Chris92Heel

..wanted to get opinions on something I witnessed yesterday. I was on DL 841 from EWR to ATL. It was a fully packed flight so the line was lengthy to board. I was in Zone 9 so towards the end of those boarding. In line behind me was a delta flight attendant (she was wearing her flight attendant uniform) - I see her move towards the front of the line and think, 'she must be late'. No one said anything because, as I said, she was in uniform. However, when I got on board it was clear that she was not working and was just a passenger. What is worse, she made sure that her (large) luggage made it into an overhead compartment. Her bag was one of the last ones that was able to be accommodated. I saw at least one other passenger, who was originally in front of her in line, have to check a bag. I thought that was very unprofessional behavior on the flight attendant's part. Am I missing something? Do flight attendants traveling for work get some sort of priority?

SeaClay007

She might have had to get to ATL ASAP to make an assigned flight. It's possible her time in ATL was limited and she could not afford to check it.

I wouldn't lose much sleep over it. I suppose it would have been better service to put her bag in the closet and leave room for pax in the overhead, but the closets might have already been full.

MikeMpls

Yes, although most are more discrete & courteous than what you observed. In particular, deadheading crew members are a high priority because without them, planes elsewhere will not fly.

elmococker

Come on folks. Why are you taking the positive side of this encounter?

Maybe the FA was just looking out for #1. How many people can honestly say they have never ever done that before?

best

In practice: yes.

MikeMpls

It's possible, but I just focused on the ? at the end of his post. Do they have priority?

Sometimes, yes. Flight attendants are sometimes classed as + space non revs and can be a higher priority than most pax.

indufan

That is very possible but without knowing, let's assume otherwise.

Chris92Heel

she had a seat - I didn't see any reason for her to cut the line

justforfun

The OP says this was the line for boarding that she cut, not security. This means she was in rush to catch a plane. She was already at the gate. No excuse for cutting in line. She was probably worried about finding carryon space.

xooz

I'm presuming that all zones were called for boarding. Deadhead crew would have confirmed seats and would board in a zone.. not necessarily Zone 9. The OP was not clear on this point, but it sounded like all zones were called for boarding. If not, certainly less to complain about.

drjazz

If it bothers you so much, get your own uniform!

skchin

I see people working inside the airport cut front of TSA lines all the time. You might be 30 seconds behind, maybe the person in front of you might lose their job.

justforfun

That's completely unrelated to this thread.

FAs, pilots, airline employees ALWAYS cut in front of the line at SECURITY. That's normal practice and not the issue here. We're talking about cutting in line at the gate for non-working FAs. Totally different story.

DLBeno

It sometimes truly amazes me to see what the Flyertalk crowd focuses and concentrates on when you are flying.

It's actually quite scary and disturbing....

SeaClay007

That's why I counseled letting it go. Everyone made the flight and someone had to check a bag. Trauma.