SFOFastAir

I don't understand this statement since there are only 3 types of people in group 1: First, Business (if 3 cabin) and 1K. That's it. If there are 40 to 80 people in this group it means the the airline is doing a good job at attracting high value and/or very high mileage customers.

I agree that on on international 3 cabin flights group 1 is an overly large group and should be divided.

As a 1K you are in the 1st boarding group which has priority over the 6 other boarding groups and priority over 4 other Premiere Access groups (platinum & gold (BG2), silver (BG3) and Explorer Club CC) .

With very very few exceptions there're never more that a dozen (more often it's 0 to 6) in the 3 pre-boarding groups which board before group 1.

Please explain how disabled passenger pre-boarding negatively impacts you. In most cases these passengers are in E- so no impact on E+ overhead bin space. Some pre-boarding disabled passengers are in 1st class so yes they get to store there stuff before you but I willing to guess they'd be happy to trade places with you and not have a disability and board with their BG.

There are few (less than 6) E+ seats that are available prior to check-in time to passengers who are blind or have major mobility disabilities. I believe this a ACAA (Air Carrier Access Act) requirement. Yes pre-boarding disabled passengers get to sit in an airplane seat up to 5 min (generally less than 2 min) longer than you do but I don't see that as a positive experience.

You always have the option of requesting a wheelchair for boarding for yourself. Airline employees won't ask you why you need a wheelchair for boarding.

The real problem with passengers being coded as need wheelchair assistance and then not using it on arrival is the wasting of limited wheelchair assistance resources.

alex_b

That's not actually true is it? Plats are Group 2 so they don't have the same priority.

tkflyer

I'm wondering if their is any behavioral link between a gate lice and a toilet lice ie: people that feel it is their right to access something that they are not entitled to just because it's there?

kale73

I can vaguely understand being concerned with the boarding order, but once on the plane do you really care which "lane" the peasants behind you are using? Really?

sbm12

E4 has it.

craz

My pt is more akin to what happens with the FL flights where there are plenty of people who use wheelchairs as a means to skirt not only TSA but to get on early, then when you arrive at the destination all of a sudden they no longer need a wheelchair which usually means they will have to be 1 of the last to get off. Most of these folks dont need the WC, but many who do will now have to wait longer till they get 1 since the WCs and those taking care of them are tied up with those who only are looking for a shortcut

thusly by charging for it and Only refunding it when the person Also uses it upon arriving (meaning having to be 1 of the last off the plane)The # of folks asking for 1 will drop like a lead bar in water, since they wont wait to get off upon arriving but all too often simply walk off as if they never used a WC at the Outbound station and no way will they pay $100 just for the cutting the lines for the Departure

You are forgetting about where say the person in Group 1 gets to the Gate and sees their friends or cousins and bingo they tell them (Group 7) to board with them and they tell the GA they are all with me , sometimes its an extra 5-6 people

I see it happening very often @ the NY area airports. Just as a Companion Upgrade is for 1 person so too with boarding. For certain Intl destinations its really bad, or let everyone be on the same PNR.

End result a family with strollers and tons of carry-ons clog up not only the way to the lanes but end up pushing like crazy to get all their family members thru the people who have lined up already, and when they realize that 1 of the kids didnt go with them even more Fun

SFOFastAir

I see your experience is much different from what I see at SFO. It's not very often I see someone in BG 1-3 bring someone with them and when it does happen it's almost always just one person. I see this more often during general boarding (BG 5-7) as larger families and groups are often split between BG 6 and 7 as these are the 2 groups in E- (BG 5 is E+ w/o any status).

Plane-is-home

Lol never thought about it, but those really might be the same people.

fragment54

I think a contributing factor is the spacing of the groups. It seems 2s and 3s get in line expecting to be called before they reach the scanner. I'm sure that happens for later groups also.

Sykes

Agree that the new boarding method is slower, but the old boarding method wasn't any faster than other airlines ... in my experience, Delta was just as fast.

The new UA allows 45 minutes to board the 757 because they don't differentiate between the 182-seat 757-200 from sUA and the 216-seat 757-300 from sCO, which have significantly different boarding time requirements. It has nothing to do with a slower boarding procedure.

UA-NYC

If it wasn't slower, why did the Airbii boarding time go from T-30 to T-35?

SFOFastAir

The boarding time printed on BP is incorrect. A pmUA crewed Airbii board at T-30. If there has been a change GA's haven't been notified. I've been off the last 4 day so if it just changed I stand corrected.

geo979

The gate lice problem could helped by flashing up the current boarding group on the electronic sign at the gate.

bigmarley4

I frequently fly with my SO who is Gold and thus boarding before me. As an experiment for about 6 trips I lingered slightly behind her when boarding (so not obvious I was with her) to see if they would call me out for boarding in Group 2. Only one time did they even mention anything about boarding in the wrong group and they waved me through. I wish they would call people out and tell them to get in the back of the line behind all groups when that happens.

Zouf

I hope that everyone realizes that as long as there is a bottleneck downstream (i.e. a lineup in the aisle and/or jetbridge), there is nothing happening at the gate that will change the boarding time... Boarding time is set (as in any multi-step process) by the slowest link, and that is generally the aisle - no matter how much pushing/shoving/fighting is ongoing in the one/two/fifteen lanes at the gate.

It is also interesting to note that the cleanest boarding process (SouthWest) has the most messy in-airplane process (first come first serve, so aisles and windows fill front to back, then middle seats). It all looks clean because there is absolutely no hustling at the gate (unless you have trouble with your alphabet or with counting to 30), and it fills the bottleneck (the airplane aisle) really fast.