edcho

I see it on hub to hub routes and long haul routes where Group 1 (before this change) was already a nightmare.

I remember my first UA 747 in August as a 1K. At first, I was patiently waiting in line but realized the line was not moving. I looked up front and it was literally a rugby match with people even climbing over seats to get to the front. I've never seen so many people for Group 1 before in my life.

I've seen it (not as bad) on hub-hub routes but the line is still painfully long.

Adding Plat might not hurt THAT much but it sure doesn't help.

I'll try snapping a few pics at the end of Group 1 (if possible) the next time I fly a long haul route.

FlyWorld

Simple. By the time you board, $mi$ek has already taken your money. It is well documented now that he does not care at all what you have done for the company in the past. Only what you are doing now.

Next Friday at 7pm, Shannon will post an enhancement. If you paid $1k for domestic F or $16k for intl F, now, you can board first if you pay another $500 fee at boarding to jump the line. But, only if you have no status.

tooltrash

I'm on a 200 now... Won't be much of a test until Monday I'm on a 767

bob_the_d

yeah. amusingly i flew on a 747 literally the day this was announced on monday. flying a p.s. 757 on monday, will be interesting to see how it goes.

JGRITS

Yesterday's IAH-ORD on UA1575:

I approached the C-26 gate area at boarding time - 1 minute. There are the familiar two lanes for Premier Access (blue carpet) and everyone else.

GA: "Ladies and gentlemen we are goin to begin preboarding Flight 1575 with service to Chicago. We'll begin with Global Services, military; active military in uniform, retired military, families with small children and anyone needing extra time to board." About 10 people board.

GA:"All military; any other military? How about retired - Is anyone else retired military out there?" (One guy raises his hand) "Come on up sir." (guy goes to scanner and mutters something unintelligible) GA: "Yes sir, retired Marine Corps."

"Group 1; First Class, One Hundred Thousand Mile Flyers, all Group 1." About 20 more board.

GA: "Group 2...(no further explanation)." As I scan, I asked him, "Have you guys implemented the new boarding procedures?" He looks at me as if he has no idea what I'm talking about and asks, "New procedures?" I said, "Yes the new procedures that went into effect the past few days." And he says, as I'm walking into the jet way, "Yes we're using the new procedure."

I got on as I always do and shoved my roll aboard in the bin as I always do and then I got up again (twice), as I usually do to let the other two people take their seats. During the whole process, I got bashed in the arm and head 50 times, like I usually do by the people who have no clue what the bag over their shoulder does every time they twist their body a degree or two, and then I helped three other people, who couldn't possibly lift their bags over their heads, get them stowed...Like I usually do.

The point is that other than the GA's slightly increased bias toward current and former military (according to UAInsider it's just supposed to be military in uniform), which I don't necessarily have a huge problem with, I didn't notice anything different yesterday. My guess is that the Plats had "Group 1" on their cards and phones and other Golds, Explorer Cardholders and Silvers had "Group 2" on theirs, but the agent did not name any of the Group 2 categories.

I'm not happy with the erosion of yet another perk of Gold (or of 1K, which I used to be back in the good old days), but on this one particular flight, the new procedure either wasn't implemented or it had no effect on the experience.

eefor jfp

I know there's a lot of angst about boarding a 747 or boarding in NRT (aren't all Nartita flights back to widebodies now that the 737 intra-Asia flights are gone)? But even 100+ 1Ks on a flight like this means nothing in terms of bin space because a 747 is so huge. For sure in first but also in biz. So if they board 1Ks and plats together, all the Group 1's will still get bin space, especially those in economy.

I'm sure it's happened where someone boarding last on a completely full 747 has had to check a roll aboard--but has anyone here (most of FT are elites) ever had to do that? (Not on a 319 but on a 747 or a 777?)

halls120

It is supposed to be military in uniform, not all active duty and especially not retired military.

I wish United would make their employees stick to the script and not freelance.

JGRITS

For fun, I counted the number of signs yesterday telling me that I'd be "in!" From security to my gate at IAH, I saw 4, plus I was pitched as I passed by the Explorer Card kiosk. On the plane, I already know without looking that there are several ads in Hemispheres and the flight attendants even advertise it on the inflight PA (and are armed with application should you need one). In Chicago, 6 more signs including the big one over the escalator heading down from C with "Mr. In" looking at me quite smugly about having gotten what I worked all year for, by merely signing up for a FREE card, but not before I was accosted again by another two kids running the kiosk right next to the escalator. Hell, on THIS very FlyerTalk page, there are no less than SIX pictures of "Mr. In!" showing off his new free status symbol and inviting me to sign up for the card.

I wonder how long will the number of cardholders with Elite Status will remain "marginal."

y2k1jetta

All this because CC users were upgraded and Gold was downgraded?

While I agree this stinks for Gold users, get use to it. The biggest thing Gold users can do is to leave UA for another airline. But if I come to the ft forums and whine maybe they will reverse their decision. LOL. You are surely fooled if you think UA would do that now or consider a new direction based upon your past flying experience. Leaving UA is hard and you were a loyal friend for years but enough is enough, leave United for the other loyalty programs and see if it is any better? I doubt it.

GoAmtrak

[QUOTE=vnatraj;20022199]Just to clarify, on PMUA two-class flights, there was only one boarding group for those who were eligible for the red carpet. So while GS didn't have preboarding like they do now, they also didn't have to face licing from several subsequent groups. Again, maybe there are too many 1Ks now for that to work anymore. But from the GS responses here, their preboarding status does not seem to be much of an upgrade from former status quo. And shame on the 1Ks who now block the lane ahead of them.

seagar

+1

This did work and was typically very smooth. The key that I found were the two lanes that allowed late arrivers to still use the GS/1K... lane. Pretty simple and think of the cost of all the lane ropes and markers across the world UALdbaCO could have saved.

vandrei

As a Silver, I have no problem with this. I also have no problem with letting the Golds go before us Silvers.

Where I do take offense is being lumped with credit card holders. Credit card holders who are also not Premier members should board after all of the Premier members. Anything less than that is a devaluation of Premier membership.

Pat89339

Was hoping to see this "new" attempt at boarding in play at SFO this morning, but not at this Gate boarding a 777. It was the usual cluster#%*!

GA called GS, uniformed military....pause 15 seconds, then Group 1 and there was a surge in the crowd with 1K/PP trying to move around the deer in the headlight folks. Same old same old.

Plane-is-home

So that guy screwed up the military and the family thing. Should get mandatory retraining preferably on the weekend

Luvs2snowbordbut1kSEA

Silly... I think few people think that making a single post on FT would make an airline change a process.

It is not about this single change, but rather the overall devaluation of what MP once stood for, and yes many are leaving. To use you analogy, if my loyal friend decided that they like plating with Chase credit cards more than me, then I should evaluate who I spend my time with... and certainly who I spend my money on. No reason to spend more or go out of my way to fly UA... the love is not there any longer.

I expect there will be another devaluation of MP before JS is done, as he sees most elites has evil.