Originally Posted by
halls120
I really wish UA would drop the families with small children pre-board group. As it is now, UA has at least five preboarding groups before the passengers with paid first class(domestic) or Polaris tickets. Quite the signal UA sends about how little it values front cabin customers.
Or, it's a rational way to try to make the boarding process less frustrating by letting the slowest passengers get on board first while people aren't standing behind them impatiently in the jetway.
Originally Posted by
halls120
If I pay a first class fare, I should be able to store my bags in the front cabin. Simple concept.
Are families with two-year olds regularly stowing their carry-ons (carrys-on?) in F and then sitting in Y? I don't think I've ever seen that.
As for your "simple concept," well, the 12F A319 would like a word with you, as would the 12F E175. Neither of them have enough room in the F bins for each F passenger to bring one no matter how early they get onto the plane -- and that's before even taking into account the fact that bulkhead passengers have to put their personal items up also.
Incidentally, the point of my $40 example is that a "first class fare" is often much, much cheaper than other passengers' economy fares on the same flight. And that's even without talking about whether a once-a-year F flyer is more valuable to UA than a 1K who only buys Y. The phrase "paid first" is basically a DYKWIA marker at this point.