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.

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.....

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.

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.

Check your math 10k V 40k is 4 x 15% = 60%

10K is high I think. More like under 5K I'd bet.

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


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:

Not only that, but those are just averages, so that, on a given flight, on a given route, it is possible to have something more like 90% elites...or not :eek::D

So you're proposing to eliminate 2P, including you?

If you checked bags, why stand in line anyways?

Congratulations. You have joined the ranks of those entitled to elite boarding privileges. One attains this elevated status on the new UA by buying it, getting the right credit card, being the nominated spouse or significant other of a Million Mile flyer, or even by actually flying (Did I miss any?). Just pretend you're boarding at the Lake Wobegon Airport. :D

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.

And MileagePlus Explorer credit card holders.

(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.













;)

Still can an issue on a very elite heavy flight (like an EWR-SFO/LAX flight where everyone looks like an elite member). I'm pretty sure many of them are more than silvers.

I like this solution, but I think if you are PPlat and GS you should be allowed to guest another passenger onto the plane in lieu of a second carryon. As long as they fit in the overhead compartment.

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.

Thank you, I think if new United wants to keep its Premier Program being great, they need to cut ties with the United Mileage Credit Card. If so many people want to pay to be first on the plane and then it results in everyone being able to be first on the plane, that is a problem, then the cost to be first on needs to go up.

If CO decides they want to grant Elite privileges to more and more people they will have to break up boarding into more groups. It was already verging on ludicrous w/o adding kettles using their MileagePlus CCs. Silvers and MileagePlus card bearers should be in a group boarded just before the the last few that are left w/o privileges.

As a matter of fact - I think CO ought to go to status "zone" boarding. Zone 1 for 1st/GS, Zone 2 for Plat/Gold, Zone 3 for Silvers/MileagePlus/Brats, Zone 4 for everyone else. Zones could be printed on boarding passes along w/ Elite Access (if applicable). Boarding could be called by Zone, not status, reducing confusion by everyone and ensuring consistency system-wide.

Plus, a very loud buzzer needs to go off when someone tries to board out of turn and his/her ticket is scanned (just before being put into a penalty holding area for last-to-boards). Only one such experience would be enough to serve notice to the boarding area and that individual.

You my friend should be running this airline. :D

I love how the repeat solution being proposed is to eliminate anything below elite status x from early boarding, where x equals the author's status. Even funnier is the fact that the OP just got to UA's lowest tier and is complaining about this.

No ill will intended, but he is part of the problem he's complaining about. The solution requires that he be put in a trailing boarding group, but still ahead of the half-dozen or so that somehow have managed to avoid gaining Elite Access.

If they drop the Silver level, everything should be fine.^

The key issue is CO GAs don't know a thing about boarding. Really.

So when CO merged with UA, they are overwhelmed by the massive elite forces from the UA and fail to react accordingly.

And it is one of the reasons why SMI/J was forced to listen to us and switch back the old way.

Do you know what it means in UA? A Type A voucher :D

(FWIW, priority boarding is a PUBLISHED benefit.)

I will say more like 2.5K.

Silvers are NOT the problem. Lack of an orderly boarding process is the problem.

I didn't used to care either way about the boarding process (scrum vs. hierarchy), but after flying pmUA & pmCO the last 2 years, I've definitely come around to the pmUA-way of thinking. As a 2P/Silver, I have no issue with letting Plats/Golds go ahead of me, as long as I still get to board before the general boarding by row, and as long as I have an assigned seat. I fully agree that the CO eliteScrum is an impractical way to board an aircraft.

(All that said, do we really need ANOTHER thread on the boarding privileges/process?)

Bullpucky. The key issue is that pmCO didn't have a hierarchy for elite boarding, so once Uniformed Military & F were boarded, all other elites were free to board. (There were exceptions in some hubs where elites were boarded by status, but that's the exception rather than the rule.) When UCH changed the policy re: Premier Access (bringing the eliteScrum to pmUA flights), it didn't change anything about how pmCO flights were boarded.

And as far as the policy rollback - a quick scan of the other boarding process threads on this board will show that there's a big issue with consistency boarding pmUA flights post-rollback - no two stations appear to be using the same boarding order. Again, this would have no affect on pmCO, since they went from the scrum to the scrum, then back to the scrum.

The boarding order needs to be standardized across both subsidiaries and enforced by station managers. Maybe we'll see this after the 2012 MP program becomes active, since the number of elite levels will drop back to 4, but there's no reason why they can't go back to something similar to pmUA's process in the interim.

Slightly OT, but if you think CO's boarding process sucks, LH's makes it look organized. IAH-FRA on a 747-400, I was in F and the GA announces the boarding of First, Business Class, and *G at the same time without any breaks. Mass cattle call considering F & BF are well over 60 seats on a 747 not including *G that is in Y. Totally disorganized.

