scotsman2010

I feel I am forced to buy it to get on board quicker as (and I will probably be unpopular for saying this!) I can't believe how much and the size of cabin baggage Americans take on board United seem to have no (or an unenforced) cabin baggage policy, its usually a free for all on the flights we seem to go on

krazykanuck

The amount shocks me too, and yes, it generally is a complete free for all - even after Sizergate 2014.

Starman

I'm 1K so the boarding priority and bag charges aren't relevant to me. But I will say that when I got the Explorer card, multiple old but still unflown award reservations of mine, bought with a different card to cover the tax charges, suddenly showed eligible for CPU, which is another Explorer card benefit, and one I didn't qualify for prior to getting the card. So at least in my case, a new Explorer card retroactively changed old reservations to update the benefits. Others have reported this as well.

knoebelsPT

Just to follow-up here...

The issue with priority boarding not working resolved itself. 12 hours before the flight I refreshed the boarding pass again and the group changed from 4 to 2. No problems on the return at 24 hours out.

Must have just been a glitch.

OskiBear

Another data point:

Purchased a ticket in Y- a few months ago using company card not Chase Visa

Called this week to convert my old, legacy, no benefit Chase Visa card to Explorer card

Checked in this morning for flight today and received Geoup 2 priority boarding.

Amazing how things actually work correctly sometime

IAH-OIL-TRASH

This'll drag the thread OT, but yeah, CCs need to be pushed back to 3, as well as Silvers. Push Plats (and maybe 1Ks like me back to 2). BG1 can be too large.

jsanz

The same thing is happening to me, but I actually booked my EWR-DEN flight with my Explorer Card. I checked in this morning and got stuck in GROUP 5!!! I called two times and both agents told me I needed to deal with it at the airport, as they couldn't change my group over the phone. I am a new cardholder but I have the card in-hand and used the card to book the trip. I hope I don't get the run-around at EWR because I will NOT be happy.

Soccerdad1995

I would agree with this, but only if they allowed paid first to board before anyone else, including GS, and especially people who get a free upgrade to FC.

That would make for a decent balance between elite benefits and people who are actually paying for the front cabin.

mbflyflyaway

So for the first time since I've had the card, I got group 3 today. My company policy now forces me to use a corp AmEx card, however this wasn't an issue when I booked my tickets through the corp travel site. This ticket, however, was purchased directly at UA's website but with the AmEx. Asked at the customer service center and got the "you have to pay with the card to get that benefit" answer to which I said there is no such statement in any of the fine print (like the experiences above). Alas, nothing they can do. Waiting at the gate now and will ask about showing my card to get on with group 2.

When I mentioned that this didn't happen when I booked through the corp site, agent suggested I book that way again to see. Funny that essentially I'm getting penalized when using UA's site.

LarkSFO

Do you work for a large company, and have a managed contract with UA?

Is it possible that your corporate agreement (which would only be visible when booking through the portal) includes priority boarding?

mbflyflyaway

I did think about that but I'm pretty sure we do not have any agreement with UA as they aren't even a "preferred carrier" on our corp website.

mbflyflyaway

Hahahahahahahaha! So I just asked the gate agent if I could board with 2 by showing my Explorer Card and she very matter-of-factly stated that the program has now changed and you no longer get boarding group 2 just for having the card. I got three because I'm in a window seat. I asked when it changed and she said "a couple of months ago" - clearly she has NO idea what she is talking about as I just flew last week and got group 2. I can't stop laughing. Someone set me straight please - would be pretty major news if they did away with this benefit (and contrary to the millions of ads for the card here in DEN). Hilarious.

Steve M

I must strongly disagree with the notion that First Class customers should be segregated based on how they ended up in that cabin. That opens the door to other benefits of the cabin not being provided (such as lounge access for BF/GF passengers, which costs UA money in some cities where they contract with a third party because there's no UC). What about always having last choice for meals? It's a bad path to even start going down.

bryan7007

I had the same issue and it was resolved in about a month. During that time I just boarded with group two and showed my Mileage Plus card, no issues.

Soccerdad1995

FC customers are currently segmented when it comes to meal choice. This segmentation is based on elite status, which will equate to the likelihood that one got into the cabin on a free upgrade on many routes. So UA is effectively prioritizing passengers who did not pay for FC over those that did when it comes to choice of meal.

As a compromise, maybe keep FC (paid and freebies) together as group 1, but then ensure that they board before any elites that are not sitting in FC. Just call FC, then GS, then passengers with disabilities / uniformed military, and then groups 1-5 in order.

And equalize all other aspects of FC service (meal choice, etc), regardless of elite status level, or how much one paid for their ticket.

I appreciate the desire to not treat folks with a free upgrade as "less than" paid FC customers, but I would argue that it is just as wrong to treat them better than paid FC customers.