Originally Posted by seatpicker
Flew from Gate 80 at SFO yesterday where there was a special line for GS, 1k, C and F passengers. Basically two lines, marked off by those tape ropes, with a sign on the left side saying who could go in that line. The GA told me this was a test of this procedure and that Gate 80 at SFO was the only gate running this test in the entire UA system.
On the flight we were asked to fill out a survey about our boarding experience. It was multiple choice and didn't have a lot to ask that was specific. More like what is your elite level, what class are you in, are you satisfied with the experience you had today.
Anyone been through Gate 80 since they started this? I thought I'd see this on here somewhere for sure but search turns up nothing.
I wrote on the bottom of the survey (there wasn't a comments field but I wrote anyway) that I thought they should allow 1Ps in the special line too. My reasoning is that it would speed up the overall process since 1Ps almost surely know how to board an aircraft quickly, and rather than a status thing, this could also be a speed thing because if you let all the frequent fliers board first, the slow people won't hold them up and UA can cut turnaround times. I suspect they aren't thinking of it this way though - they're probably just responding to their high-paying customers' complaints of gate lice.
Gee, you make a
lowly 2P feel just like... well, like a
lowly 2P !
I must stick up for my fellow
lowly 2P travelers and point out that, not only do we have some familiarity with boarding a plane, but we're also among the more-deferential folk around and go out of our way to not be in the way.
As a
lowly 2P, I don't feel too comfortable trying to make a case for more benefits, but since your post seems to regard as
gate lice anything not in the preferred line, well...
In all seriousness, UA has a tough line to walk here. You want to make the UGS & 1K folk feel special because, well, because they are. They pay the bills, plain & simple. But at the same time, do you want to take the other status levels and rub their noses in it? Where do you draw the line? At least the
lowly 2P has "earned" his-or-her status (with very limited exception, as in being gifted from a UGS). Categorizing the
lowly 2P as just a subset of
gate lice... well, that hurts a bit. I know it shouldn't; I'm sure in the grand scheme of things, the
lowly 2P is much close to
gate lice than to a 1K. Nevertheless, I have to stick up for my fellow
lowly 2P brethren now & then, and this is one of those times.