EsquireFlyer

On a recent flight out of LAX, the gate agent "bounced" me from the red carpet boarding lane.

When I got to the gate, there was a line in the regular boarding line (not veyr long, but still a line). So I went into the red carpet lane, since I was a 1K. The GA gave me an annoyed look, and said "go around!" telling me to go into the general boarding line. When he bounced me from the red carpet lane in this manner, all of the passengers in the regular boarding lane glared at me, as though I had been "caught" doing something wrong by trying to cut in line.

So I wrote to 1Kvoice asking them to advise the LAX station people to address the issue with more GA training, since I thought the purpose of the red carpet lane was to enable eligible users to board at convenience.

1Kvoice wrote back:

"We use our red carpet early boarding to recognize our elite members and allow them early boarding in a distinguished manner. Once general boarding starts we typically use the normal line as most elite travelers have already boarded. This also allows us to expedite the boarding process by using one line to board the remaining passengers and not having our agent move between both lanes. I have forwarded your suggestion to our airport operations team to determine if we are able to make any adjustments to this process."

Whaaaat? The red carpet is only for "early boarding in a distinguished manner"? Why bother having a separate lane then? Elites already had early boarding through the regular lane before the red carpet lane was added. Have I been hallucinating for years about the purpose of the red carpet lane? Or is this 1Kvoice rep on crack? I would have assumed it was just a made-up answer by an uniformed agent, but the language is so polished that it actually sounds like a reusable, canned response (i.e. official policy). So is 1Kvoice wrong, or was I wrong?

It sounds like both the GA and the 1Kvoice rep think, or have been instructed, that the red carpet is only for early boarding, and once general boarding begins, red carpet pax should be redirected to the regular boarding line.

What, if anything, should I do next? (Is it worth bothering to write again?) I know the chances of my running into this particular GA again are slim, since LAX isn't my home airport, but this is starting to sound like a systemic problem, given 1Kvoice's response.

Or has the red carpet policy changed lately? If the rule is actually regular-lane-only now, I guess I should stop trying to use the red carpet and getting embarrassed.

schley

In terms of what you should do next who cares quite honestly? This isn't anything you need to escalate, simply shrug your shoulders as to the ignorance of some GA's.

The Red Carpet is for preboarding certainly, however 1k/GS/FC or international business class can board at their leisure through this lane. They have it roped off until someone enters and presents the appropriate boarding pass where the GA stops their boarding from the normal line and asks them to wait while they assist the appropriate Red Carpet passenger.

I doubt if this has changed more likely an uniformed GA and 1kvoice is misunderstanding somehow.

EsquireFlyer

That's what I thought, but 1Kvoice said the exact opposite. Which is why I asked here for info about the correct procedure.

LIH Prem

I don't think I've ever been turned away from using the red carpet line at my leisure after other boarding has started.

Not sure what's up with 1kvoice lately.

-David

mherdeg

Obviously the person who e-mailed you is wrong (http://xkcd.com/386/ !!!). But what is the polite way to make them come to that conclusion themselves?

One idea: try asking them 1) when, specifically, the red carpet boarding policy changed from "1K members may use this lane whenever they choose to board" to the "one lane" policy; and, 2) when that change will be communicated to flyers and gate agents. The change must have been very recent indeed since so many agents seem not to know about it!

I honestly don't see a whole lot on united.com about the red carpet boarding rules or when they started. From an undated page that looks to be 3+ years old:
It seems totally credible that the 1KVoice agent was just confused. Maybe they read your question, had *no idea what was going on*, and asked a friend, who said "Oh, yeah, they usually do that Red Carpet boarding thing, but of course you know that gate agents are free to do whatever they want to get the flight out on time". Next, the agent understood most, but not all of that guidance, and wrote down that e-mail to you with a garbled version of what they'd been told.

jasp25

That must be very embarrassing.. that gate agent would have also made you get to the blue lane if you had a UA First boarding pass after the red carpet was closed! That's not right.. maybe she didn't realize you're a 1K/GS?

