TakeTheATrain

The number of people per group is out of control. Flying NRT-BKK, it was probably half of the 777 boarding within the first two groups. I flew ANA last week and what a contrast! They actually board by class and status before Economy. And they actually allow Star Gold to board early (no priority for Star Silver).

I absolutely agree they should revert back to the pmUA system. It was easy to just call out the status groups, then do 1,2,3,4 for the regular Economy. I am really sick of having to line up with 30 other people when they call Group 2.

Plane-is-home

Tonight's UA 664 had a actually no gate lice at all.
But the one and only disabled pre-boarder had the emergency exit beep. The GA asked the typical questions and let him pass. But this guy really had all rights to preboard, he was fragile and very very slow. But she still let him sit in the emergency exit row. When I boarded next as GS I asked her about it and voiced my concern. She ignored it.

edcho

Did the FAs reseat him?

exerda

I didn't think it was legal for a disabled pax to sit in the exit row; seems like this would violate federal regulations.

Plane-is-home

The GA didn't. Not sure about FA as I was in FC. But GA never came on board until paperwork time.

Chris1000

UA could cut down on the number of people who board ahead of their group assignment by doing the following:

1. Give EVERY group a number. (Change pre-boards to GROUP 1, etc.)
2. Stop with the detailed explanations of who is in what group. Just invite the group number to board.
3. Have a display that shows which group is boarding.

The reason I think this would help is that I believe a lot of people who try to board before their group are just making an honest mistake.

If you are not from the US and not a frequent UA flier, for example, what does "Global Services" mean to you? You might mistake this to mean people on an itinerary with an international connection.

I think a lot of the people who board ahead of their group are non-frequent flyers who:

• Did not hear/understand the announcements
• Do not speak English (US gates)
• people who just got to the gate and didn't hear the announcements

exerda

I think the visual display of boarding group would really help, but disagree that numbering all the groups will be better. The unnumbered groups approach just doesn't make sense as an explanation for the problem, because right now, the only unnumbered groups called out are military/GS/disabled, and GS actually do have "Group 1" on their BPs. I just don't see pax trying to cheat into GS. Whether or not they know what "Global Services" are, they seem to get that they're not in it.

You'd get less cheating by calling out the statuses instead of the numbers. People know, "I'm not a '100 mile flyer,' or, 'I'm not a Star Alliance Gold,'" but they figure right now, "Well, they're calling Group 2, and I'm only 3--maybe by the time I get there, they'll be at 3 or will just let me on through."

IME, PMUA did not have significant problems with pax trying to board when they called GS, 1K, 1P/*G, etc. Their boarding was significantly smoother at all phases of the process: less of a scrum for the elites, and a quicker, more orderly process for the rest. We have an answer as to the latter: UA has stuck with the back-to-front ordering from PMCO's systems, vs. the WILMA ordering from PMUA. I suspect the answer to the former also largely would be resolved by examining the differences between PMUA and current UA processes.

mgcsinc

Actually, I and some others here think that we should be taking the numbers away from some of the groups, because it seems like people are more willing to fudge their number by one or two than board as a 'Platinum'.

bocastephen

Agreed - or at least put the card holders in group 1, then board kettles by group 2 and segregate all the premium customers by category name:

Wheelchairs/legitimate special assistance
First Class
Business Class
Global Services
1K
Platinum
Gold
Silver and Star Gold

then

Group 1 (card holders)
Group 2 - x (by row/seat/whatever)

mgcsinc

Has anyone else noticed a surprising number of GA's who still think there are 7 groups, complete with announcing groups 6 and 7 separately? I think I've seen this three times in as many months.

FriendlySkies

I've heard this, along with all sorts of CO jargon thrown into the mixture- "Presidential Plat, etc"

It would be so much easier if they went back to the old process..@:-)

halls120

^^ This is the one constant we should not lose sight of. The pmUA boarding process worked.

goalie

Agreed and agreed ^. This is a classic example of breaking what was fixed and imho, COdbaUA management appears have their collective heads buried in the sand, wants to run what was a real airline the way they ran a glorified regional airline, selling elite benefits out from under the feet of loyal elite fliers and wants as little as PMUA to remain as possible

Baze

Oslo to Newark this past Sunday an elderly couple got on the plane, she was in a wheelchair up to boading and barely made it down the jetway. Guess where they sat. Exit row. Part of the boarding process needs to screen these kinds of people from sitting where they couldn't possible help and most likely be a hinder to evacuating the plane in an emergency. Seems every aspect of the "new" boarding process is failing at all levels.

exerda

Definitely a violation by UA. 14 CFR 121.585 - Exit seating ... both the GA and the FA should have caught and remedied this.