British Airways is introducing a new layer to its group boarding process with the addition of a new ‘Group 0’, which will be reserved for the airline’s ultra-elite frequent flyers.
The new Group 0 will be introduced at BA’s Heathrow hub on March 26, bringing the total number of boarding groups to a staggering ten, which doesn’t even include a special pre-boarding category for parents and special assistance passengers.
The ‘exclusive’ Group 0 has been created for some of the highest spending and most influential customers of BA’s Executive Club frequent flyer programme, including invite-only Premier card holders, Gold Guest List and Gold Guest List for Life passengers.
These passengers will also be able to invite their guests to board with them in Group 0 regardless of status or the cabin they are travelling in.
Once Group 0 has been called, there are still three different groups just for different frequent flyers, with Group 1 being reserved for Executive Club Gold members, Group 2 for Silver members and Group 3 for Bronze members.
Early boarding is also extended to elite frequent flyers of fellow Oneworld alliance member airlines as a reciprocal benefit, so Group 1 can be accessed by OneWorld Emerald members, Group 2 by OneWorld Sapphire and Group 3 by OneWorld Ruby.
British Airways says it has introduced Group 0 to improve the ground experience “where it matters most” for its top-tier frequent flyers. The airline carried out a trial on select and, after receiving positive feedback, has decided to roll out the initiative across all departures.
Of course, one of the complaints of many frequent flyers is that BA’s airport customer service agents have a habit of calling multiple boarding groups at once, often calling all frequent flyers and premium customers at once so that there’s no differentiation as designed.
The airline also frequently lets hand luggage customers who would normally board last in Group 9 to jump to the front of the queue if they give up their hand luggage to be checked in the hold.
That does seem like a slightly odd initiative given that one of the most compelling reasons to want to board a plane first is to secure space in the overhead locker for your carry-on luggage.
