JBord

And you get benefits on your airline that UA elites don't get. I would be fine if all airlines extended 100% reciprocal benefits, but they don't. Why should UA provide more to non-UA fliers than LH, TG, SQ, etc.?

You could also credit those 120k miles to UA and you would be 1K.

I see your point, but I doubt airlines like SQ want to reward someone who flies 125k on UA as a top tier customer on SQ.

If all you're asking for is to board in Group 1 though, seems fine. That's a no-cost benefit.

Kacee

I think that's right. They could also use some common standards on achieving the tiers. There's such a huge gap between what it takes for Gold on say, LH vs. A3.

JBord

That's exactly the issue. It's difficult to add more tiers of *A without first having parity in achieving them. LH vs. A3 is a perfect example. But you can also look at UA using PQD in the formula while others only use miles flown. IMO, that's what gives airlines the right to minimize the *A benefits in comparison to their own, if they choose. I assume UA doesn't want to give 1K benefits to someone who spends $5000 on another airline just because they've flown 100k miles (for example).

BThumme

And don't even start about RDM!

Flying LAX-NRT-BKG and Back. Credit to united? 4,410 miles. Credit that to Singapore? 18,400 miles.

As this pertains to boarding though, I think the solution moving forward is to prevent gate lice rather then worrying about who boards when. If there wasn't people lining up 35 minutes beforehand, I think the problem wouldn't be as big of a deal.

Global321

Why do people line up early? No overhead space. (Or perceived to have no overhead space.) So if they control the space, maybe less people line up early. (And honestly, if you had no status, why would you EVER check a bag for a fee? Bring it to the gate and check it for free! Have kids? Bring multiple bags and board early!)

I believe the real problem - and I lived it a few weeks ago - agent let numerous people board ahead of their group. As soon as others saw her let a few people in, more people 'magically' joined the end of group 1.

So what did that teach people? Line up early and in a group ahead of your own.

JBord

So many theories on what causes this. It's been around on UA for a long time, but I noticed it got worse when they started charging for checked bags. And actually the orderly lines they have now in most airports seems to encourage people to line up even earlier, but at least in a more orderly fashion.

If I only have my briefcase or backpack to put under the seat, I can guarantee you I'll be nearly the last person to board every time.

Global321

Really, if people are in their right line, who cares if they line up early?

(I am 100% guilty of it before long flights. I just like to stand and stretch, but want to be close for announcements. So standing a queue works for me.)

skidooman

You nailed it.

Which is also why this is never a problem with, say, Asiana, or Air China, or ANA. They don't charge for the first bag, and people cannot bring large totes across security (not that I know of).

The result: there is always bin space. Never saw any of them gate check.

And if I saw long lines at for boarding at Air India, I never saw them gate checking either. Exactly for the same reason.

But, Smisek said, United is a business now. So, the first bag fee is here to stay (well, except for elites). Which means people will line up well in advance to make sure - SURE - they can get overhead space. Because honestly, there isn't much space for your legs already, if this space is taken by your bag, well that makes for a horrible flight.

Doing so, United (and Delta and others) are making flying miserable for a large part of their clientele. And the fact is, it doesn't need to be this way.

Silver Fox

Hallelujah brother Kacee, hallelujah.

But, I suspect it is a forlorn hope.

Xyzzy

How many credit card holders who are not elite do you really think there are? According to what I've heard from UA this forlorn group represents an average of one or two peple per flight. That is far from a problem and it hardly represents a group worthy of so much attention.

Kacee

That's just false.

I can think of three friends I've had meals/coffee with in the past week who used the Explorer card to pay and who are not UA elites.

I've also had multiple encounters in the BG lines with cc holders, especially at airports like SAN where they blend lines for G1/G2.

Kensterfly

Having three friends with Explorer cards is hardly a significant example to refute the point that there are few card users on any particular flight.

How can you tell that someone standing in line is a card user and not an Elite?

JBord

I don't know what the numbers are. What I do know is that Group 2 lines are long (I'm often at the end of them ). But other than waiting for people to stuff half their house in the overhead bins ahead of me, it hasn't really caused me any material problems.

greg99

The problem is that it's a perception issue, like so many of UA's recent policy directions related to non-GS Premier passengers.

Because no Premier Gold/Silver passenger knows how many passengers there are in the long line with him/her who are CC holders, and not people who actually fly UA regularly, they have no reason to *not* get ticked off when they think about standing in line with credit card holders.

It's what could reasonably be considered by that Premier Gold passenger as tangible evidence of a UA corporate strategy to prioritize individual transactional (i.e., paid) benefits, to his or her detriment.

Personally, having looked at a bunch of boarding passes when I was Gold (admittedly back in 2013), there were a bunch of non-Premier passengers in Group 2.

Others can speak to today's situation.

Greg

lincolnjkc

If my recent experience at IAH trying to figure out where BG1 ended and BG2 began at a single Premier mainline gate, some clues... When asked what boarding group they respond
* "the credit card priority group"
* "groups don't matter it's only a single lane"
* "the chase group"