[brc]

I fly often enough that I have frequent flyer status and get access to early boarding.

I find this valuable because of the following reasons:

a) It allows me to enter an empty plane and find my seat and stow my carry-on (correct size) right with my seat. I can do this without squeezing past people.

b) It allows me to get settled into my seat and get set up (music, computer, book, whatever) and so I can be settled into the routine of the flight. This is much more pleasant than milling around in the terminal, where you can't settle into whatever it is you're going to do on the flight (read, sleep, work, etc)

Essentially I don't agree that waiting in the terminal is better than waiting in the plane. I'd much rather reduce my waiting times and move directly from lounge to plane, than have an intermediate step of waiting at the gate.

[mdorazio]

100% agree as a fellow frequent flyer. Additionally

1) I find that general boarding involves several minutes of just standing in the jetbridge waiting to get on the plane, which is completely lost time. This is often true on popular routes right up until they close the door.

2) If you board late and you're not in an aisle seat you're going to have to deal with the awkward "ask people to let you in and wait for them to shuffle into the aisle" situation.

3) Seating at gates is a pretty big problem at most airports, which simply weren't built to handle the number of passengers they now have. As often as not you're going to be standing at the gate doing email on your phone because there aren't any comfortable seats available.