Does any airline bus selected priority economy passengers from gate to aircraft? At Doha, if you want the BMW treatment, economy tickets just won't do. As Privilege Club members one would expect a certain familiarity with the usual rough and tumble of an Arabian aircraft peasant class boarding operation. Possibly a trifle over stressed travelling with children who are diabetic and thus require medication and for whom warm clothing in cold climes is extra important. Qatar Airways hostesses can be dreadful little princesses from time to time. If they are ex patriates, just read the Cabin Crew forum and see what they have to contend with. Next time perhaps leave wife and children to wander on board at their leisure while you push on ahead wearing padded jacket to emphasis size as necessary while manfully humming 'Hava Nagila', which tune may be Googled.

Just for the record, I wasn't 'mildly sympathetic' with the OP. I simply left others to tell him what he sounded like when arriving in this 'cabin' to tell about his arrival in another cabin. I was being polite, although I'm not sure that I should have been.

Bussing is horrible, you don't know which side the doors will open and whether you will be first or last. It's life as an airline pax. What the OP described happens 10,000 times a day around the globe in all countries. Not to mention that C and F pax can have VERY sharp elbows too. :hmm:

I have a great deal of sympathy for the OP, perhaps more than most contributors to the thread. It appears that the ground staff fell way short of differentiatiting between the needs of the various passenger groups. Anyone who has ever travelled with a dependant passenger, child or older person needing assistance, should empathise with the plight he found himself in. Perhaps a certain amount of naivety (sp?) in not listening to his other half and attempting to get on board with the first wave of incoming SLF.
Without wishing to sound too patronising, perhaps he should look at the culture of the carrier he is travelling with. My own airline has changed market from purely shorthaul around UK and western europe to include middle eastern and other destinations. We regularly see passengers completely flouting the carry on baggage rules. Cabin crew are the last line of defence. Being a western airline we have no problems with our female cabin crew being assertive, mainly towards the ground staff, to ensure cabin baggage is appropiate. For my flights this tends to be an ongoing process, throughout the boarding procedure, rather than just relieving the last to board of their carry on items. Despite reminding the ground duty manager of this, inevitably blind eyes are turned and multiple bags arrive at the aircraft door. On a recent flight I had the senior cabin crew member turning apopalectic with frustration as ground staff boarded 2 elderley passengers who needed wheelchair assistance last, on a completely full flight. They were seated toward the rear of a very full cabin, with people struggling to stowe their gear. This was a thoroughly unpleasant and totally unneccessry experience for them.
From the crew's point of view, by the time you're at the aircraft doors, our options are very limited indeed. Perhaps our only way of combatting this is to ensure any delay to the pushbask is apportioned to where it rightly belongs, ground handling and check in.

Oh JdS, you are so sharp with your responses. Take care that you do not cut yourself.

You knew as well as I did that "EY", in this context, meant e c o n o m y

No I did not, EY is not a term much used on here, in the context of travel classes.

Y is the usual expression for economy, derived from the YEARLY fare class, EY is the IATA code for Etihad.

Nubboy

I second your thoughts, having done my expat spell working in 'Knoteetingham' some years ago (not in the airline business, but I took quite a lot of flights and saw what happened - wasta rules.)

The FA's (and ground staff) on most middle eastern airlines can get into serious trouble for upsetting passengers, thus the reluctance to intervene.

I am sure that Choncord will be older and wiser, next time.

For those who talk about the difficulties of bussing, easyJet (in one airport) segregate those people who pay a priority boarding fee, by the simple expedient of a belt type divider on the bus, which then draws up to the aircraft and disgorges them first, through the front door, with the rest being discharged through the rear door, at the suitable time. It seems to work pretty well, from my observation and I often wonder why it is not used more widely, being simple and efficient.

As a frequent flyer, as you would assume the OP is as well as he has FF, then you are well aware if being bussed then it is a scrum to get on the plane. Therefore you also know if you want to get on early you dont stand in the middle of the bus you find yourself a place near the door (admittedly a lot easier as an indivual). As for the comment about not knowing what side the doors open, in my experience it is rarely anything but the right hand side as you face forward.
Much as we may all dislike it this is a fact of life around the world and I wish him luck in his personal complaint, I doubt it will change things.

Me thinks Choncord is p%$ed that he did not get an upgrade............. That seems to be the latent issue here. Privilege and all, he should have been upgraded once the rant started.

It also seems he has a lot of spare time to visit offices to complain.

I second an earlier post where he is the "dreaded" person who just cannot take responsibility for his actions. Seems to have a bit of a stiff upper lip

Remember the 2 rules buddy

1) Your wife is always correct.
2) If she is not then refer to rule # 1

;)

Sounds like you got a victory, not sure why your complaining. If i'd have been in the same situation, I've had probably done the same thing, screw the rest of the pax. Is it rude and selfish? Yes, Do you care? No.
End of story!