The way the process usually works is that you go to the front where it's roped off, and the GA opens it and takes your BP. I've done it a few times on flights where I was in Y and arrived at the gate late, concerned about having to gate-check my bag.

Solutions?
 

The boarding nightmare on both UA and CO won't be solved in the current system. There are two problems and they are both fixable:

1. However the GA does it, the boarding process is confusing because there can be as many as 3-4 categories of pax boarded before Zone 1. If I were not a regular flyer on UACO (maybe I'm *G, on a European carrier, don't speak great English and don't travel to the USA often, I would quite reasonably presume that "Zone 1" means I board first. The problem here is solved quite easily by simply printing a Zone # on every BP and they can run from 1 to as high as needed. The GA can also specifically announce: 1) Please take out your BP; 2) if it does not say "1" please sit down. Nothing will eliminate crowding at the gate, but there are ways to minimize.

2. I don't mind boarding by multiple categories. It makes zero sense to me at an outstation loading a 1/2-ful CRJ-200 to go through the whole process.

3. The real culprit is OH space and carry-ons. Before this became a mess, carriers actually boarded F last under the theory that everybody else got settled and F pax spent the least time in the process. Unless you are an alcoholic and can't make it 5 extra minutes for your PDB, that would be great except that there won't be any OH space by the time you board.

4. If the carriers better enforced their own carry-on policies and FAA actually started to seriously penalize carriers, GA's and FA's who don't enforce the rules, the problem would lessen. While it's true that many aircraft can't handle the a roll-a-board per pax, not everybody brings a roll-a-board.

5. Bags which don't fit the sizer ought to be checked to baggage claim at the final destination and specially marked so that they go to the baggage office where the add/collect + a penalty would be assessed (thus not delaying the GA and also making up for the administrative costs). I would not provide these violators with any free baggage allowance. Also, the penalty for breaking simple rule. Needless to say, when the OH are full or the aircraft can't handle standard sized carryons, any gate-checked bags remain free.

These two things would radically reduce the scrum at the gate and lessen the pressure to board early.

Agreed, and not to regurgitate a previous (lengthy) debate, but FAs storing multiple oversized bags (especially in the OH of F) don't help matters.

First of all, I have no problem with military in uniform boarding first....it's not like there is a platoon waiting to board...and after everything they do for the rest of us,they deserve that type of respect. As far as the rest of the process, I feel that F and GS should be boarded first...and please allow us enough time to sift through the 50 to 100+ F,C and elites all bunched up in the premier booarding area.Too many gate agents will annonce "First and Global" and as I try to make it through the large Elite crowd,10 seconds later announce 1K's, Platinums,Premier exec,Premiers,and everyone with a vowel in their name. The intentions are good,but for many flights the boarding process is an unstructured mess.

There you have it - Ua1flyer confirms what many of us have been saying for months. The boarding process is broken. If United doesn't listen to the passenger who flies more than any of us, there is simply no hope. :mad:

i've seen it. quite a bit. i fly through ICN and NRT a couple times a year for about a decade now flying either to EWR or IAD on PMUA and PMCO. at ICN and NRT, the boarding process is exactly like that. on PMUA they call GS/1K/F first. they call C and 1P. 2P. then Y. on PMCO they always called F/PLT, C/Gold, Silver and then Y. at the gate on PMUA at ICN, the red carpet and the general boarding lines were actually on separate sides of the gate desk so unless you're dumb enough to miss the 10 foot gap between the two, you were politely asked to wait your turn. at NRT the EA carpet was in a different lane next to the GM lane and the staff actually diligently separated the two.

after living out of IAD and EWR, i'm actually pretty fed up with the fact that in america, for the most part my experience is that GA's here don't do a good enough job enforcing this. and demonstrated by the fact that in other countries (europe is less crappy than we americans are at this) the system works fine, it's reinforcing the simple fact in my head:

this is not rocket science.

seriously, the fact that we're even here posting about this and how we fail to get this right is flat out embarrassing. i look at the hub lounge quality, FA/GA service levels and general quality overseas, mind you not even necessarily on other carriers but even UA/CO in other countries, and then i look at places like EWR and to think that this is our gateway to the world, this is how we greet and say farewell to other countries (first and last impressions) embarrasses me.

they should fix this, and fix this now. a third grader could memorize the boarding order. it's frustrating that we won't, or are seemingly incapable of learning and enforcing this simple thing.

