flyerbjorn

Huge +1 for this change. Thanks UA.

Two parts to this:
For people traveling with small children, this is great. Traveling with little kids is a major hassle and all you want is to settle down. Not getting enough space is a nightmare, as you don't have food, toys, diapers, etc. at hand.

As a 1K, flying only domestic F and international BF, I couldn't care less when my kids aren't with me. Families typically fly Y, so they will quickly walk to to their section and be out of my way. By not delaying others, the plane will be less delayed.

Baze

But if UA doesn't build in some sort of a delay between these families and the rest of the boarding they WILL delay others and possibly the plane. This has been discussed extensively in this thread.

flyerbjorn

I see your point, but I don't buy it. I live in Australia, where at least one of the local airlines preboards young children and it doesn't seem to cause any issues. They tend to preboard families just before the plane is ready. By the time the family is down the jetbridge, the crew is more or less ready to receive them.

Like exbayern points out in post #461, the real problem is that "UA lacks enforcement in general on various things, including oversize carryon." In Australia, there is always a small scale at boarding. Too heavy or too big? Then your bag is gate checked.

Looking at earlier posts, it's easy to point at bad examples which should have been handled by the GAs. When my wife and I travel with our two kids (1.5 and 3.5), we're pretty organized: check as much stuff as we can, have all documents in order, fold the (carry on size compliant) stroller in no time and get the kids organized on the plane as quickly as possible. It's really not that hard, but you need to be prepared.

Yes, things are the way the are. I abuse the rules myself by bringing too big and too heavy carry ons. It's convenient to be able to bring lots of stuff. Before re-gaining 1K status with UA, I flew BG4 a few times and was forced to gate check my carry on every time. It was really annoying.

Baze

But is there a gap between these pre-boards and the rest of the horde? Or is the rest of the horde hot on the heels of the pre-board? The problem I see here in the states is they do the pre-board and immediately start the rest of the boarding and things just clog up behind the pre-boards moving very slowly down the jetway for whatever reason, elderly, disabled, wheelchair. People try to get around them because they are so slow. I see this repeatedly. Maybe Australia knows how to actually do pre-boards. But I rarely see it done properly here in the states. So you don't have to buy it but you are describing another country. I see you are 1K but how much domestic USA flying do you do? I am on planes domestically just about weekly so see quite a bit. For it to work there has to be a pause between pre-boards and everyone else. So buy it or not, I state things as I see them. And my experience is before the families with small children is starting and I only see it getting worse when it goes into effect unless they build the gap in.

weero

The additional wait for elites aside, what I really dislike about the change is that it boosts the sense of entitlement of that (small) fraction of parents who already have a Zeppelin sized sense of entitlement.

This will trigger further demands on behalf of the owners of baby Jesi (or is that Jesus or Jesuses?) to get pre-departure drinks, the milk heated up, modifications to meals, no recline for anyone else, no longer feeling guilty for kicking seats etc etc etc etc.
So then you soon can skip buying a seat for a 2 years, 11 months old child?
The joke would have been more insider-ish if you used 3:14 vs. 3:14:15.926 ...

flyerbjorn

I'm guessing there is a small gap, although I'm not sure.

About half of my UA flights are domestic, and only in F. Maybe I'm off here, but I thought that BG1 was mostly F passengers and 1Ks that are in the front of the plane (E+), whereas families tend to be in the back of the plane (E-).

Hence why I don't see a reason for families to clog the access: They should be going to a different part of the plane.

This logic around the two years is plain wrong. The UA wording is "Children UNDER the age of two"

Specifically:
"Once infants turn two years old, they are required to have a purchased ticket and occupy a seat. Infants who reach their second birthday after their outbound flight must have a purchased ticket and occupy a seat for their return flight(s)."

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...s/default.aspx

Baze

BG1 is Premium cabins and 1K's and Platinums in the back. It can be quite large at hubs. People have given plenty of examples of families clogging things up in this thread so I won't regurgitate them again.

That is true for tickets but the pre-boarding for families has different wording, read post 1 again, it specifically says 2 and under, NOT under 2.

JBord

I like the lanes too. It's not perfect, but it's a lot more organized than before. BG3-5 don't stand in the 1-2 lanes, which was a big issue before.

