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United's Current Boarding Process (with Wiki) [2016-forward]{Archive}

Old Jan 19, 2017, 11:05 pm
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Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Source: United Boarding Process

New changes (effective 18 Sept 2018)

You will see some new boarding lane signs in the gate area that will guide you through the boarding process. There will now be two lanes that are color coded : to begin, Group 1 will board through the blue lane and Group 2 will board through the green lane. The remaining Groups 3-5 will then board through the green lane when called, and Groups 1 and 2 can continue to board through the blue lane .

We encourage you to make yourself comfortable while you wait for your group to be called, and well let you know when were ready for you to board. Late arriving customers in Groups 1 and 2 are welcome to continue boarding through the blue lane at any time.

Boarding groups

Pre-boarding

  1. Unaccompanied minors
  2. Customers with disabilities
  3. Active members of the military
  4. United Global Services members
  5. Families traveling with children age 2 and younger
  6. Premier 1K members

Group 1

  • Premier Platinum members
  • Premier Gold members
  • Star Alliance Gold members
  • Customers seated in premium cabins: United Polaris, United First and United Business

Group 2

  • Premier Silver members
  • Star Alliance Silver members
  • Customers who have purchased Premier Access or Priority Boarding
  • United℠ Explorer, Club, Presidential Plus℠ and Awards Cardmembers

Groups 3 5

  • Economy Plus
  • United Economy
  • Basic Economy*

* Customers who have purchased a Basic Economy ticket will be in the last boarding group, except for Premier members, Chase Cardmembers of qualifying cards and Star Alliance Gold members, who will still receive their priority boarding.
Originally Posted by JOSECONLSCREW28
There will also be updated boarding times:

757 & Widebody aircraft: 50 min prior to departure
737-800/900 & 737 MAX 40 min prior to departure
737-700 & A319/A320 35 min prior to departure
================================================== ==============================
Pre Sept 2018 process

Pre-Boarding
  • Unaccompanied minors
  • Customers with disabilities
  • Uniformed members of the U.S. military
  • Families traveling with children age two and younger
  • United Global Services members
Premier Access Boarding
  • Group 1: Premier 1K, Premier Platinum, Business/Polaris Business, and First/Polaris First.
  • Group 2: Premier Gold, Star Gold, Premier Silver, Star Silver, MileagePlus Presidential Plus, Club, Explorer and Awards, purchased Premier Access


General boarding (Window Seats, then Middle Seats, then Aisle)
  • Group 3 - Window Seats
  • Group 4 - Middle & Aisle Seats (Aisle Seats on UA Express)
  • Group 5 - Basic Economy

Customers who have purchased a Basic Economy ticket will be in the last boarding group, with the exception of Premier members, Chase Cardmembers of qualifying cards and Star Alliance Gold members, who will still receive their priority boarding.

Note: If youre traveling with a companion and one of you has a higher boarding status, you both may board with the earlier group.

Note: Self Boarding Gates are being tested at the following gates...
  • IAH - Gate C25/C26 - See Post 2960, Includes YouTube video from CO777DAL
  • IAH - Gate E4 - Old test from pmCO days, See Thread Here
  • BOS - Self boarding gates are now back in *LIMITED* use at least at gates B25 and B26



sUA Boarding Times by Aircraft (AFA)

Previous thread: United's Current Boarding Process (with Wiki) [Revised, May 2013]
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United's Current Boarding Process (with Wiki) [2016-forward]{Archive}

Old Mar 20, 2016, 1:53 pm
  #31  
 
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Last year, I was on a flight where BF boarding was held back while UA tried (unsuccessfully) to fix one of the seats (stuck in recline). I usually wait until BG1 is nearly done before getting in line anyways so it wasn't a big deal. In your case, it's lame that the catering was delayed but I'd look on the bright side and be glad that UA parallelized the catering and the boarding instead of making everyone wait.
blackllotus is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2016, 1:53 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by aacharya
Nothing wrong with these one-off approaches, if you ask me due to unforeseen circumstances.

Though unless you were boarding a p.s. or widebody, all pax have to walk through F to get to their seats.
It was a 757, boarding was through the door between F and Y. They were catering through the door in the front of F and wheeling carts through F to the galley in front of Y (they stopped while F boarded then continued once F was seated)

I wasn't bothered by it but some of my fellow F passengers were a little upset, including one who kept remarking he was a GS.
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Old Mar 20, 2016, 1:55 pm
  #33  
 
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I have had this happen 4 times in the last year.

International 757-200 out of EWR. BusinessFirst was held back to everyone else got on.

757-300 from LAX to HNL, all first pax were put in the handicap holding pen at the gate. Last to board, service was bad, missing food and other items.

767-400 from SFO to HNL, First was held back to after group 3.

757-200 (lay flat) doing IAD to IAH First was last.

Each time was told it was catering issues.

