nycityny

The choice is to sit in a chair in the waiting area prior to sitting on a long flight OR stand in line and better assure overhead bin space above your seat. What's lost by standing in line? If nothing else you get to stretch your legs prior to having to sit for a long time. I don't see the big deal. Stretching one's legs and assuring better storage space - what's wrong with that?

swixo

Just don't talk to crazy people. The GS board first thing is of nominal value and yet I love it. Stand outside Z1 and when they call GS just walk up.

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lesliegolf

This! I am not going to get in line an hour before the flight, but, if I see the line start I am surely getting in it. Gives me a chance to stretch my legs and make sure my bag is near me when I get on the plane.

meducate

I am a New Yorker; I derive energy from talking to crazy people!

I have adopted the "wait on the side until called" or "say hello to gate agent early on" strategies and have avoided confrontation since that episode!

DelrayChris

The UA boarding process is horrible and I comment about it on every flight survey I receive.

What would help is not allowing 1k's and Platinums sitting in Y to board with Group 1.

When I have carry-on luggage I have to line up in the Group 1 line about 15 minutes before boarding to ensure I have OH bin space. This is especially true on AC with 5 or more rows of F.

mgcsinc

Are you saying that you've boarded at the end of Group 1 and not found space?

DelrayChris

I have not, because I line up. I have, however, witnessed others boarding last in Group 1 who have not found OH space in F and have had to walk into the Y cabin to stow luggage. This is more common on AC with 5+ rows of F (i.e., 20+ F passengers).

On AA, for example, the FA's protect F OH bin space and F boards first. If there is an empty F seat and open F OH bin space, the AA FA's do not allow Y PAX to use it until all F passengers have boarded.

DaviddesJ

This hardly ever happens to me (and I fly in such planes a lot and virtually always board at the end of Group 1). And, if it does, how is walking one row farther back into the plane worse than standing in line for 15 minutes? Just not a big deal.

GregMM

I'm in BOS this morning, and ALL the boarding lanes are gone. It's still a week until they move to the new terminal. Looks like someone's being a bit too efficient here.

pdx1M

Interestingly the best UA boarding experience I have had in the "modern era" was at PDX when UA had to borrow a gate and had no boarding line setup. Now I suppose us Portlanders may be more polite folks than some but not that much based on the normal scrum. However, without the psychological prompt of "lines" in which to "line up" no one did! And folks actually just sat there until they started calling groups. Now of course being a native NYer I would guess the BOS boarding without lanes will be like the Bruins/Rangers going after a puck in the corner!

More seriously, I actually think part of UA's problem is simply that they have made things too complex and created the wrong psychological prompts. Not to rehash but the old UA process had 2 lines which really meant only one - i.e., a line for a small subset of the passengers who were GS/F/1K so there was a lot less subliminal prompting to get on line early. It was just a bypass lane for this small set of folks who arrived late to get by whomever was boarding really.

mgcsinc

I wish they would do some A/B testing so that they could discover that the line setup is worse in every way and undo this consultant-created mess.

DaviddesJ

I hate the lanes, too, although an inchoate mob of passengers trying to edge closer to the front for when their group is called, which is the non-lane experience in most places, is not much better. The real problem is that with baggage policies and boarding priorities there is a strong incentive for certain passengers to get on earlier rather than later if they can. People hate having to gate-check their bags. I think this is a problem, to some extent, with every domestic airline.

Critic

As a UA FF, I was pleasantly stunned to fly VX last year and discover no boarding lanes at the gate at all. Instead, everyone stayed seated until their group was called, the GAs were attentive to the group numbers and asked people to wait until their group was called, and there were no lice whatsoever.

If I didn't know better, I'd think the people who create UA's boarding policies have never actually FLOWN the airline.

FlyinHawaiian

This thread went on an off-topic vector. I've removed the offending posts and would encourage members to focus on the topic of this thread, UA's current boarding process. Members wishing to discuss other topics not directly related to this thread's topic are encouraged to find other threads or start new ones in the appropriate forums.

Thank you,

FlyinHawaiian, Co-Moderator
United MileagePlus Forum

Boraxo

Boarding F last makes the most logical sense from efficiency standpoint (don't have F clogging up single-aisle planes with others behind) from a convenience standpoint (less time wasted sitting on plane while others board and no time wasted on jetway). Unfortunately it doesn't work for most of us who need carry-on space because you can't count on FAs to enforce and F bins are not always sufficient to hold F luggage if everyone has multiple carry-ons. So any F with a 22" bag is forced to board early.

As for gate lice I do find it highly amusing when some 1Ks line up before the inbound plane lands, often 20-30m or more in line. At hubs these lines stretch 20-40 people or longer.

Homey don't play that game, I wait until F is called and then join the Group 1 line. I do get annoyed with those who pretend not to notice the line and the others who try to sneak into Group 1. To my delight, he latter are inevitably shot down by the GA.