I was in ORD, concourse B, on 12-14-12 and noticed new signs at one of the gates for boarding. The Premier line was divided into "GS" on the right, and other Premier on the left. I saw signs (in the mode of Southwest) with lanes and signs for Group 6, 7,8. Is this going to be a new method of boarding?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyBurr
I was in ORD, concourse B, on 12-14-12 and noticed new signs at one of the gates for boarding. The Premier line was divided into "GS" on the right, and other Premier on the left. I saw signs (in the mode of Southwest) with lanes and signs for Group 6, 7,8. Is this going to be a new method of boarding?
I saw the same thing this week flying through ORD... it seemed to be concentrated on long-haul flights to Asia - or at least the few gates I saw like that were all going to Asia.
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C18 had this at ORD last week as well. I believe it's only used for long haul 747 and 777 flights. Of course, the 747's are moving to SFO and ORD will be 777 for long haul (and 787 at some point). Maybe the 767 internationals are loaded here as well.
ORD can use those gates for 757 and 767 domestic flights as well but I don't think they use the zone boarding signs for those smaller aircraft.
-RM
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I have seen this in HKG before (747), but nowhere else. I would love it if this was done more broadly. It is impossible to make it to the front of the line when there are 50+ premiers already there. It is just not convenient to my fellow travelers to ask them to step aside as I try to get to the front (especially with my roll-aboard), so I always just wait.
*In fairness, I recall that the competition is only between F/J/1K's-- everyone else boards through the second jetway which has a PremierAccess line. But F/J/1k can still be 75 people on a transpac.
The distinction is particularly absurd at gate C18 where the GFL lounge's back door opens into the GS boarding line. Global First passenger coming from the lounge? No line for you. Global First passenger coming from the concourse? Wait behind everyone else. But United endeavors to deliver a consistent boarding experience, of course.
The distinction is particularly absurd at gate C18 where the GFL lounge's back door opens into the GS boarding line. Global First passenger coming from the lounge? No line for you. Global First passenger coming from the concourse? Wait behind everyone else. But United endeavors to deliver a consistent boarding experience, of course.
The agents in the IFL are more than happy to escort me to the front of the boarding line for the C18 gate through the back door. Perhaps it's just loveable me?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ari
...The distinction is particularly absurd at gate C18 where the GFL lounge's back door opens into the GS boarding line. Global First passenger coming from the lounge? No line for you. Global First passenger coming from the concourse? Wait behind everyone else. But United endeavors to deliver a consistent boarding experience, of course.
The agents in the IFL are more than happy to escort me to the front of the boarding line for the C18 gate through the back door. Perhaps it's just loveable me?
I'm sure there are a lot of things they do just for loveable you. But now even that isn't necessary because there is a dedicated line for GS-- the door opens into it-- and those are both good things. My problem is that the dedicated GS lines at other gates/stations cannot be accessed by non-GS GF passengers. I'm searching my brain for carriers that offer 3-cabin F and have F board with J.
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At the Chicago DO event the airport folks mentioned they were going to experiment with new boarding procedures. This looks like one of those experiments.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blueman2
I have seen this in HKG before (747), but nowhere else. I would love it if this was done more broadly. It is impossible to make it to the front of the line when there are 50+ premiers already there. It is just not convenient to my fellow travelers to ask them to step aside as I try to get to the front (especially with my roll-aboard), so I always just wait.
PVG has done this for a number of years as well. It works quite well. NRT has a variant too. The key is having agents roam the line before boarding starts to ensure compliance.
C18 had this at ORD last week as well. I believe it's only used for long haul 747 and 777 flights. Of course, the 747's are moving to SFO and ORD will be 777 for long haul (and 787 at some point). Maybe the 767 internationals are loaded here as well.
ORD can use those gates for 757 and 767 domestic flights as well but I don't think they use the zone boarding signs for those smaller aircraft.
-RM
Is ORD really going to be all 777 (and eventually 787) on long haul? I'm going to miss the 747s to HKG and NRT!! I really like that upper deck.
