Jan 19, 2017, 11:05 pm
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Source: United Boarding Process
We encourage you to make yourself comfortable while you wait for your group to be called, and we’ll let you know when we’re 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.
* 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.
================================================== ==============================
Pre Sept 2018 process
Pre-Boarding
General boarding (Window Seats, then Middle Seats, then Aisle)
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 you’re 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...
sUA Boarding Times by Aircraft (AFA)
Previous thread: United's Current Boarding Process (with Wiki) [Revised, May 2013]
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 we’ll let you know when we’re 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
- Unaccompanied minors
- Customers with disabilities
- Active members of the military
- United Global Services® members
- Families traveling with children age 2 and younger
- 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.
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
- 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 you’re 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]
United's Current Boarding Process (with Wiki) [2016-forward]{Archive}
Jul 3, 2018, 9:48 am
#991
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,231
I guess I will find out in a few hours - but from my couple of experiences boarding an AA 777 with no status, even with two boarding lanes, everyone just pushed and shoved into one mass of people that created a fan shape growing wider away from the podium, then as each priority was called, there was mass panic as people began pushing and shoving their way through the mass to get to the boarding lanes at the very front. Unless you were at the gate 40 minutes before departure and managed to get into one of the short lanes, the result was definitely not pretty.
Jul 3, 2018, 9:59 am
#992
Join Date: Jan 2016
Programs: UA 1K; *G, AA Plat
Posts: 1,700
How does this work - is everyone crowded together in a clump on each side of the fence, and when a boarding group is called, they lurch forward out of the line to rush the podium? I can't imagine how this is more efficient and less stressful than strictly enforcing one single file line per group, boarding in order.
I guess I will find out in a few hours - but from my couple of experiences boarding an AA 777 with no status, even with two boarding lanes, everyone just pushed and shoved into one mass of people that created a fan shape growing wider away from the podium, then as each priority was called, there was mass panic as people began pushing and shoving their way through the mass to get to the boarding lanes at the very front. Unless you were at the gate 40 minutes before departure and managed to get into one of the short lanes, the result was definitely not pretty.
I guess I will find out in a few hours - but from my couple of experiences boarding an AA 777 with no status, even with two boarding lanes, everyone just pushed and shoved into one mass of people that created a fan shape growing wider away from the podium, then as each priority was called, there was mass panic as people began pushing and shoving their way through the mass to get to the boarding lanes at the very front. Unless you were at the gate 40 minutes before departure and managed to get into one of the short lanes, the result was definitely not pretty.
Jul 4, 2018, 1:29 pm
#993
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Bay Area - East Bay
Programs: UA 1k, AS 75k, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 641
So, I'm currently sitting by the GA at SFO-LAX (waiting to board because it's a solid potential oversale situation) and I'm getting to observe the full boarding process with the new lanes. The group 2-3 changeover was not super smooth, but seems to be going well otherwise.
Edited cause I apparently always assume I'm flying to ORD
Edited cause I apparently always assume I'm flying to ORD
Jul 4, 2018, 2:13 pm
#994
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Menlo Park, CA, USA
Programs: UA 1MM 0P, AA, DL, *wood, Lifetime FPC Plat., IHG, HHD
Posts: 6,912
So, I'm currently sitting by the GA at SFO-LAX (waiting to board because it's a solid potential oversale situation) and I'm getting to observe the full boarding process with the new lanes. The group 2-3 changeover was not super smooth, but seems to be going well otherwise.
Edited cause I apparently always assume I'm flying to ORD
Edited cause I apparently always assume I'm flying to ORD
Jul 4, 2018, 10:03 pm
#995
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,231
Report from my boarding experience - basically no change from the former/standard setup. Grp1/2 on the left side door, each with their own lane, Grp 3/4/5 on the right side door, each with their own lane. SFO Gate 100.
Jul 5, 2018, 7:45 am
#996
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,470
Did they start 1 & 3 at the same time, or did 2 come before 3?
Jul 5, 2018, 8:12 am
#997
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,231
Aug 4, 2018, 2:14 pm
#998
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: UA 1P, SPG Gold
Posts: 137
Not sure if this is different than what is now being done:
Aug 4, 2018, 2:16 pm
#999
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,029
Not sure if this is different than what is now being done:
https://twitter.com/briansumers/stat...442946560?s=21
https://twitter.com/briansumers/stat...442946560?s=21
Aug 5, 2018, 12:45 pm
#1000
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: IAH
Programs: UA Gold, Marriott Gold, HH Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Hertz PC, Avis 1st
Posts: 313
Aug 5, 2018, 1:02 pm
#1001
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,029
. Not sure how "more balanced boarding groups" works w/o UA actually adjusting who goes into which group, which I don't think has happened.
Aug 5, 2018, 2:10 pm
#1002
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: LAX
Programs: UA 1P, SPG Gold
Posts: 137
I will say the push alerts via the app once boarding starts is pretty nice.
Aug 5, 2018, 2:49 pm
#1003
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SJC / DPS
Programs: AS G75K, UA Silver
Posts: 1,758
Having used the new lanes often enough, there's one thing that seems completely overlooked:
Why on early would you give the lanes the same numbers as boarding groups? I've seen many confused pax when asking Group 3 to board through Lane 2. If you called them "Lane A" and "Lane B", I could probably see a lot less confusion trying to match group numbers to the lane numbers.
This is a thing now? I have push alerts disabled, so I'm assuming the only place you see this is via the alert?
Why on early would you give the lanes the same numbers as boarding groups? I've seen many confused pax when asking Group 3 to board through Lane 2. If you called them "Lane A" and "Lane B", I could probably see a lot less confusion trying to match group numbers to the lane numbers.
This is a thing now? I have push alerts disabled, so I'm assuming the only place you see this is via the alert?
Aug 5, 2018, 8:43 pm
#1005
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Florida
Programs: United 1K, Marriott Ambassador, Hilton Gold
Posts: 673
Either way, sounds great once it starts working
PS - also happy to see they will start updating boarding times for delayed flights, similar to AA