And if the buzzer doesn't dissuade them and they try it again , then hit 'em with a taser.....

Nothing like a little shock therapy to drive the message home...

;)

I am only 20 years old and a full time student and am just glad that I could attain the rank so young. I am all for eliminating a status that doesn't offer very much if that solution gives the best result. Secondly, I opted out of boarding early on the flight because there were some many people in line and I rarely travel with a carry-on. I would just like the ranks to have more value, make it worth working for, not being gotten from shortcuts.

^^

Sarcasm or not, it's true!

CO staffs 5 GAs at a gate.

To FRA from EWR:

Only *one* GA manning the *single* turnstile/scanner/whatever. 3 are at the desk, furiously typing away, not interacting with *any* pax, so what are they doing there, really?

The other remaining one is simply there for what appears to be emotional support for the single GA at the actual entry point near the aerobrige, and flits around...

To BOM from EWR: Mass chaos.

No pre-check of pax's visa documents when checking-in, then at the last minute when boarding they have to *stamp* everyone's BPs after inspecting for visas, and I freak out, volunteering to fly on LH's flight to FRA, as the flight is now being delayed by 1 hour at least.

The line to get your BP stamped was at least a kilometer long. (same situation as the FRA flight, but this time the 3 characters were reportedly checking the visas at the desk there.

When I went through for visa verification at the end, the GA didn't even properly check the dates on the visa! What's up with that??

Also, this defeats the purpose of elite boarding, unless they *also* have an elite visa checking line! :p

It might look disorganized, but it takes a fraction of the time that it takes to board a CO 777, in the cases I mentioned above. LH's 744 boarding at FRA and BOM have 2 aerobridges into the a/c. Cannot remember the LH EWR 744 aerobridge boarding situation, as I am now always taking the later night flights...which are airbuses out of Terminal B.

At least LH is professional enough to check visas at check-in, so that we don't have to queue at the gate to have it done like CO!

I've been on KA flights HKG-SHA where >50% of the people have priority boarding.

Not really - Once I was boarded last among elites - I was on EUA F and UA*G.

I agree with you, Silvers are not the problem...just the ones that have no idea what they're doing or are so excited with their new status that they just want to make sure they board before somebody...anybody...

Seriously, I make sure to get my wife to Silver every year, just for the few times she flies without me. Regardless of the hassle, she still likes boarding before at least half the plane (admittedly, being in SEA and not hub-captive helps). But more importantly, she loves all the other little things that go along with it: the elite security line here, elite check-in, 2 free bags...and getting them back before most, the mileage bonus, just to name a few.

So to the OP: if the question is, is it worth it?...the answer from here is there's no question about it.

Zones
 

The problem comes back to OH space. For all other purposes, the more you fly, the more you come to realize that you want to be the last person on the aircraft. When I fly on a day trip with just a small brief case, I board as late as possible.

If UACO and other carriers actually enforced their respective carry-on policies (just because a steamer trunk can be engineered into the OH doesn't make it "legal," 99% of the boarding nightmare would go away.

There is no reason why anything the size of a 757 or smaller can't board in 20 mins. and push on-time other than a lack of organization. Add the 10 mins. extra for each rotation and that adds up to a lot of downtime for a carrier across a day.

If the OH issue weren't a factor, I would board the bulkheads + exit rows and then whatever process works fastest. As it stands, it's a zero sum game with everybody losing.

Best way to deal with this for DEL or BOM flights is to be at the gate exactly one hour before departure when the counters open. They'll usually announce Visa/BP checks, but if they don't, go request it anyway.

If you're flying BF and there's a BF Concierge or supervisor, you can bypass the queue and get him/her to check your docs.

I think a being doused with a bucket of cold water might also do the trick.

Elite Access a joke at EWR screening
 

With apologies for bumping up an old thread....

As a UA 1K, I am taking a rare CO trip out of Newark. While approaching security screen area for C gates, the rent-a-staff manning the ropes was actively directing "elite access" to the non-elite side, saying quite emphatically "this way is MUCH quicker". He didn't lie. I stepped over to the non-elite side and was through much faster.

While I didn't catch all the details, the reaction and contempt displayed by the lady in front of me was something to see. I think she might have actually paid $ for the "elite access" in some form and was not amused by the lack of value received for her purchase.

I have been loudly bemoaning the degradation of experiential benefits for the upper level elites. Everything from check-in, security, boarding, etc. But I have to say, even I feel sorry for someone poor unknowing soul that was duped into paying money for what has been turned into a joke of a benefit.

Except for rare occasions, the kettle security has always been faster at EWR C Terminal.

This is because there is a dedicated station for elites, while non-elites have a much larger number of stations to go through.

I remember when I lost my elite status with CO, thinking about how much quicker the kettle line was.

Also, in those days, the maroon jackets insisted on having elites only in the elite line...