Last edited by goalie; Mar 20, 2016 at 3:20 pm Reason: not a co vs ua discussion
little_dc is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2016, 1:59 pm
  #34  
 
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Originally Posted by swiftaw
It was a 757, boarding was through the door between F and Y. They were catering through the door in the front of F and wheeling carts through F to the galley in front of Y (they stopped while F boarded then continued once F was seated)

I wasn't bothered by it but some of my fellow F passengers were a little upset, including one who kept remarking he was a GS.
I don't know. Does he belong in the "most trivial thing to complain about" thread, or the "don't you know who I am thread" ?
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Old Mar 20, 2016, 2:36 pm
  #35  
 
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Happened to me in 2015 with one of those ancient sCO 757-300 out of SFO. FC pax were penned into a corner and allowed to board after group 3. Initially no explanation, eventually stated as catering. Every minute in the boarding area/united club is valuable and translates into comfort (e.g. changing clothes for a redeye, picking up a bottle of water, ability to store your bag in the overhead, what have you.) Many times in EWR/IAH, the 757s are boarded out of the front door, making the first class experience less special. I presume, the entire boarding process is delayed whenever there's a catering delay in theses instances.

Last edited by goalie; Mar 20, 2016 at 3:19 pm Reason: off topic comments removed-not a ua vs co discussion
AirbusFan2B is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2016, 2:54 pm
  #36  
 
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Several sUA 752s assigned to SFO/LAX and elsewhere, mostly ps, always boarding through middle door (as in ORD.)

Last edited by goalie; Mar 20, 2016 at 3:22 pm Reason: off topic comments removed
AirbusFan2B is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2016, 3:40 pm
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by AirbusFan2B
Several sUA 752s assigned to SFO/LAX and elsewhere, mostly ps, always boarding through middle door (as in ORD.)
Can't remember last time I boarded a 757 anywhere but amidships
manstein58 is offline  
Old Mar 20, 2016, 9:02 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by morelegroom
I don't know. Does he belong in the "most trivial thing to complain about" thread, or the "don't you know who I am thread" ?
Besides him continually remarking about being GS, I'd be miffed too. I try and minimize my time at the gate and try to time it where I leave the club and never stop walking until I'm in my seat.
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Old Mar 20, 2016, 9:08 pm
  #39  
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Originally Posted by United747
Besides him continually remarking about being GS, I'd be miffed too. I try and minimize my time at the gate and try to time it where I leave the club and never stop walking until I'm in my seat.
Well, if your choice is between:

-No food or drink on the flight
-Delayed departure and possible misconnects due to dealing with catering after everyone has boarded
-A few minutes of standing in line while food is brought on,

Which would you choose? I think the latter is the least of the evils. A few minutes of standing has never killed even the most DYKWIA of 10mm GSes. Especially in this case with boarding amidships, it's not like overhead space is going to disappear on you.

In fact, I'd prefer in cases where Y pax don't have to walk through the F cabin that UA would board F last as a matter of course and not page F for boarding until about T-15, allowing the maximum amount of time in the lounge. That's what many foreign carriers do and it's quite seamless and stress-free.
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Old Mar 20, 2016, 9:19 pm
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by United747
Besides him continually remarking about being GS, I'd be miffed too. I try and minimize my time at the gate and try to time it where I leave the club and never stop walking until I'm in my seat.
If the worst complaint on a flight is some carts going down the isle during boarding, I think it was probably a good flight.

Originally Posted by morelegroom
I don't know. Does he belong in the "most trivial thing to complain about" thread, or the "don't you know who I am thread" ?
+1

I wouldn't have cared in the least bit.
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Old Mar 21, 2016, 2:22 am
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by 110pgl
If the worst complaint on a flight is some carts going down the isle during boarding, I think it was probably a good flight.



+1

I wouldn't have cared in the least bit.
Exactly, my wife and I were quite content to wait but there was one particular vocal GS and a couple of other F passengers who had sour looks on their face.

We still all had enough overhead space for all our bags and we still had enough time for a pre-departure beverage so I'm not sure why people were getting so worked up
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Old Mar 21, 2016, 7:55 am
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by swiftaw
Not sure if there was an appropriate thread to post this to so feel free to move if necessary.

UA 1891 Today, boarding in ORD they announce that they are still catering the plane and thus F is currently inaccessible. They board all the non-F passengers from group 1, and groups 2 and 3 before what seemed like a supervisor came over and told them to board F even though they were still loading the catering.

In the end the flight was great and the FA were very nice, but the boarding was a mess.
At first, I thought you were on my flight b/c a similar thing happened to me last week on a 757. F was held back and everyone else boarded first.

Of course, BG2 was completely empty since everyone with any sort of status on this midday flight to MCO cleared upgrades and there must not have been non-status CC holders. It was kind of hilarious and a big switch from my usual business flights where I end up #25+ on the upgrade list and languish at the end of a 40+ person BG2 queue.
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Old Mar 21, 2016, 10:15 am
  #43  
 
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Originally Posted by gobluetwo
At first, I thought you were on my flight b/c a similar thing happened to me last week on a 757. F was held back and everyone else boarded first.
Same thing happened to me twice at BOS in 2015, each time on a 757. Seems to be fairly common.
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Old Mar 22, 2016, 10:55 pm
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by IAH-OIL-TRASH
Wikis are community projects - you can edit (not just moderators - they have plenty to do/monitor already).
Sigh, my gray hairs are showing!
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Old Mar 23, 2016, 8:44 am
  #45  
 
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So I updated the family boarding line in the wiki. It's officially families with children age 2 and under, although it would make more sense if it were kids under 2, which would align to the lap child rule. I believe this is how Alaska frames it.
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