jsloan

What on earth does that have to do with anything? Whether or not you can follow directions and wait your turn has nothing to do with nationality.

DELee

Available seating in the gate area?

David

LordHamster

Is Global Services still effectively group 4 with this new setup? Flying through IAD tomorrow morning and will be experiencing the "new" process for the first time since they demoed it in Cleveland a while back then quickly killed it.

wxguy

GS is still pre-board, usually in the order of: Disabled, families with children under two, uniformed military, then GS. However a number of stations when GS agents are present (such as BOS) will quietly ask GS to board first.

lincolnjkc

The "new" process is really an evolution of the godawful cluster that they inflicted upon Cleveland. That process (if you couldn't tell) I hated completely and without reservation or mitigation. The "new" process (at least as I've experienced in ORD...and...huh...somewhere else) is very close to what I asked for in one of these threads, and it's not perfect, nor as clean as having 5 boarding lanes it's infinitely more tolerable, and in some ways potentially better. (from the perspective of a G1 who likes to stand before I sit on a plane for any appreciable period of time and thinks a boarding lane is the most sensible/out of the way place to do it) than the CLE catastrophe.

In any event, the actual boarding order has not changed -- only the physical configuration of the boarding lanes so GS are still wherever the GA happens to call them amongst the military/need more time/children under 2/kitchen-sink-toting/GS preboarding order

LordHamster

They can call it pre-board, but generally they call
1. Disabled
2. Children under 2
3. Military
4. GS

Making GS effectively BG4. 5 is then that they currently call BG1. Frankly there are usually so few GS and Military that they should IMO board first (as they are the few and the quick). Then Disabled / Children under 2.

TomA

Apparantly you've never crossed the border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. haha

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank...b_5387959.html

TomA

Will this system be used on international widebody flights as well?

I'm starting to just stay in the lounge until the last minute on a lot of flights. I usually have a medium backpack and small ipad case (kinda purse sized I guess). I'm not picking row 1 anymore so that I'm not forced to find overhead space for the backpack--it fits under the seat without using my legroom.

Kacee

Fail to see what that has to do with the rather offensive suggestion upthread that non-US citizens mess up boarding. Obviously many other cultures also respect the concept of queue, since you're distinguishing between Hong Kong residents (queue) and mainland residents (no queue).

One of the most blatant line cuts I've ever experienced was by some jerk from California who cut in front of me at VIE.

LordHamster

Karl-MDW

This is also true of E+ and other Y bulk head passengers. Allowing passengers in these seats - no matter their status - to board in group 1 would help at least for those who are able to arrive at the gate before boarding begins. (We all know that there is little hope for any connecting passengers whose incoming flights are late for over head space no matter what their status or boarding group.)

lincolnjkc

I'm normally a fairly passive gate louse -- see previous comments about wanting to stand before sitting -- but I become somewhat more aggressive when I'm in a bulkhead for exactly that reason (and I was quoted in the WSJ last year because of it -- it's the only time, aside from my wedding, I ever have anything in the overhead on UA).

This though, I think could more effectively be resolved onboard. I've seen (on both mainline, and UAEX) flight attendants 'protect' the first bin -- particularly in F, occasionally in Y -- until the bulkhead pax are onboard and seated. The level of protection ranges from just closing the bin to closing the bin and politely scolding anyone trying to usurp the space (along the lines of "I need to save this bin for the customers in 1x/y because there's nowhere else for their personal belongings") to physically moving any non-bulkhead bags aft if they still don't listen.

If this was a more formalized policy/procedure, I can see how that would take some of the stress/urgency out of it for bulkhead pax.

ecoomer

Just had first experience with new boarding and config. Horrendous security lines had me a bit late to gate, no worries, only about 15 people in line 1, and tons in line 2. Turns out they were boarding group 3 and all 15 people in line 1 were group 4 trying to "nose in" so I had to join the end of group 3.

Im all for the new theory boarding, but it only "works" if the policy is followed.. Because if not, it will be worse than previous catastrophe with all the back groups filling in line 1 "waiting" ..

laxmillenial

You mustn't be afraid to simply walk around them or walk to the gate agent, show your boarding pass, and board. If you're G1 and they're boarding G3, you have the right to do this. That is the goal of the 'new' lanes and the G1 lane should've been kept empty when not in use. However, some airports/gates are space constrained so I guess YMMV.

I know it sounds borderline DYKWIA, but if done right, will be just fine. Just don't, you know, start raising your voice and saying you're G1, United's number one customer, and demand they stop boarding till the red carpet comes out for you, and then run everyone down on your way to the boarding pass scanner.

bocastephen

Meaning, calling boarding in one shot and watching an out of control mob push and shove their way on board, stomping on and climbing over any unlucky fool who happens to trip or fall in the melee? No thanks. On my last flight on a Chinese airline, and hopefully last ever for the rest of my life, I watched two old Chinese ladies shove two young caucasian female backpackers to the ground and climb over them trying to get on the terminal bus after we landed. You would think a tsunami or other disaster was just minutes away. Boarding the next flight for departure involved being shoved, and then needing to shove my way through a massive crowd of people rushing for the bus without people showing any regard for pre-boarding, the elderly, wheelchairs, children or anyone or anything else. It was like watching people rushing from a burning theater. You needed to push your way through or risk being trampled. By the time I got on board, I swear my life expectancy was just shortened by 3 years.

I'd rather have an orderly boarding process defined by groups with strict enforcement by properly trained gate agents who keep the lines straight and in order, punish line cutters and those who board out of order, and ensure priority is maintained for passengers by cabin, status and group number. If UA should take a cue from any other carrier, it would be NH, and most definitely not CA.