I had 2 flights last week. The first (nashville) was boarded: "military, 1k, pp" and then "star silver."
The second (Houston) boarded: "military, first, 1k/pp" all in one lump --- followed by "elite access."

I hear "StarTeam Elite Plus" on a rare occasion :)

A GS who bought a last minute ticket probably paid more than each of the F pax, and does so day in and day out. Making him cool his heels to allow low revenue pax to sit in where he should be sitting is simply adding insult to injury. The GS is the back bone of the airline.

Your argument seems to be that because the GS won't bear this insult very often, it is OK to insult him.

In any case, as one who frequently gets upgraded on pmua, I've never had an issue with GSes and 1ks with Y BPs boarding with me. They tend to efficiently get out of the way, or the plane is a 757 where boarding traffic flows into a T, F to the left, Y to the right.

Yes, I meant GA's.

On the 1st leg at LAX, the FA went back to Y and plucked a guy out for his upgrade to C. He proceeded to take his 22 inch suitcase over his head and with his other "stuff" walked up to C. I don't know more details about the how and why of this. I do know that this has not been common at all on UA flights.

On the 2nd leg at IAH, I had a seat in Y, went to the GA and asked about the upgrade list, and she said she could not tell if I would be upgraded (there was no monitor so I don't know what the list actually showed). She told me to board and she would get me from Y if the upgrade went through. She clearly did NOT start processing upgrades until after the boarding process started. I never got upgraded, so all I know is their upgrade/boarding philosophy on this one.

On the return at MIA I had a seat in Y and again asked the GA before getting on about upgrades. She said the same thing: get on and we'll see. I got on, sat in Y, and was plucked out of my seat for my upgrade. Hard to be too grumpy because I was upgraded, but I was not happy with having to do the same thing with my bags that the guy at LAX did. Also, when I got to C, there was no space in the overheads, no space in the coat closet, and only a cross-armed FA telling me to put my bag back in Y or check it.

OK, they were not required to take their bags but they (and I) surely felt obligated since they did not want to have to wait for de-planing to get their bag or to fight against traffic to get their bag way back in Y.

Look, this is not a life-threatening issue. Either this was just an untimely coincidence, or 3 of my 4 legs were truly representative of this "board first/upgrade later" mentality that CO has. I don't like it, it is not efficient, it stresses everyone out, and, since UA manages to avoid most instances like this, it should be correctable.

1. How do you know she hadn't cleared any upgrades?

2. Would you rather have been left in Y? No one forced you take the upgrade, which most likely, was due to a last minute misconnect.

Battlefield upgrades were very common on PMCO and so I guess everyone got used to the idea of going forward to claim your seat and check out the overhead situation and getting your bag later.

Two things:
1. How did PMUA avoid battlefield upgrades for misconnects? Do they tell potential upgraders not to board or do they upgrade them and then downgrade them if the F pax actually show up? Either case seems potentially worse since in the first situation you could end up having to gate check your bag and in the latter case you're moving your bag *back* to Y and thus potentially having to gate check your bag if there isn't room.
2. On CO flights, you can use to iPhone app or mobile website to give you insight into the upgrade list.

I used to feel bad about having to look at the other Y pax while heading back to pick up my bag, but I've actually found that they actually look happy for me. Maybe I've perfected the "lucky" look rather than the "privileged" look?

On CO1551 today FC wasn't even called, Military, GS, PP and 1K. Although on CO metal I use my Plat credentials but this time as a 1K I boarded in advance. CO/UA needs a automated boarding announcement like Delta does.

My all time favorite is at one Continental Express Station where they always call BuinessFirst Platinum first. This station has no mainline. It cracks me up every time. I haven't told the G/A anything cause every time they call "BusinessFirst Platinum" I go to board and I'm always the first on the plane. :)

She told me she was going to do all of the clearing after boarding.
I guess I didn't make it clear. I am not ungrateful. I am happy that I was upgraded. Sure, misconnects, etc happen all the time, but when they tell me that this is the way they do it. and I see it, and I experience it, I have to conclude that in fact, this is the way they do it.

I have been plucked out of Y on UA for an upgrade before, but it is just not that common. The GA and the FA and my neighboring passenger all suggested to me that CO does this all the time. If this is wrong, and in fact their upgrade handling at the gate is similar to UA's, then I will chalk all of this up to happenstance and misinformation.