First class boards first so that they can be seen sitting there with their cocktails in real glass and cloth napkins on their laps.
Plus, ‘those people’ don’t want to spend any more time than necessary milling about with the huddled masses.
Eventually coach passengers will be placed in containers and loaded into the cargo hold, so it won’t be a problem.
“As one who has flown both coach and first-class it has puzzled me why they don’t board first-class LAST.”
Mainly perception. It’s human nature to like being “first”
Also the first class seats on the plane are usually more comfortable than the terminal waiting area.
I wonder about that boarding procedure, too.
The overhead bin space would be taken up.
The airlines do not want to fight passengers to put stuff where it should be put - most have rules against their flight attendants doing that. If the coach class passengers are wandering through the first class cabin and the bins are empty, while the coach bins are mostly closed - then they will stow their luggage in first class.
First class has its own terminal. When your flight is ready to leave, a person comes and gets you (no intercom page), they grab your carry on for you and walk you to an elevator. From there the elevator takes you down to the ground, where a BMW, or Porsche, or Mercedes waits to take you to your plane.
Up you go in an elevator. Then your escort hands you and carry on off to the Flight Attendant.
Imagine the gasket the people in coach would blow sitting in their seats, seeing that.
Current r/t coach prices FRA-JFK are $693 to $1044
First class costs $6308
It’s a subset of the bigger question of why they don’t board planes for the rear.
I always thought the same thing.....last on first off sounds perfect to me.