Silver Fox

+1

swm61230

I find it very interesting that not one person has commented about my post earlier and the fact that UNITED could and did board planes faster and with less groups and keeping top elites happier then they are now.

matsonjb

I'm interested in the fact that United hasn't responded to this...got to love it. Hey lets put some kindle out there and see if we can get a fire started...and let it rage and not do anything about it.

LIH Prem

arrived at SFO gate 81 to board UA52 on Sunday (SFO-OGG, 753) at the official boarding time, and half the plane must have already boarded. Nobody using the premier lane, I used it. Long jetway backed up to the doors in the terminal.

I guess the GAs started the boarding process very early.

Doors closed, and the ground crew backs us up with the tail facing the wrong direction ...

-David

goodeats21

I really miss hearing that....

UA-NYC

Exactly. But that was a PMUA method so they had to change from it. Credit cards to sell, all elites to equalize, etc.

Silver Fox

So, is this more like the CO boarding method then ? I never flew with CO.

exerda

I've made that point, too. It amazes me that "improvements" to the boarding process have resulted in needing the full PMCO boarding times, which were significantly longer than the PMUA ones.



I encountered that on an IAD-LAX flight last week. I arrived at the gate at the official boarding time, and they'd already boarded group 1 and were into group 2 (and group 1 was pretty large given the size of the UG list and my woefully-low position on it!). And they still didn't finish boarding until the posted departure time despite using the latest "new & improved" process with extra lanes and all, and despite starting at least 5 minutes early.


I don't think it's much like PMCO's process, either. It's just that UA management is so stubborn in admitting that PMUA could have done anything right that they keep tweaking the process and often making it worse. I also don't think they truly understood the volume of high-level elites on many legacy UA routes.

Remember, COdbaUA has now attempted:

• Back-to-front boarding (miserable failure; PMUA's modified WILMA worked much better--and this particular one meant the E+ cabin had no bin space by the time many E+ pax had boarded)
• Funneling all elites down the blue carpet (vs. PMUA's GS/1K/F), leading to gate scrums, excess licing, and frustration by top-tier elites)
• Adding zones (we had up to 8 at one point)
• Removing zones (down to 7, now down to 5)
• Allowing pax with kids to pre-board, then not allowing them to do so

The PMUA process went like this:

1. GS pre-board; also people needing extra time
2. 1K and F, over the red carpet
3. 1P and *G (who had queued up by then at the regular line), through the general line
4. 2P and *S through the general line
5. Modified WILMA for remaining pax, through the general line

With the carpet remaining open for 1K & GS the entire process. (At least they do usually keep the blue carpet open for elites the entire time, though on many flights that is almost a moot point once they're into the Gold, Silver, and Chase pax who fill the line--hence UA's current experiment with multiple lanes).

rwmiller56

What an absolutely pathetic response from UA! I don't believe that the vast majority of flyers are giving the new boarding system a thumbs up. I was going to write a letter, but now I'm wondering if it's even worth it.

Maybe the Golds will be even MORE annoyed?

abaheti

Assuming things went back to pmUA, which most of us all feel boarded faster/more efficiently, where would you put the credit card holders and purchasers of access, with 2P/*S? I'm guessing there was a lot of pressure from the credit card holders to be treated as special as the ads promised (I witnessed several DYKWIA card holders arguing/yelling/fighting with agents and even calling the card 800 number from the gate).

--Arun

FriendlySkies

"I would now like to board my One-Hundred-Thousand-Mile Fliers through the Red Carpet..."

Personally, I would send the CC holders and Premier line people to the end of the 2P/*S group, or just not offer priority boarding for CC holders (but we all know that won't happen...)

exerda

It's not like UA hasn't abrogated "promises" on benefits they made to elites, either; I don't know why the "priority boarding" offered CC holders is some kind of sacrosanct benefit.

I'd put them at the end of the *S group, personally, though they could also just combine them with *S (sorry, Silvers!).

goodeats21

I am sure it has been mentioned upstream (probably multiple times) but this whole thing is yet another example of the new United trying to monetize a benefit to the point of killing it altogether.

Or, the more pithy...

When everyone is elite, no one is elite.

The outcome: Ticking off credit card holders since they are not "special" enough and ticking off HVF for killing a much-appreciated benefit for their loyalty.

Lose / Lose....

And a loss of $723 million dollars in 2012

sfogate

Has any Premium/Elite customer failed to secure space in the overhead bin since the merger if you boarded at boarding time?

Ignoring the "I want to be recognized for my status" isn't the biggest complaint about all of the boarding methods, that have been tried since the merger, about the possible lack of overhead space?

Critic

Because your statement is about 50% bunk. The pmUA process, as exerda helpfully outlined upthread, had broken premium/elite customers into no fewer than 4 boarding groups AHEAD of group 1. Granted, pmUA didn't assign group numbers to the premium/elite boarding calls, but they were, without a doubt, boarding groups.

Truth be told, pmUA's process was closer to the pre-1/8 process, except for the fact that CC holders were not boarded with elites and 1P/2Ps boarded through the general lane instead of the red carpet lane.

The balance of your statement, about the planes boarding quicker and elites being generally happier, is correct. But the notion that there were fewer boarding groups is just nonsense.