Aplogies in advance for somewhat of a n00b question - I'm a UA guy but recently flew CO IAH-NRT-IAH (in economy unfortunately) and was confused by the boarding process...

In IAH, gate agents called BusinessFirst up to the Elite Access lane first, then called Elite Access/*Gold/*Silver folks up to the Elite Access lane, then presumably the remaining non-Elites. That order made sense - seemed consistent with UA's, and I got on with the 2nd group as I would have expected.

In NRT, though, things were chaos - which is the exact opposite of my UA experiences. The gate agents called BusinessFirst to the Elite Access lane and told all other economy passengers to line up in the other lane. With BusinessFirst partially loaded, suddenly Elite Access/*Gold/*Silver were told to board with BusinessFirst.... complete cattle call ensued

Is the correct order:
1) BusinessFirst through Elite lane
2) Elite Access/*Gold/*Silver through Elite lane
3) Remaining Economy through non-Elite lane

UA's NRT staff have always been super-efficient and organized - they line up First Class, Business Class, 1Ks, etc all in separate groups and feed them through the lanes pretty quickly and efficiently. I don't know if my experience was a one-time mishap, but since I'll be back in December, I would really like to know how things are *supposed* to work. That way I'll be in the right place regardless of the agents

TIA,
Richard

Yes, except for the *Silver part. Only CO silvers get EliteAccess, in my experience.

Did they specifically tell all Y passengers, including elites, to line up in the economy queue? Or did people just assume that?

Ahh ok, thanks. I'll have my family of *Silvers along but I expect we'll still be fine with me as *Gold then.

There was *no* mention of Elites specifically - but repeated statements "All other economy passengers line up on the left" with emphasis placed on the word "All" by the speaker. I saw a number of puzzled-looking Elites - we'd basically lined up next to the BusinessFirst folks and were being shooed over to the other side.

I'm hoping this was an isolated event, as the gate agent suddenly started talking about EliteAccess. Mostly I wanted to make sure the rule was BusinessFirst *before* any Elites in economy (vs *with* them as UA does on some flights).

Thanks!
Richard

Sounds like an isolated event. The normal procedure is EliteAccess after BF passengers have been called.

I was just on CO6 last month and things got a little crazy after the BF call. Plenty of non elites were trying to board during the elite call.... BUT I applaud the gate agents for sending the non elites back and stating this was elite boarding only.

Side note on my NRT trip: The walk to the ANA lounge is well worth it compared to the PACKED UA lounge. I do realize the UA lounge is right next to the CO departure gate... but if you have more than an hour to burn I suggest the ANA lounge. ^

The noodle bar alone is worth it alone! (and great views)

Seconded! Def worth the walk!

That was the problem - there was a pretty explicit statement that there would be NO Elite boarding call then there was a mishmash call that effectively said "Of course you Elites are boarding now also" which turned the who mess into chaos

Sounds like I just need to be pretty pro-active in lining up behind the BF folks and try not to be gate-lice

Thanks again,
Richard