And I agree on AA. I tried them a few times in the last year as a non-status passenger and nothing about the experience was better than UA, operationally. They seem to be floundering where UA was for a couple years post merger, except with a reservations system that actually works.

halls120

I fly AA just as much as I fly UA, and while Parker is making some of the mistakes Smisek did - cheap food in F - the AA boarding process remains superior to UA's from the elite POV. Maybe it is chaos for general boarding, but as a Plat there I simply don't see it. The only thing I do see is the same problem UA has - people bringing too much crap with them on the plane, and on a full flight that means last minute gate checks.

Before UA left DCA pier B, you could watch AA and UA boarding the same size planes. Before 2012, there was no perceptible difference between the two. After UA changed, you would see UA struggle to board a 738 while AA boarded the same size plane with relative ease.

Boarding families who truly needed this assistance early wouldn't be a problem if UA's overall boarding process wasn't flawed. When part of your marketing is to sell "priority access" to as many customers as possible and you have a large frequent-flier based to begin with, it is a recipe for disaster. I have seen many flights at hub location where boarding group one is bigger than boarding group 2. How does that saying go? "When everyone is elite no one is elite."

I will repeat what I said several times upthread - if United would adopt an aggressive policy to limit carry-on luggage, people would eventually realize that they didn't have to rush to get on the airplane. If people were assured space on board, you wouldn't need 5 boarding lanes at every gate, and a change like this wouldn't be such a big deal.

I do give United credit for instituting it now. If they had tried to do this at the beginning of the summer travel season it would've been a debacle.

Live4Upgrade

It still bothers me that UA didn't improve the boarding process for GS and 1K before they going with screwing around with allowing families to board first.

Seems common sense to take care of improvements for your best customers first. Then, worry about the incremental margin from those that travel few times a year (families traveling w/ young children).

I don't understand why UA rushed the decision on families before they are ready to announce all of the boarding changes as a lump. The only possible reason is to get positive PR in the news (at the expense of taking a bashing on FT).

JBord

I agree in theory, but what would you have them change? I see two problems:

1. Things got much worse when they started charging for checked bags.
2. GA's generally enforce the rules , but FA's don't. I might have a different perspective in BG2 than all the 1k's here. When I boarded a flight last week at ORD, every bin I could see had at least one coat in it. No exaggeration. Then I waited behind the passenger in row 10 to put both his bags in the overhead, and stand in the aisle while he slowly and carefully folded his sport coat...and put it in the bin.

There are a lot of posts saying this, but what's the 1K problem that needs fixing? Is it that you don't feel special enough boarding with those filthy Platinums? Or that sometimes a FA dares to ask you to please put one of those 3 things under your seat?

Obviously I'm being facetious, but as I (who for 2 years as a Gold has neared or exceeded the 1k PQD level) stand behind the credit card holders in line 2, I'm not seeing any actual problems. I see problems for the GS who have to maneuver around BG1 though.

To be honest, for the 12 months and 1 week since I moved from group 1 to 2, I don't really have many complaints about the process. It could be better, but I get on the plane and get my ONE, REGULATION-SIZED bag in a bin. What else is there?

Live4Upgrade

Putting family pre-boarding topic aside, there are three root problems:

1. No defined way for GS to Board without cutting in front of the line or stepping over those in Group 1.
2. Group 1 is too big. Premium cabin + 1K + Plat is often ⅓ or more of the passengers.
Plat should be moved to a separate group.
3. Group 2 is a joke. Make priority boarding only available for Club card (not Explorer) to thin the ranks. Eliminate priority boarding benefit for Silver.

halls120

IME, GA's almost never enforce the rule - not in the manner that BA does - and the problem is more than just coats in the overhead - it's people bringing more than 2 carry on items on board.

It did get worse when they started charging for checked bags, and the higher load factors add to the problem. On AA, when a flight is full, the GA's are aggressive about offering free gate bag checking for people in the last boarding groups, something UA ought to consider doing.

NH_Clark

Following your logic, then Plat should be ahead of card and gold 👍

JVPhoto

Or when boarding an RJ I'll sit there and watch an FA tell someone that "the bins are small that probably won't fit" and the person continues down the aisle with their steamer trunk only to have to swim up stream again to gate check it.
You spend hours upon hours a day on this plane, you'll know what won't fit, you're the expert. Put your damn foot down.