I was recently on a flight from SFO to DEN and UA used a boarding procedure i had never seen before. Despite the group numbers printed on the tickets the gate agent boarded the plane in the following order: First, Status, All window seats, all middle seats, all Aisle seats. When I made my way up to the gate agent I inquired as to whether this was indeed a new boarding procedure. To that she snapped back "yes and it is much faster" as if i was a total idiot for not understanding. I immediately looked up and down the jetway to find the line backed up all the way to the terminal. Didn't seem much faster to me.

Now I am not exactly clear how the group numbers work and believe it is fairly random, but I am pretty sure this procedure is fairly silly.

Has anyone had this experience with UAL or do you think it was this gate agent trying to do something different?

Welcome to FT. The unforunate boarding procedure have been discussed in two threads on the United Forum.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=441918
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=422120

I also saw that you posted the identical information in the United Forum. Cross-posting the same info in two or more different forums is looked down upon. Pick the Forum that you feel is most relevant to your topic and go from there. It makes it easier for information to gather under one thread. Happy posting!

Nice attitude towards a new poster - makes him feel about as welcome as a fart in a space suit - well done !!! - not

How dumb is that? I'm a frequent flyer, and I sometimes don't know if my seat is a window, middle or aisle. How are infrequent flyers supposed to know?

CApreppie, I thought both your posts to be well worded and polite, not antagonistic at all. When I was a new poster, I was unsure of the rules and welcomed direction such as yours.

I certainly hope that Wolfman's brotha didn't take offense.

I always thought that was the intent of the group numbers. The theory is that the airline has tested various ways of boarding each of its aircraft types, picked the fastest method for each type, and assigned group numbers based on the seat assignments. For example, maybe it's faster to go window-middle-aisle on a 757, but old-fashioned back-to-front on a 767. (I'm making that up.) With group numbers, you could use any number of boarding methods, apply the correct grouping algorithm, and the pax wouldn't have to think about it.

sorry to interrupt but that's the quote of the week


Welcome to FT Wolfman's Brotha . You are new and it's an understandable mistake. Hope you stick you around and share your flying experiences with us

thanks for posting. I'm closing this so we can continue it in the wonderful United forum.

--richard, moderator