Priority Boarding Isn’t The Perk You Think It Is — It’s How Airlines Made Carry-Ons Your Problem

When you fly first class, you get to board first. When you have elite status you get to board first. Coach passengers hover around the gate. Boarding gets called and they rush the gate trying to board first before it’s even their turn. But why do people even want to be on the plane for longer than they have to be? People are strange! One thing I’ll never understand: Why is boarding an airplane first considered a perk? Don’t you want to minimize your time on the plane? — Matthew Kobach (@mkobach) August 5, 2026 Boarding last is better. Real premium passengers know this! When I fly long haul international first class, the best airlines escort you to the plane and onboard. They may ask whether you prefer to board first or last, but the default is last. Lufthansa drives you from their first class terminal in Frankfurt up to the aircraft, you get on when the plane is ready to go and they take off. If you’re transferring to a regional flight, it’s already boarded and everyone sees you coming up to the plane and onboard wondering who is this person that’s more important than they are? You don’t want to spend more time on the aircraft than needed. It’s more comfortable in a premium terminal or lounge. It’s more comfortable even at the gate. If you’re working, the wifi may not be functional yet on the ground, and the aircraft may block the signal if you’re trying to tether your laptop to your phone. Most importantly, there’s no reason to waste time getting to the airport earlier than necessary. Instead of shooting for enough time to clear security and traverse the airport to get to your gate before boarding starts you want to be there before boarding closes. The one legitimate reason why boarding first is a benefit is that you don’t risk overhead bin space being full and having your carry-on bags confiscated. That’s it. That’s the whole ballgame. Because of checked bag fees, passengers try to bring all their belongs onto the plane to save money. So there’s more stuff trying to get on than space. That’s true even as airlines have added bigger overhead bins to accommodate all the stuff. That isn’t to be passenger-friendly, it’s because more space means less time spent gate-checking bags at the last minute and delaying flights. Some airlines ‘reserve’ space for first class or extra legroom coach passengers, but those are usually just stickers on the bins and people ignore them. And gate agents start demanding passengers check their bags even when there’s still plenty of space, fearful that there won’t be soon, that they’ll wind up gate checking bags and delaying a flight and getting yelled at by their supervisor. A gate agent’s incentive is to avoid risk of delaying departure, not to accommodate customers. Passengers are forced to organize their time not around a departure schedule, but around not having their bags taken from them. “Premium” still means having to waste time in order to avoid this fate. That is not premium and those of you who see ‘priority boarding’ as a perk, rather than a defensive measure, have been brainwashed. You might come back at me with a desire to ‘settle in’ but you have plenty of time to settle in. It’s called the actual flight. True premium would be reserved bin space for extra legroom and first class sections that was actually enforced with enough bin space for passengers in those rows. A passenger who found the bin above their seat full could request assistance from cabin crew to identify whether bags in the space belonged to passengers not entitled to be there, who would then move those bags. I’m not saying I expect this would happen on a U.S. commercial airline, but that would be more premium – because it would respect passenger time, allow the passenger to spend more time in the lounge, more time working, and not fighting a war of all against all for bin space. In 2022, Delta tested free checked bags. In 2014 and 2015 they tested ‘Early Valet” where they’d take your carry-on bags at the gate and put them in the bins above assigned seats. That still required being in the gate area prior to the start of boarding. Real premium would reserve the space so you could come later. Topics on this page