as possible.
- When pax have immediate queries as they board (reseating, baggage, medication etc...) get them out of the doorway and aisles ASAP. Have a crew member not on door duty deal with them out of the way.
- More crew in the cabin, less in the galley. The more you talk to pax before takeoff, the easier time you have in flight.