manstein58

Have you never heard of "The Miracle of Miami"? Disabled in LGA/EWR/JFK, ambling off in MIA. Well-known phenomenon

bocastephen

True, but Florida flights are a special case. It isn't something attributed to a medical condition or airport design, but the almost unbearable aggressive attitude of NE seniors who head to Florida and back. Many of us have stood and watched a decrepit, hunched over senior who barely looks conscious get wheeled on board during preboarding, only to be literally mowed down and shoved out of the way by that same senior who storms off the flight the moment the door opens on arrival. Even Benny Hinn hasn't seen miracles like these.

I once overheard a GA make a joke (quietly, to a colleague, but I heard it, and yes it was funny then and now) about yelling "Fire!" in the jetway just to demonstrate how fast these folks can really run on their own.

diburning

Definitely. These people also congregate in the aisles making it difficult for others to use the lavs. The poor FAs will make announcements, and they'll flat out ignore them I wish I were exaggerating. I can't remember a single northeast to/from Florida or Caribbean flight where there weren't any misbehaving senior citizens. This occurs on all airlines!

lskohn

Amen - we have just gotten to that point with my husband, and use transport service at FRA, for example, but not ORD. Using the pre-board option depends on what sort of a day he is having. He doesn't require wheelchair for that, but he cannot stand for long, so being able to get to his seat without standing in a line can be critical. That's another legit reason why you may see people use pre-board without needing to be met by a wheelchair upon deplaning.

But I agree, there is tremendous (and often hilarious) abuse of pre-boarding on flights to Florida and other snowbird destinations.

lileor

Did OLCI for an aisle seat and was assigned Group 3. My friend on the same PNR checked in a few hours later (needed to scan their passport) for a window seat and was assigned Group 4. So weird. Glitch?

Ericka

Mr. Ericka flew HNL-SFO yesterday. There was a team there trying out a new boarding procedure. Two lanes: one for current boarding group, one for bypass. They called the pre-boards, then GS, then 1k, platinum, etc. Then they switched to numbered groups. When boarding was done, the team came onboard with surveys and handed out Starbucks gift cards for participation. Mr. Ericka said he was happy with the process.

NYScot

Boarding the 40 or so people for the replacement flight EDI-EWR on 11/14 after flight 39 was cancelled on 11/13:-

• Disabled, 10 sec pause (no-one)
• Uniformed, 10 sec pause (no-one)
• GS, 10 sec pause (no-one)
• Families w/kids < 3, 10 sec pause (no-one)
• Groups as per usual

I got selected for SSSS , which was handled efficiently and courteously and wandered down the jet bridge to find - a bus!

Bus fills up with all 40 passengers and heads 200 yards across the tarmac to the aircraft. All bus doors open at once and the last shall be first :-)

No outrage from anyone, we were all onboard in 5 mins and everyone got a row to themselves on the 757. Just kind of weird how they did the boarding though, I guess the proprieties must be observed.

As an aside , we went out with 7 or 8 business class seats empty - I asked at Premier check in if they were upgrading lowly Golds as an apology for the 27 hour delay but was told no.

lincolnjkc

It seems like this is a variation on the process that's been in place in CLE for the past 3-4 weeks (preboard -> GS -> Families/Military -> Group 1 but with the "Main" and "Bypass" lanes) and having been through it 3 times now words appropriate for Flytertalk cannot express how dissatisfied I am with both the process and the tone of the signage. (E.g. "Please remain comfortably seated..." first of all "airport seating" and "comfortable" are oxymoronic, ad secondly I'm going to be sitting for hours, I want to stand. And I'd prefer somewhere to stand that isn't just a mindless blob of everyone else who wants to stand).

I think the process could be improved (perhaps having a rotating 3 line "next to board/currently boarding/already boarded" arrangement but this two lane nonsense is the only thing that's ever made me crave the 5 lane configuration.

(Sorry, uncaffeinated and ranty this morning)

DELee

Hmmm. Your suggestion sounds a bit like WN's process.

David

lincolnjkc

There are many things I'm not crazy about with WN, but the boarding process is not on that list. I think it could work just as well without breaking down into sequence numbers. Some relatively cheap digital signage displays with an Intel NUC or similar to drive it and it wouldn't be terrible.

Lane A - Preboards, GS, Miitary then "Bypass"
Lane B - Group 1 then Group 3 then Group 5
Lane C - Group 2 then Group 4

Incidentally on an E175 tonight there were 35 people on the UG list -- meaning more than half the plane (only one UG cleared so add 11 F pax = 46 of 76) -- got "priority boarding"

seat38a

WN does not reward families by letting them board first. They board AFTER Group A has boarded but before Group B.

GoSh4rks

Sounds like the AA layout. I hate the AA layout. I much prefer the lines because I don't have to wade through a 10 deep crowd at the entrance of the lanes.

Kacee

For all the complaining (including mine), I've come to believe UA's current system is the best approach. Now if they'd just tinker with the groups a bit to reduce 1 & 2 . . . .

jacobguo

First time flying United w/o status. If I’m in group 4 and my companion is in group 3 do you board with group 3?

Always took her to board with me in group 2 without problem. Is this the same for non-priority groups?

MBS MillionMiler

Yes. You can always board with the lowest number (earliest group) in your party, priority or not. It's part of some agents' announcements, but I haven't heard it in a while.