Customer service agents are usually trained to "back-up" the actions of their colleagues. So if I were you, I'd respond to 1Kvoice with a polite letter and a quoted remark from their website (include the link to the page) that 1K's/GS can board thru the red carpet at their pleasure.

It must have been a very embarrassing experience, you could have boarded last and expressed your embarrassment to the gate agent so she doesn't do it again.

SunLover

I totally understand your feelings of embarrassment. I have found that UA gate agents are normally pretty good about controlling the overall gate area and boarding process; much better than their CO conterparts in fact. Something I really appreciate being a UA zone 1 boarder. So it sounds to me like a one-off core competiency issue with the GA and 1Kvoice, but that does not make up for your lousy experience.

I had a similiar experience on Thai when I was in F, and arrived at the gate when economy was boarding. I walked up to F boarding lane and was directed to the end of the long coach line without the gate agent even bothering to look at my ticket... Quite embarrassed I proceeded to the of the econ line. When a line agent checking tickets back there saw I was in F he motioned me to go to the front of the line. I told him No they say No so he then grabbed my arm and tried to direct me. Somewhat pissed at that point I told him firmly No I wait now; so he stayed with me the whole way, and chewed out the GA when we reached the podium.


SunLover

EsquireFlyer

I did board last, because the GA sent me to the back of the economy line. But I didn't think to say anything further to the GA. Good idea, next time I will.

Wow! Good for you, and that worked out nicely with the chewing out. ^ Too bad I didn't have another CS person there to correct the GA.

FriendlySkies

Did you tell the GA that you were in F/1K? I've found that if I have the boarding pass facing them, they let me through, even though the red carpet is roped off..

Pegasus23

If your 1k/GS or F, standing on the red carpet, & directed to the end of the economy line.... why move if you are going to be last anyway? Enjoy the red carpet! [s]

exerda

I've used the red carpet several times recently to board when I arrived at the gate during general boarding (including a couple of times at LAX). The GA has always stopped general boarding, opened the rope, and let me board--that's indeed what they're supposed to do.

The 1K Voice was wrong. Personally, I wouldn't escalate the matter further despite knowing I was right--just my perspective and which battles I choose to fight. Another note to 1K Voice or to CS will likely be routed to the same agent, who will insist s/he's right, that "the policy changed several months ago" or some similar bull. You'd have to go over their heads, and I'm not sure that this is something worth taking to that level. YMMV, of course...

gomike

send a new letter to 1kvoice and test it to see what response you get next time.

cblaisd

When I have had something I've really wanted to escalate (and I'm not sure that this would be it) I've faxed either UA Elite Customer Service or UA MP Elite Customer Service, depending on the issue.

techgirl

Wow... AA never does this with their priority lane. They will usually throw up their hand to signal the economy lane to stop proceeding forward and take any latecomers who come to the red priority lane. I abuse this privilege frequently as I am usually standing in line at Starbucks when they first start boarding the flight!

EsquireFlyer

I had my BP out, but I don't know if he looked closely. And I didn't announce that I was F/1K after he "bounced" me, because I felt awkward/embarrassed. Maybe I should have stood my ground. However, I thought that if I said I'm a 1K in F, and he still said "go to the end of the line," I would get even more dirty looks from the other pax because then I would really look like an out-of-line DYKWIA failure. Since the GA had all of the power in the immediate situation (and might be on a power trip), I didn't press the matter further with him...but if there's anything I can do to prevent him and/or other GAs from doing the same thing to other red carpet pax in the future, I would like to do that.

I figured that the GA was just wrong, and so I wrote to 1Kvoice to make a note, but when 1Kvoice wrote back saying the GA was right is when I got really baffled & didn't know what to do next.

So, if I think this is worth my time to try and help fix, do you guys think that this is a good way to try?
1. Write a reply back to 1Kvoice quoting the website language mherdeg provided above (thanks!)
2. If I get a further reply insisting that the GA was right, print both replies and fax to UA Elite Customer service with a note similar to my original post in this thread.

To avoid even more nasty looks from the economy pax walking by in the "proper" lane. :-/