Considering how much I like flying on Delta, I send my share of shade in their direction. To their credit, they’ve been great about allowing passengers to use technology to manage the travel experience. While maybe not being the first to offer a real-time seat map on the app, push notifications about flight changes, or the ability for you to track your checked bags (including a notification on which baggage claim area to find your bag), Delta’s execution has been pretty darn good once they roll things out to passengers.
When a company operates efficiently, the times when they do something not so efficient stand out even more. Such was what we found when on a Delta flight from Orlando.
Delta was trying to solve the problem of people gathering around the boarding gate. You know, the people who stand in front of the gate, even if they purchased basic economy tickets and will be the last ones onboard the plane.
While Delta has eliminated zones and uses a “branded” boarding process to inform passengers of their boarding groups, they still have to deal with people trying to board when it’s not their turn. To solve the problem, Delta decided to use technology, and while the idea was admirable, the execution was terrible.
For this flight, we were greeted with this all too familiar scene when we reached our gate.
The gate agents were telling passengers they could see if their upgrades had cleared and check seat assignments on the monitors in the gate area.
I still love the late 80’s vibe of the airport signs in Orlando
The boarding groups would also be indicated on the monitors, going from Delta One and Diamond Medallion members to Main Cabin 1, 2 & 3.
When the boarding process started, no one seemed to move.
Why didn’t they see the boarding group on the monitor you may be asking? It’s because none of the monitors face the walkway, where most people stand to wait to board the flight.
Sure, this position is great if you’re sitting in a seat or standing in line to talk to a gate agent, but the monitors are useless for the rest of us. We also couldn’t hear the announcements clearly in the walkway so no one knew when to board.
I’ve noticed this problem with monitor placement could be a gate-specific issue. Some gates have forward-facing monitors.
While some still have monitors facing sideways.
I’ve also noticed that if two monitors are behind the desk, one of them will show the current boarding zone while the other shows the flight information.
I’m glad to see Delta has tweaked things here and there. If they want people to board based on the monitors in the gate area, the monitors need to face where people stand when waiting to board a flight.
Once they solve that problem, this is a great idea. You don’t have to speak the language to understand boarding zones matching your boarding pass. Delta’s other technology worked just fine because I received a notification on my phone when boarding started.
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13 comments
Disappointed with the overly dramatic clickbait title of this article. I thought I was in for a major screwup by the carrier given the use of “worst execution” labeling, I ended up learning only about poor positioning monitors in the context of boarding.
Long time reader here. My feedback is that you suggest refining your promise in your titling. Why not use a simpler, more direct title like “Delta needs to fix boarding monitors xxx”
Thanks for being a long-time reader.
I agree. Dramatic headline and article in my opinion. The monitors are positioned fine if people would remain sitting and watching the monitor. If you reposition the monitor as suggested by the author then people will have to stand up, line up, and crowd the gate. The monitors facing the seats incentivizes remaining seated.
I’m always torn when it comes to designers. Do you want to make something to force people to act the way you want or do you want to design something that considers what people do? In most cases, people aren’t sitting because the seats are already full or maybe they’re not from the US and unfamiliar with Delta’s boarding process. How hard would it be to install a small monitor facing out for the people standing where they can’t see a screen?
Is this a Delta problem or the airports problem? We were waiting to board a Delta flight from ORD to ATL and never heard our boarding group because of poor acoustics at the gate (But it didn’t help that the gate agent was wearing a mask and you couldn’t hear her anyway).
It’s probably partially both their fault. MCO’s gate design doesn’t make it easy to position monitors to face guests. But if Delta knows that but still insists on using their textbook procedure, that it’s their fault.
I’ve been upgraded several times and the app not actually change my boarding zone even though it changed my seat in the boarding pass. If they just made their app update the boarding zone on the boarding pass nobody would need the monitors. I just board where I know I need to based on knowing what cabin a seat is in.
My thoughts also went to the airline app and getting/keeping it updated, accurate, etc. By investing in the app, they are catering to flyers’ true only screen that really matters, their own individual smart device’s. not only do I see this as an efficient solution, but a perk which actually would increase in value as tangible perks like drinks, handouts, goodies, and such are becoming more and more obsolete.
I fly Delta and yes the crowd is tough. Diamond Medallion, First Class and Comfort + they need to squeeze thru the people to get to the gate. I’ve seen passengers seated in the back of the plane board with First Class and Comfort + after they scan the gate agent will try to call them out and say, “we are only boarding comfort+ if your app, ticket does not say comfort+ please wait till your boarding section is called”. During the pandemic Delta boarded from the back to the front, THIS WAS THE BEST EVER. Why, the flights left on time. Boarding should be by ROW NOT BY STATUS we are leaving on the same plane right? I rather reach my destination SAFELY and ON TIME than deal with all the hooplah of boarding out of order. Someone mentioned board by color, red, blue and white. If a passenger walks up to the gate with a color thats not on the monitor or what has been called DENY BOARDING!
People are the real issue at the gates. I fly delta often and I typically pay for main cabin or comfort. I board last everytime because I have a assigned seat it will be there no matter.
Not really Delta’s fault. I just flew out of MCO on Delta and the monitor placement could be better but it is an MCO issue. Not Delta…. Shocker.
Crowding of boarding lane entrance can be resolved with three steps.
First, designate boarding groups by color, rather than number, and randomize the order for each flight so passengers cannot predict their group is next to board, until called.
Second, locate the two boarding lanes to approach the gate from opposite sides of each gate, and randomly alternate the lanr from which each boarding group is directed to enter, so passengers cannot predict which lane entrance to crowd.
Third, enforce the boarding order by denying boarding to passengers until called.
My Delta flight from LAS to SLC was delayed 5 hours because, suprise -they didn’t have a pilot available for the 10:10am scheduled flight! While waiting for what turned out to be 5 hours, I listened as an agent grew more and more frustrated with boarding passengers as they swamped the small area available for passengers headed to – Detroit.
The posted photos are very accurate as to how the passengers acted.
The problem as I see it is that everyone wants to ensure that their carry-on gets stored somewhere close to where they are sitting.
Overhead bins should be assigned to the seat. 3 carry-on spaces per bin, 3 seats per row. Anything extra goes under the seat in front of you, no exceptions.