Boarding (transport)

Under Boarding ( in German: Getting in, go on board) is understood in the passenger air transport, the phase between the call to the passengers to go to the gate, from which the for the booked flight standing by plane is reached, and the time where the aircraft doors are locked.

From this point on the board accountability goes by the ramp agent of airport company (again) over to the captain.

The time at which passengers must arrive at the gate at the latest, the so-called load Boarding time is usually entered on the handed out boarding pass. The particular aircraft is from the gate either directly via an airbridge or as Busboarding with a ramp bus or - accessible than walk boarding walking across the apron - on small airports.

Typical sequence of a boarding

The waiting room at the corresponding gate in the airport is filled, the last passengers pass through the waiting room to the upstream persons and hand baggage checks. About the radio receives confirmation at the gate switch waiting airport ground staff or the relevant airline of, inter alia, responsible for the boarding ramp agent of airport company, that one is now ready on the plane to take the passengers on board ( "ready for boarding" ). Over a loudspeaker announcement are airport staff announced that the gate for the flight is now open for boarding, - the load Boarding Time has begun.

For larger machines after this announcement the owners of certain boarding passes are first asked to enter. These are mostly passengers who have their seats in the rear cabin section of the aircraft, but also families with children are allowed to board first. For very large aircraft after rows of seats ( from back to front, for example, 70-45 ) called to speed up the boarding. Are then asked the passengers for the middle seats and finally passengers for the front rows of seats for boarding. The ground staff at the gate switch controls the balance between the boarding passes that are provided by the passengers and the passenger list shows the completeness of the passengers. In this context, the presentation of identity card or passport is some airlines both domestic, as well as international flights in addition, as a further identification of the entry to justified passenger demands (access control). Nowadays printed or electronic boarding passes are usually read using a scanner. The passengers therefore keep a complete boarding pass. Often this must when entering the aircraft - particularly when the entry from the airport ahead of a gangway is done - short of welcoming crew are shown.

If individual passengers did not show up at the gate within a certain time, the boarding for that flight is again called. After this call, not all passengers included in the passenger list published within a certain time at the boarding gate, so only the missing passengers are called by name ( Final Call ). In particular, in cases of doubt, members of the cabin crew quickly determine the exact number of passengers aboard. After the final call If there are no passengers to be expected at the gate, this is communicated to the gate with the words " final boarding call " between ramp agent, captain, purser, and ground personnel.

By looking at the cabin crew request of the captain's to lock the aircraft doors, boarding is considered officially completed. The gate will be closed until the next boarding, the aircraft doors are locked (Airborne begin final preparations for launch, the flight information displays " departure " in the airport show the flight starting from this moment as "started" on ).

The term pre-boarding means the entering of a few privileged passengers (eg large families, VIPs ) before the actual boarding.