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}
Sep 17, 2018, 8:45 pm
#1246
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: HNL
Programs: UA GS4MM, MR LT Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,447
Maybe - you might be right. But I'm just speaking from personal experience where I'm on the list - and I'm not getting beaten out by cheap upgrades, I love buy ups, if they are truly reasonable - I jump on them.
Sep 17, 2018, 8:46 pm
#1247
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Orange County, CA (SNA)
Programs: AA ConciergeKey | UA Plat | UA 2M Miler | Marriott Plat | Hilton Gold | Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 26
It's all in the execution
I am flying from SNA tomorrow to DEN, which I expect will be a flight with many GS and 1K pax, so it should be interesting to see how the gate agents handle this change. It also happens to be a flight where I cross the 2M lifetime mile threshold on UA. Luckily due to my 1K status and also being upgraded, I am Group 1.
My prediction for this new boarding process will be about 15-20 people hanging around an already crowded gate entry way (1k's, GS, families, disabled), in addition to the dozens of people queuing in groups 1 and 2 thinking they are special, with dozens of people from group 3-5 people standing around, confused and asking questions on where they should stand and when they will board.
When the boarding process begins, and the call pre-boarding, eventually they will get to 1K's after the GSers, and instead of people hearing them say "One K", people will interpret the announcement as "Group 1", which will turn into a about 10-12 1K's rushing the gate at the same time Group 1 tries to board, because they think they were called.
I saw an earlier post where someone suggested the creation of a Premium boarding group before Group 1, which includes FC, GS and 1K - I definitely think that is the best suggestion yet.
My prediction for this new boarding process will be about 15-20 people hanging around an already crowded gate entry way (1k's, GS, families, disabled), in addition to the dozens of people queuing in groups 1 and 2 thinking they are special, with dozens of people from group 3-5 people standing around, confused and asking questions on where they should stand and when they will board.
When the boarding process begins, and the call pre-boarding, eventually they will get to 1K's after the GSers, and instead of people hearing them say "One K", people will interpret the announcement as "Group 1", which will turn into a about 10-12 1K's rushing the gate at the same time Group 1 tries to board, because they think they were called.
I saw an earlier post where someone suggested the creation of a Premium boarding group before Group 1, which includes FC, GS and 1K - I definitely think that is the best suggestion yet.
Sep 17, 2018, 9:01 pm
#1248
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: SFO
Programs: United 1MM GS, Marriott Platinum Elite, Hilton Diamond, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 283
Sep 17, 2018, 9:07 pm
#1250
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: SFO
Programs: United 1MM GS, Marriott Platinum Elite, Hilton Diamond, Hertz President's Circle
Posts: 283
Sep 17, 2018, 9:07 pm
#1251
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,490
So I'm damned if I'm an F passenger and going to board behind a 1K guy who didn't buy a first class ticket. Not gonna do that, and I think that differentiation is flat out nuts. Your argument for defending this carrier for doing this totally escapes me. I can afford to walk with my feet, and, assuredly, will do so if they propose this nonsense. Your thesis that I, and others, are upgraders from cheap fares is short sighted and ill founded. You should consider otherwise.
Sep 17, 2018, 9:08 pm
#1252
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: UA MM
Posts: 4,118
The only F passengers who might have to wait an extra two minutes are those who aren’t already 1K. And who are those? The ones who don’t fly nearly as much and are generally less hyper-sensitive to waiting an extra two minutes anyway.
PS – As a UA MM, I’ve never seen an F passenger on UA have to check a bag due to late boarding. Never.
PS – As a UA MM, I’ve never seen an F passenger on UA have to check a bag due to late boarding. Never.
Sep 17, 2018, 9:11 pm
#1253
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,821
With a new board group partitioning starting 18 Sept 2018, will close this thread and refer all to https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...ep-2018-a.html
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
Sep 17, 2018, 9:12 pm
#1254
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,490
The only F passengers who might have to wait an extra two minutes are those who aren’t already 1K. And who are those? The ones who don’t fly nearly as much and are generally less hyper-sensitive to waiting an extra two minutes anyway.
PS – As a UA MM, I’ve never seen an F passenger on UA have to check a bag due to late boarding. Never.
PS – As a UA MM, I’ve never seen an F passenger on UA have to check a bag due to late boarding. Never.
Sep 17, 2018, 9:23 pm
#1255
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Floating around
Programs: UA 1K (1MM), DL Gold (1MM), Marriott LTT
Posts: 10,341
Wasn't in use at LGA today but I didn't expect it to be. I expect the LGA agents will need to be dragged to "United jail" kicking and screaming :-D
I'm also curious if the GS agent who usually meets all GS at flights will now be greeting 1Ks as well.
Don't forget...1Ks are still lowly children who board after 2-and-unders. It's just so odd to me to move GS to the 4th group and 1Ks to the 6th. The kids, IMO, should be the last pre-boards.
-RM
I'm also curious if the GS agent who usually meets all GS at flights will now be greeting 1Ks as well.
Don't forget...1Ks are still lowly children who board after 2-and-unders. It's just so odd to me to move GS to the 4th group and 1Ks to the 6th. The kids, IMO, should be the last pre-boards.
-RM
Sep 17, 2018, 9:23 pm
#1256
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: SDF
Programs: -=- UA: GS + 3.9 Million Miler; Hilton: Diamond; Marriott: Gold; Hertz: President's Circle
Posts: 676
Sep 17, 2018, 9:28 pm
#1257
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,596
The only F passengers who might have to wait an extra two minutes are those who aren’t already 1K. And who are those? The ones who don’t fly nearly as much and are generally less hyper-sensitive to waiting an extra two minutes anyway.
PS – As a UA MM, I’ve never seen an F passenger on UA have to check a bag due to late boarding. Never.
PS – As a UA MM, I’ve never seen an F passenger on UA have to check a bag due to late boarding. Never.
If if I am not the type of customer that UA wants to value then I guess I know where the door is.
But I’ll be shocked if they don’t tweak this to include premium cabin in pre-board. It’s just such an incredible disadvantage. Something DL and AA could and should do marketing over.
Sep 17, 2018, 9:40 pm
#1258
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,014
Sep 17, 2018, 9:47 pm
#1259
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Chicago
Programs: UA GS 1MM, CM PP
Posts: 689
100% agree. There are going to be literal cluster*$&#s happening in the limited spaces outside the boarding lanes. It's difficult enough for GS to find space to quietly linger to the side. Just wait for 20+ 1Ks to join the mess at all the hub gates.
Sep 17, 2018, 9:55 pm
#1260
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Programs: UA 1K 3 Million/ex-many year GS, AA PLT/2 Mil, AS MVPG, HH Dia, Starwood Life Plat, Hertz PC
Posts: 1,401
Strangely, this change may actually ultimately help the "no time for GS" in the announcement sequence. There are enough 1Ks that the agents will pretty quickly discover that they need to wait or they cause issues. With 0, 1, or 2 GS it is pretty easy to just assume none and go on. With 5 or more 1Ks it will become obvious. I suspect that in the long run this will create more time for the GS boarding (so long as you don't mind at times boarding with the lowly 1Ks).