I’m talking about the initial boarding.
The initial boarding for my Lufthansa flight from IAH started around the time I got to the gate which was about 45 to 50 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.
Bottom line, they need to have separate boarding and security for this plane...otherwise I think it be unfair to these passengers. It’s definitely a special plane.
I'm sure ATL has similar security screening to IAH. There is a checkpoint prior to being able to get to any of the gates. It really doesn't matter which flight you're going on or which aircraft is being used. There is such a high volume of people needing to be screened that there is no need for a special line for an A380.
Yes the A380 is "special." It is a code F and requires extra separation between flights due to the amount of turbulence it can produce which can be dangerous to other planes. It has a wingspan of 79 meters which means it just barely can fit in an 80 meter by 80 meter box. This is why it can't fit at any of the other gates at ATL.
The gate Korean Airlines uses is at the end of a terminal pier and uses up the three narrow bodied gate spaces that each have their own jet bridges. Only one of the jet bridges is used to board the plane just on its lower level. A proper A380 gate will have dual jet bridges, one for the upper deck (normally business, first, and possibly premium economy) and another for the lower deck (normally economy). The reason Korean Airlines gets to use up all those gates is they use them during a lull in flight activity at ATL. The do need all the seating of three narrow bodied gates anyway even if they don't use all three of the jet bridges.
