Departure Gates
At the Departure Gates, the flight will be called. In some airports boarding occurs by row number. Alternatively there may be a “Group” nominated on your boarding card and the flight attendants will call boarding by “group”. Some airlines call for people requiring assistance to board first, people with children and then remaining passengers. Listen to the announcements. Usually business class, first class and high status passengers are encouraged to board at anytime.
You will be asked for your boarding pass at the departure gate. In some countries and on some flights, passports may also be required to be shown.
On international flights headed to high risk areas, there may also be a second screening station at the gate. This may include further metal detection and perhaps even manual bag searching prior to boarding. Singapore Changi airport and some others do the airport screening at the gate (instead of after immigration).
When you check in for a flight, there will be signs and the attendants will usually tell you how long prior to a flight to be at the Departure Gate. This is your responsibility. If you are late, you risk the flight being closed, after which your luggage will be removed from the luggage hold, you will be removed from the flight manifest, you will not be able to travel and you will have delayed the flight as a result, for all other passengers. Pay attention!
