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Elite Access is useless
This evening I was flying on a quick flight from Houston to New Orleans and over half the plane was elite access, talk about inefficient boarding and lack of a privilege, I only just reached Premier status, but I think United needs to look over the qualifications for these privileges because they are servering less and less of a purpose.
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Once Kettles Boarded First
A few years, I was flying CO EWR-LAX. There were so many elites that the gate agent decided it would be more efficient to board the non-elites first (of which I was one).
That was quite a sight, boarding, while all the elites stood around, huffing and puffing... Mind you, CO never had a boarding protocol akin to UA's system, they just boarded all elites together and then kettles by row... |
It boggles my mind, really. If the reports are true only some 15% of United flyers are elite but it certainly feels like a lot higher %!
SFO-based so that definitely does skew the numbers, but still..... |
Originally Posted by Sprezzatura
(Post 17636172)
It boggles my mind, really. If the reports are true only some 15% of United flyers are elite but it certainly feels like a lot higher %!
Reminds me of clearing security for a connection at NRT, where there were 4 lines and 3 of them were Premier-only. It seemed excessively cruel to non-elites, until you consider that around 50% of United's connecting passengers through NRT are elite, so if only 2/4 of the lines were Premier, they wouldn't move any faster. |
Originally Posted by QBK
(Post 17636215)
Elites fly more, though (by definition). So, if the average elite flies 40K miles in a year, and the average GM flies 10K, then about 40% of the passengers on an average flight are going to be elite.
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10K is high I think. More like under 5K I'd bet.
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Originally Posted by UncleDude
(Post 17636243)
Check your math 10k V 40k is 4 x 15% = 60%
Originally Posted by bentruler
(Post 17636340)
10K is high I think. More like under 5K I'd bet.
However, checking one's math is always a good idea. When I check my math (using the original made-up numbers of 10K per GM and 40K per elite), I find that if we have N flyers, and 15% of them are elite, then 85% of them are non-elite. So we have a total of (0.15 x 40K x N = 6000N) passenger-miles flown by elites, and (0.85 x 10K x N = 8500N) passenger-miles flown by non-elites. So the total number of passenger-miles flown is 14500N, of which a fraction 6000N / 14500N = 41.3793% are flown by elites. Which is sort of a long way of saying that, tragically, it's not that easy, because you have to renormalize the distribution. :cool: |
Originally Posted by QBK
(Post 17637480)
Well, as has also been pointed out,
...my numbers have been pulled from thin air. I mean, heck, 91% of statistics are made up on the spot. However, checking one's math is always a good idea. When I check my math (using the original made-up numbers of 10K per GM and 40K per elite), I find that if we have N flyers, and 15% of them are elite, then 85% of them are non-elite. So we have a total of (0.15 x 40K x N = 6000N) passenger-miles flown by elites, and (0.85 x 10K x N = 8500N) passenger-miles flown by non-elites. So the total number of passenger-miles flown is 14500N, of which a fraction 6000N / 14500N = 41.3793% are flown by elites. Which is sort of a long way of saying that, tragically, it's not that easy, because you have to renormalize the distribution. :cool: |
Originally Posted by Youngmiler
(Post 17634972)
This evening I was flying on a quick flight from Houston to New Orleans and over half the plane was elite access, talk about inefficient boarding and lack of a privilege, I only just reached Premier status, but I think United needs to look over the qualifications for these privileges because they are serving less and less of a purpose.
If you checked bags, why stand in line anyways? |
Originally Posted by Youngmiler
(Post 17634972)
...I only just reached Premier status...
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Might p.o. the OP, but...
Silvers are the problem. On the elite-heavy flights, Silvers need to be boarded after the other elites. That'll reduce the rush by half in most cases.
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Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH
(Post 17638311)
Silvers are the problem. On the elite-heavy flights, Silvers need to be boarded after the other elites. That'll reduce the rush by half in most cases.
(I'm fine with boarding people who pay for Premier Access ahead of everyone else.) |
My take is that if you are not GS you shouldn't be allowed on the plane at all.
;) |
Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH
(Post 17638311)
Silvers are the problem. On the elite-heavy flights, Silvers need to be boarded after the other elites. That'll reduce the rush by half in most cases.
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Originally Posted by petesamprs
(Post 17638676)
My take is that if you are not GS you shouldn't be allowed on the plane at all.
This will ensure that high elites can obtain E+ aisle seats even if booking at the last minute, even up to 2 hours after the flight has departed. However, I worry that if this is implemented, 1K members will complain that they cannot find room for their carryon items because the overhead compartments are full of 2Ps carried on board by GSs, so maybe it needs some further thought. |
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