Boarding cards
 

Just a quickie!!

When we are checking boarding cards, we are looking at the date and the flight number.

WE HAVE NO INTEREST IN THE SEAT NUMBER!

So...no need to tell us what it is!!!! But thanks for trying to be helpful anyway!!!:D :D :D :D :D

Why not?

On twin aisle aircraft it's good to direct the pax down the correct aisle. Speeds boarding. You can also tell J class to take a left, and again down the correct aisle. You might even be able to greet the J class pax by name. Wow, Customer Service.

Guess you must work for one of those 'cheap' airlines! :D

Everytime I ve flown I ve always been told where my seat was...

I think it is because so many pax can't count it seems.

If my row is in the 'teens I can't get there because of the hordes of slack-jaws trying to find their rows at the back. :mad:

(Thinks calming thoughts)

I'm on your side Shadowpurser!
How B*oo*dy annoying is it when you're trying to check boarding passes and there are the few smarty pants' that hide their boarding passes from you, and say "five FOXTROT" like they own the aeroplane and THEN get shirty with you when you tell them that we HAVE to see their boarding pass?! :mad: It is THE LAW that we have to check EVERY boarding pass for EVERY person on that aircraft. Yes even if it has been checked 10 times already we need to see it that one last time as you get on board....... :rolleyes:

So is it the law that boarding cards have to be checked as you actually board the aircraft or is it really a company policy or is it a policy of particularly officious cabin crew?

If it is the law, I could name a long list of airlines who are breaking it by checking boarding cards on entry to the lounge and never again after that.

The CAA has stipulated that boarding cards must be checked when boarding the aircraft. This is a perfectly sensible suggestion and if carried out properly would prevent the embarassing situation where an aircraft has to turn back because it is carrying scores of the wrong passengers. Happened very recently to a competitor and I heard the DETR are having a very close look!:eek:

Interesting - I'd reckon my boarding pass is possibly re-checked about one in 3 times - and always after I've made a mental note of the seat number and put it away in order to manage mybags/jacket etc.

I always thought (in common with a lot of other SLF I guess) that you wanted to know so that you could (helpfully) tell me my seat was the window one 5 rows down. We (helpfully) tell the CC our seat number, to indicate that we know already!

BA seem to check every time. bmi are very hit and miss. A couple of weeks ago on LHR-EDI (bmi) we even managed to end up with two pax who were supposed to be going to MAN!!:eek: :eek: :eek:

I think the CAA should introduce a licensing system for passengers. If you cannot pass a simple test such as finding the correct gate and knowing the Row 20 is after Row 19 and before Row 21 then you should not be allowed anywhere near an airport!:p :p :p

I agree with SLF and have already noted the details, henceforth I shall try to keep it available when boarding.

However, if it has been checked on leaving the lounge - and the ticket and stub separated - then checking whilst boarding seems over the top. The more so if the lounge has one of the electronic machines to read and separate the ticket's magnetic stripe.

There's no seat number on Ryanair anyway.

At a minimum usually mine gets checked twice

once to get thru security - sometimes you can jump this one if you have the correct itinerary paperwork stuff

and once just before heading down the jetway or onto the tarmac for the walk out to the plane. This is normally where the pass and the stub part company. You can't jump this one normally.

Some airlines check again on entering the plane.

It's not a great system but it does work most of the time since any alternative costs so much it would be unworkable.

This checking of boarding cards is something cabin crew at BA have been told to do, as Shadow Purser says.

One crew member was suspended because a CAA inspector boarded and they hadn't checked their boarding card so for some posts to suggest that they could give a long list of airlines that don't do it is interesting. Also surely even airlines that don't have seat allocation give you a boarding card prior to boarding which has the flight number and date on it?
If not why is BA being told to do it if no one else is doing it?

Or is it just a rule that is open to interpretation.

Quick Quiz:

What do you think are the main reasons we like to check your
boarding passes, is it....
a) we enjoy abuse
b) we have the collective I.Q. of a small broad bean...we don't know why we need to check them either
or is it
c) to make sure that the guy with the tablecloth on his head and fuse wire trailing behind his hush puppies has accessed the aircaft through the approved channels....

tricky...... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Maybe there is a question of interpretation here. I have flown out of LHR at least 20 times this year and obviously back again from a wide range of places. On all occasions I've had my boarding card checked at either the point of entry to the lounge or on exiting the lounge to the jetty, depending on where the machine for processing them is. On none of the occasions have I been asked by cabin crew if they could see it as I boarded the plane. Flights so far this year have been with eight different airlines and in the next month I'll add another two.

The reason why I asked whether it was company policy was because it's obvious that a lot of the crew posts are from BA staff and I never fly BA.

My experience of LHR: BA check 95% of the time on boarding a/c, bmi hardly ever, like most other carriers they check only at the top of the airbridge.

Seems like overkill to me as the chances to slip up the stairs on the airbridge unnoticed are limited, and without a boarding card, there would be a little trouble locating a seat on board.

If you manage to get airside, surely it's better to slip something in the cargo hold or on the undercarriage, rather than draw attention to yourself by boarding the a/c without a boarding card? Then again, if you did manage to have a forged boarding card with a correct seat number...... you'd come on via the main door!!

(typo)

It is both company policy and CAA regulation that we check boarding cards. From what has been posted here it doesn't seem to be a policy that has been universally taken up, which is a concern in itself.

However unlikely it is a possibility that someone could gain unauthorised access to the aircraft by way of the engineering steps.

A decompression is unlikely. September 11th was 'unlikely'. I don't consider it 'overkill' to try and close one of the many, many loopholes in airport security.

Yes it is BA policy. Yes it is important. I do not know if it is a government requirement.

If you remember that a catering driver with FULL airside access was arrested at Gatwick late last year and ( I think) charged with being an Al-Queda sympathiser, perhaps you can see why we feel it important to know EXACTLY WHO gets onto our aircraft.

I always keep my boarding pass handy just in case you get two pax assigned the same sat on a full flight.

"Uhh, 20A? That's my seat."

(produce my boarding pass)

"Well, I'm 20A, too."

HELLLP!

I hate when that happens. :(

Hardly a security measure. If an 'extra' non-BP holder gets on, the headcount will be wrong. Or don't you do those either ?
If the interloper is a terrorist, then checking the BP at entry won't help. He/she is already on the plane.

It is useful only to ensure the pax is on the right flight. Of most use when boarding is done from a ramp full of airplanes.

Wouldn't surprise me if it is a government reg. in places. Just the sort of feel-good, easily implemented but largely ineffective procedure they seem to concentrate on.

No head count. 'Interloper' cannot be 'on the plane' as the a/c is checked before boarding. Boarding staff issue b/cards. Only pax with b/cards board a/c. Works pretty well.