lost*in*cyberspace

UA does not pre-board families with children.

lincolnjkc

You might want to tell that to the last dozen gate agents I've encountered... I've seen more than a handful even actively encourage passengers with children/strollers to board during the "those needing a little more time down the jetway" phase of pre-boarding.

JBord

Do you have a standard route you fly? I haven't seen this in years. I don't really care if they do it or not, but I do think it slows boarding down if all the families with strollers and babies go first. Much faster when they just board according to their group.

lincolnjkc

I've been spending a lot of time in Florida (MIA/MCO/JAX) of late but no standard routes so to speak -- I'm kind of all over the place.

I don't mind if it's one or two but in a "family heavy" place like MCO it feels like it takes an eternity

Global321

And add 'comfort animals' to the list. It seems now I am seeing 1-2 per flight. And they board first as well.

(I have to get me one of those. Do stuffed animals count? )

JBord

LOL...might as well go sit in the lounge for 30 mins if they do that at MCO!

I truly haven't seen that in a long time. I wonder if its' starting to return. On my last flight (LAX-ORD) I recall they specifically mentioned people who are "disabled, needing extra time" as I was near the GA desk and there was a gentleman who truly did qualify that boarded with his wife.

Xyzzy

...and how often do they use their 'Premier Access' benefit to get into group #2 on UA? Like I said, UA tells me that there are an average of one or two such non-elite credit card holding passengers on any given flight.

I think you should get mad at UA for selling group 2 via 'Premier Access' as people who buy that are nt going to be Premier members.

rolltribe

What I'd be interested in seeing is the amount of time it takes to turn around a plane now vs. before baggage fees. It certainly seems like boarding takes about 20% longer now if not more, but I'd love to see some stats on it. Boarding a full 738 now takes at least 30-40 min because of all the hassle with and going up and against the traffic flow to get bin space and get to their seats. I remember with pmCO they would have no trouble boarding a 738 in 20-30 min because nobody was bringing on massive carry-ons. I think it would be interesting to see the effects of eliminating bag fees would have on boarding time, and if this could result in adding an extra quick run for an aircraft during the day. For example, if you put a 739 on CLE-ORD all day or other <500mile routes, not too many people check bags on a route like that (mostly business people on short trips), UA probably brings in less than $1500 in bag fees on a leg like that. If you cut 10-15 min of boarding time on each leg by not charging bag fees, only allowing small totes through security, you can add at least 1-2 extra legs throughout the day. 150-200 passengers at ~200-300 r/t is a lot more money than some bag fees even after the extra costs of running 1 or 2 more legs.

nycityny

I flew JFK-LAX on Wednesday (7/29) and saw a family with young kids board before everyone else. I was kind of surprised because I usually don't see that. It is possible that they were GS but it looks like they were specifically let in. GS were called later right before Group 1 (as usual).

Global321

A month ago it happened in Boston... then another family came up... then another... then GS was called as the first group. We were delayed in boarding because the first family wanted to sit together and decided to wait until right before boarding to ask.

LAXOGG

I saw this recently at OGG, and I agreed with the GA's discretion. Mother alone with 3 under 3........a 2 year old and twins in a stroller. She was assisted down the jetway.

MattR23

At SFO on Friday afternoon, the gate agent called for disabled, then military, then Global Services, but then called for first class passengers. After that, he then called for group 1 to board. Never noticed it done that way before.

LAXOGG

Rogue GA.

Plane-is-home

It's amazing how often this simple process isn't followed properly. I'll write in whenever I encounter it and I just checked my outbox, I did it 14 times YTD.

JVPhoto

Flying 6 intra-EU flights in the month of July I sort of wished for the chutes.
At least then the lice have a little bit more order.