Originally Posted by
Often1
UA does not sell reserved OH space. Period. There is always a way to assure yourself of early boarding and that is by purchasing F or E+ (if you are not otherwise entitled).
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E+ doesn’t get earlier boarding at all. Many in E+ are elites, so get group 1/2 because of that. If you’re not elite or have a CC that includes it (or have any other actual reason to board early, like active military or traveling with a child 2 or under), you are supposed to board in whatever group is on your BP. your boarding group is based on your seat location (window, middle then aisle in that order).
Originally Posted by
Allan38103
When in doubt, ask the GA.
If the GA says "yes" (for whatever reason), then you're good to go.
Apparently the pax asked and was told "OK". End of story.
Well maybe it shouldn’t be so easy. Ga’s should be enforcing boarding order, and company should be encouraging this (they sort of do - the system either does by default or can be set to deny BPs who board earlier than their group - I know when traveling with a lap child, for example, the system has called me out for boarding ‘before my group’ - though the GA overrides it (for a different thread, but I never understood why a PNR that includes a lap infant can’t automatically include some sort of ‘pre-board’ notation).
This should be enforced If for no other reason than to protect the priority access revenue stream. This is offered to pretty much all pax (maybe with some limits based on projected numbers, etc.) at booking, and if these folks need to be on board first - to put a bag up in an overhead bin or whatever, then that’s the path they should need to go down to get it. I can tell you that if I ever bought PA, and the I saw the GA just giving it out to someone simply because they asked for it, I would be demanding a refund from UA - no question.