AC/UA Codeshare Boarding
 

Completed my first round trip this year YEG-YYZ-DCA-ORD-YYC-YEG, uneventful with flights "mostly" on time, all good. all tickets through AC.com, same aeroplan number, so technically all AC flights but 3 legs on UA metals.

As a *G (E50K), I was expecting to board with UA Group 2. YYZ-DCA=UA metal AC BP, I boarded when *G were called. DCA-ORD, my BP showed Group 3 which should be *S I think. ORD-YYC, my BP showed Group 4. This is especially puzzling as I was in ORD for a total of an hour or so with YYZ-DCA-ORD-YYC all on the same ticket.

Steadily got downgraded within a 3 day span. Any idea why.

Check on the United Fourm. Boarding changed on January 8th. A lot of upset especially for Star Golds. You should have been Group 2 which now includes Star Silver and credit card holders. Another devaluation for Golds!

United doesnt fly YYZ-DCA so I dont know what you flew.

Star Gold boarding on United is group 3.

Nope before Jan 8 it was 2, did like 6 flights in Dec on UA all 2, starting Jan 8-9 2013 new system,

Read about the mess here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...th-2013-a.html

ah sorry I meant 3rd to board... didnt realize they dont put a number on "pre-boarding"

Thank you for the info, just learned something new, my trip straddled the change date, still should be Group 2 under the new system. So for some reason, I had no status (Group 3 & 4) on the return legs.

And sorry for being a dufus... please change DCA to IAD; I had DCA in my head when I wrote the original post.

now the question is when will AC mimic this system

I am guessing soon, I would suggest that they print the group number like 5 cm tall to make sure everyone can see it. I personally don't mind it but whether *G vs. *S should be separate, that I am unsure, really depends on how many *S there is. AC doesn't even provide Prestige with priority boarding right now.

At IAD, it was a 767, the GAs use the terms "left-side carpeted line" and "right side non-carpeted line" and instruct the next group to line up using the emptied line. This actually worked amazingly good as it allows two groups to line up at the same time. Downside is if you got there late, there is no way for you to get to the front of the line even if you have status. This did not happen at ORD but the plane was much smaller.