MileTrek

Yesterday MCO-IAH on a 767. There was a third boarding lane (separate rope) next to BG1 and BG2 which the pre-boarders used. I counted 7-8 1Ks and was pleasantly surprised with how easy it worked. This morning IAH-MCO (also a 767) we left out of D9 which has no UA branding etc. so technically no 'line' to stand in. I missed the 1K announcement but when they called group 1, it was a typical mess but not too bad.

leoo

GRU-EWR yesterday. Staff was checking for GS/1K before allowing people into this pre-boarding line.
Very organized - there were lines for groups 1 to 4 as well.

halls120

Turkish Airlines gets it.

wenstinator

Just want to rant a bit… does anyone else hate how early United begins the boarding process nowadays? I’ve been flying frequently lately and they start boarding 50-60 min before scheduled departure time (737, 757 on domestic hub to hub, 2-3 hour flights).

If you want any shot at overhead space you need to be one of the first ones on the plane. Every single flight I’m sitting on the plane for 25 min, boarding is basically complete, and a full plane sits there for 25+ min at the gate before pulling away.

It is pretty hard to show up to the airport 60 min before flight time like before because you basically lose a chance at overhead space.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

HkCaGu

I don't think anything has changed. 737/Airbus at T-40, RJs at T-25, widebodies including 757s at T-50. Boarding times seem to be hard-coded and don't seem to account actual occupancy.

Boarding times are probably very outdated. I don't see why 752s need 10 more minutes than 739s. And UA's Basic Econ carryon policy (and the proliferation of markets/seats sold) makes boarding faster than before.

DELee

In general, on flights I've recently been taking, folks know the line up drill and get on-board and in seats fairly quick now so that boarding is usually complete at 20-25 minutes prior to departure. My flights have been during weekdays so I have little to compare to for equivalent weekend flights.

Flights where its taking close to the full boarding period are more likely to be leisure dominant routes such as LAX-LAS or LAS-XXX.

At least that's my take.

David

lincolnjkc

Yes, boarding times (at least those printed on the BPs) are determined solely by the aircraft type, period. I thought part of it was contractual but a quick scan of the FA contract didn't turn it up and I can't be bothered to dig deep right now. I know a while back (5+ years?) the AFA was getting grumpy about GAs asking FAs if they could board early (and asked members to report occurrences) but I'm not sure if that's still a thing.

I can't say I've seen a particularly notable decrease in boarding times in the markets I fly (primarily domestic) post-BE. I may be an odd duck, but particularly for outstation flights into the hub or P2P flying I'd just as soon board as early as possible with the hope that we get under way as early as possible. If "everyone" is at the gate and ready to go why not just load us up and ship us out? I still have that optimism at hub-out flights but the chances of holding for a baggage/connecting passengers/flow typically conspire against making an early out realistic.

On the flip side though I can see how early boarding times can add stress -- my Tuesday RIC-ORD flight was delayed at RIC (see my "outstation staffing" post) and then after landing had a taxi from our runway to F25 that included a stop somewhere near Indianapolis [not sure what our crew did to tick off ATC... ] that meant I got the "we're now boarding your flight at C23" text before the airplane door was open. Ran F-to-B-to-C (why did they get rid of the shuttle again?) and got to the gate just as group 5 was being called. Then of course we sat because someone was riding an electric cart "from somewhere on F" and we took a delay to accommodate them...had I known I would have jumped on to the bumper of the cart or at least slowed myself down...

dll

I do find it very frustrating that paying first/business class passengers board after or during large swaths of their top tier passengers. It pretty much guarantees a fight for overhead space in first class which does not feel great when paying a ticket premium for the privilege.

fumje

What about the top tier passenger who paid a ticket premium?
​​​​​​

dll

Indeed. If they're seated in F/J, they'd have no change in boarding group. I do like how DL does it that way - Diamond Medallion (their top tier) and First/Business board at the same time. And I only find this a real issue on narrowbody flights on UA, especially the A319/320 routes with small 3-row cabins and already limited overhead space. Widebody flights, and newer 737s with larger bins, are less problematic in my experience with UA.

fumje

I believe all the competition for F bin space comes from F bin passengers (and, unfortunately, flight attendants ). Perhaps you would like to have the flight attendants board after you!

hurnik

So on the 11/23 flights:
ALB - ORD: They followed the "proper" procedure with good pauses in between the various pre-boarding folks, including 1K
ORD - DEN: Same as above
DEN - GJT: Same as above

WineCountryUA

This is archive thread, the active thread is
UA's Boarding Process with WILMA now - Inconsistent process / PreBoarding issues

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator