edcho

Write to UA please! Let them know!

psfcfa

What a mess...
Just returned from Maui/HNL and no boarding went smoothly. GS members had to navigate all of us 1K/Platinums, wheelchairs couldn't get through, families with children (looked to be 10 or 12-year olds to me) marched in front of everyone...and one poor soldier in uniform just stood around wondering where to go.
How about this, after disabled and military in uniform -
GS / First Class
1K/Platinum/Gold
Group 1 - Silver/Premier Access
Group 2 - credit carders

IAH-OIL-TRASH

But I have seen on more than one occasion a person with a "limp" who needs the boarding assistance of 4-5 other people. Disability boarding ought to be limited to wheelchairs and/or walkers plus one able-bodied fellow traveller, not a half-dozen.

JDS747

This looks very familiar to me... where have I seen something like this before?? Hmmm??

jkburns1

This new boarding process has quite possibly created the most impressive gatherings of gate lice I've ever witnessed. I stand in amazement watching them gather round in anticipation of me trying to weave my way into group 1.

Is UA paying any attention at all to the monster they've created with this delightful change we all will come to like?

SFOFastAir

No, only your name and seat number.

jendrud70

Left out of C25 at ORD yesterday and they had the 2 Premier lanes separated from the general boarding lanes at a 90 degree angle. They only had 1 general boarding lane...however the Premiers were in their own area. Nice experience since the general boarding lice were about 40 feet away.

I know I'm the optimist but at least it looks like they're making an attempt at taking care of the premiers.

halls120

No one will ever accuse me of defending what the current management has done to what used to be the best boarding process around, but my experience on Saturday at IAD and at SFO today suggests that UA might actually be getting their act together. At two elite heavy airports, the gate lice population was tolerable, and more importantly, the GAs followed the script.

PV_Premier

Try one of the two lane gates with the new process and lets see if you still sing the same tune.

woodway

Yesterday, I was in group 5 (out of 5) on a completely full EVA 747 from PEK to TPE and the plane was boarded and buttoned up in 30 minutes. They had three lanes...a dedicated lane for group 1 and two general boarding lanes. They lined group 2 and 3 in the general lanes, and when group 2 had finished boarding they changed the sign to group 4 and got everyone lined up in that lane while group 3 was boarding in the adjacent lane. Same thing happened when group 3 finished, the sign was changed to group 5 and our group lined up while group 4 was boarding.

The process was organized and effortless, in contrast to what I see at most UA gates (outside of Asia).

IflyfromABE

That used to be the previous iteration where Golds were group 2, silvers group 3, CCs group 4 and general 5-7...

UA did not like that because there were "too many groups"

mathgeek1978

Exactly. Since there are so few non-premier CC holders, it doesn't make sense to create a group solely for them. However, the promotion requires them to have "priority boarding" hence they are lumped together with the silvers.

edcho

and Golds and Star Golds.

JC5280

And unfortunately this adds to the issue. Not you personally, but the fact that there are so many people there, one has to push through, which causes others to push forward.

I watched as one group 1 person tried to push through 3-4 layers of us group 1 people. It wasnt until the second layer he got through that he realized he was only pushing himself up to the front of his own group. Rude. Someone stopped him right in his tracks. Folks, if you are going to navigate through people before boarding, be damn certain you are at least a GS.

VA1379

I came back from a trip over this weekend. My experience was good for the most part, but it is probably due to a few things. The first flight this past Saturday was RDU-IAD on an ERJ-145. I was group 2, and the GA did a good job of making sure people boarded by correct group number. This was not a big plane, so the issue of not enough space did not really apply. The problem was landing a few minutes late and waiting 15 minutes for someone to bring the stairs to get off the RJ. Because of that, I was one of the last to board my IAD-LAX flight. I did not get to see the huge mess of boarding at IAD.

On the return flights, I was upgraded on LAX-SFO which was a 737-900. I had group 1, and the GA did the preboarding for GS and gave enough time for GS to board. The guy in front of me in group 1 had a long Eastern European name which caused a small delay when the computer system did not recognize his name. Other than that, it seemed like everything was fine.

I did not get upgraded on SFO-RDU, and I was in group 2 for this flight on a 737-800. This flight boarded from gate 77b, and the flight was not full (lots of empty middle seats in the front of economy - only 18 E+ seats on the plane). I had a whole exit row to myself. The GA for this flight gave even more time for preboarding GS. I had a good feeling that she would not let boarding a full 757-300 turn into a zoo.

I was glad to see that the GAs in LAX and SFO were giving each group enough time to board and checking group numbers. I think they are trying to make it work.