Delta has been installing a red “please wait here” sign on the ground before the jetbridge podium at their gates across major airports. Gate agents sometimes insist that only one party at a time cross the line to approach to have their boarding pass scanned.
Enforcement varies a lot, in some cases flyers find gate agents to be “militant” about it while others complain that it actually slows boarding and clogs the concourse. A customer experience consultant flying Delta found the signage confusing and awkward.
On a flight this week out of Atlanta, I noticed something new from Delta Air Lines, a bright red “Please Wait Here” line on the floor as you approach the gate. I assume the idea was to manage crowding and create a smoother boarding experience.
But here’s what actually happened: nobody stopped. Not one person. People just walked right over it. I stood there for a second trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. Do I wait here? For how long? Until they call my group? And with no direction from the gate agents, it just felt… awkward.
In the end, the line didn’t change anything about how people behaved. It made me wonder whether this was really about passengers ignoring the rule or more about the design itself. If the goal is to keep people from crowding the gate, a painted line on the floor probably isn’t enough.
Good customer experience isn’t just about telling people what to do — it’s about making it easy and natural for them to actually do it.
So what’s behind these signs? A Delta Air Lines spokesperson offered only,
Delta continuously looks at ways to improve the customer experience and these slight changes to the structure of boarding make for a more orderly and smooth process.
However I think we can surmise what might be going on here.
- Stowaways. Delta has had multiple highly publicized cases in the last year where passengers got on board flights without being properly checked at the gate.
There was New York – Paris where a woman bypassed the gate by “glomming onto a group of ticketed passengers as they pass two Delta Air Lines staffers” checking tickets and walked onto the bridge without a boarding pass. There was the Seattle – Honolulu stowaway that went through TSA then “gained access to the loading bridge without a scanned ticket at the gate” and boarded. And the man at Dulles who followed a family around the terminal and boarded their Delta flight even though his boarding pass was for a different flight.
- Smoother biometric boarding. At gates where faces are scanned, when someone stands too close behind the person at the podium, the camera can get confused. A “wait here” line that keeps the next person out of the camera’s field of view can help with higher match rates and fewer “false reads” on biometrics.
- Supports single agent boarding. Reduced gate staffing means one person is handling customer service, scanning boarding passes, policing carry-on bags (and gate checking them) and they’re still supposed to be vigilant for intoxicated passengers unfit to fly.
A big red line that tells everyone “stay back until I call you” might reduce the pressure on that one agent, giving them a clearer field of vision for what’s happening and leaving them less overwhelmed as Delta cuts down on staffing expense.
Some gate agents ignore the line. Others treat it as a bright‑line rule and shout at anyone who drifts forward. The wild variation feels arbitrary to passengers, and those who enforce it militantly appear on a power trip since the agent doesn’t have to enforce it, as many do not.
And it can actually slow down operations. If one‑at‑a‑time enforcement means the GA spends time on the PA explaining the red line and policing it, you lose part of whatever efficiency gain you get from smoother scanning. There are reports of the line actually slowing boarding because the GA was “spen[ding] as much time on the mic talking about the red line as scanning.”
Especially for Delta’s road warrior passengers, the visual of a big red “do not cross” line plus gives off a distinct DMV vibe. Repeated scolding over the PA feels infantilizing. It’s certainly not consistent with the ‘premium’ brand that Delta works to promote.
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