DETROIT — The next time you board a Northwest Airlines flight, there might be a new line at the gate for frequent fliers.

Starting this week, frequent fliers and those paying top dollar for their seats can bypass the line of coach travelers to board the plane if they've missed their first boarding call.

The change comes after Northwest dropped row-by-row boarding in May for coach travelers and began allowing passengers to board randomly. The new boarding procedure has shaved an average of seven minutes from the time it takes to board a plane, said Mike Carney, Northwest's director of customer service, policies and procedures.

Starting this week, Northwest's most frequent customers, along with first- and business-class travelers, "will never wait in a long line to board the airplane," said Jim Cron, Northwest's vice president of passenger marketing and sales.

Northwest plans to roll out the expedited boarding for elites this week in Detroit, Bismarck and Fargo, N.D., Phoenix and Portland, Ore. The policy will spread to other cities later.

Technically, Northwest elite fliers can bypass the line anyway, Cron said.

But David Rabin, a frequent flier and Northwest customer, said: "Now Northwest gives you an option to circumvent the line without feeling bad about it."

David C. Sloan, who just wrapped up a two-week trip to Europe, said he doesn't mind letting frequent travelers like Rabin pass him in line as long as there aren't too many people.

But Sloan, 60, doesn't like the new open-boarding rules. He'd prefer row-by-row boarding to avoid a line of more than 100 travelers at the gate.