I find the boarding part to be the worst part of flying, and it is remarkably uneven in quality, even within a single airport and airline.
The rush to board is all about luggage stowage, and in the era of Rouge-style compession of space it has gotten worse. I have no anxiety about claiming my seat, but I have lots of anxiety about having to stow my bag way back in the plane, where I can’t reach it until the plane has emptied. The gate staff sometimes are efficient and organized, but sometimes are understaffed or run into complications - numerous wheelchairs and strollers being examples, plus the ‘booking from hell’ that ties up one staffer on the computer terminal while others are queued behind - that overwhelm their system.
What’s clear is that VIA has no plan for how it is supposed to work, does not train its staff to follow that plan, and does not equip either people or physical plant to make it work. Which is puzzling considering that their on board service gets better every time I ride. The actions of the gate staff and top of stairs staff are clearly ad-hoc.
I agree that a better PA is desperately needed, but also the gate staff will have to be trained to use it (airline gate staff do a pretty good job here, although sometimes they fall back on shouting also). VIA seems to have taken the architecht’s plans at face value without thinking through how the space can be used most effectively and then implementing a system to match the design.
I suspect we UT’ers are a non-representative group of travellers, in that we know too much and are anticipating too many things. We may be too picky. The average traveller is happy to line up if it’s clear which line is for which train, and they are happy to be sheep-herded up the stairs provided they can hear the instructions and figure out which way to go. And don’t have to show their boarding pass all over again every twenty meters.. VIA needs monitors bottom and top of the stairs, and along the platforms, that point to car numbers. This technology is quite common in other places.
- Paul