drvannostren

I must be crazy, cuz this new thing seems totally backwards to me.

As it stands the busiest flights at IAH end up with 5 lines (btw I just flew AA for the first time in a while, why is there 9 boarding groups? They just end up skipping half of them anyway) and at the very least it's fairly orderly in my experience. In the gates that have the proper space, people don't even really spill out into the walkway in the terminal either. If you're gonna cut the boarding groups, it just seems to me that the gate liceing will be out of control. You'll have a GIANT horde of people in the one "line" which will be 3 people wide and then a normal priority boarding type line. It just means more and more people will congregate near the desk which isn't good for anyone.

Silver Fox

What would be interesting is if they insisted that kids less than two, and their parents, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins, grandparents, in-laws, who all seem to be some sort of accompanying Emotional Support Animals for the "2 year old", were told that they can only board last. There would be no 2 year olds on any flight everafter and they, their Emotional Support Animal relatives would all suddenly board in their assigned groups.

AugustusM

What about military toddlers in uniform?

cerealmarketer

Looks like that email is posted on the website describing the test

https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/boarding.aspx

I recently waited near a Southwest gate, and walked over to see what's so great about their process. It was very smooth, quick, made a lot of sense.

Then I realized Southwest doesn't charge for checked bags like the other majors, and gets fewer biz travelers, so they don't have the bin issues UA/DL/AA have.

Ironically Delta is testing boarding lanes split up closer to what UA has now.

Gate lice is not a UA unique issue by any stretch. At least they have the financial incentive of hitting more D:0 departures to try and force something quicker, but the current system seems to work fine.

I wonder what kind of chaos would ensue if they ordered each group like Southwest. For example, Group 1 gets a number (1-60) assigned based on fare, status, time of checkin, etc. So like Southwest you slot yourself into your subgroup based on that number.

laxmillenial

I can imagine.

The "I paid for this F fare, how DARE you place me as Group 1, position 2. Who does Group 1, position 1 think he is? I demand to board first."
DYKWIA galores basically. People need to get over themselves lol.

zymm

How about everyone gets a number based on the fare they paid for the flight? If you have status then you get a multiplier, kind of like RDM earning. Then they call each number individually, and encourage the people waiting to be called to applaud their betters as they board. First 10 people get mood lighting and a photo op with smoke and lasers while their boarding pass is being scanned. Last person on gets a small trophy of a butt instead of the inflight snack and drink.

findark

I really wish they would do this because it completely eliminates gate lice. The boarding process is one of my favorite things about flying WN. And it's not that hard to leave large gaps in the numbering to accommodate late-booking or SDCing elites, etc. Just do the current boarding groups and order within them by checkin time, or even further split by status (e.g. Group 1 is now Group A, and A1-20 is for F, A21-50 is for 1Ks in Y, and A51-99 is Plats in Y, or similar).

But I agree it would go over poorly with too many pax.

Goaliedad30

(slow clap) ..... :-)

UAzip

.
AA's group numbers changed a little while back. Old Group 1 became Group 5. Groups like ExPlat, First Class, etc. that were boarded before Group 1 are now groups with numbers 1-4. More fine-grained, but doesn't allow queuing in chutes far ahead unless there were 9 chutes. Credit cards on AA used to be Group 1 but are now Group 5, still "Priority boarding" but explaining that Group 5 is priority is a little weird. Groups 1-4 do not necessarily have tons of people on each flight, but some do have tons. Equivalent on UA would be like moving Global Services to its own group number and shifting all the other numbers downward.

chermorg

I have not seen this codified in law that they must pre-board. The Air Carrier Access Act does require assistance to be provided with boarding if necessary, but does not specify boarding group or pre-boarding. That being said, I doubt this will change.

drew in the air

I'm not sure what qualifies as codified into law but this notice from the DOT seems pretty clear on the topic to me.
https://www.transportation.gov/sites...%20Final_0.pdf

anc-ord772

or she.

chermorg

That qualifies. It's one of those "the DOT submitted this rule, thus it's incorporated by reference into the ACAA". That didn't come with the original law that now requires it though - lovely intricacies of laws and rules and the government.

SS255

I received an email notification of the new boarding process at LAX earlier today. Just now, I received a text from UA that said "We will be testing a new boarding process for your upcoming United flight from Los Angeles."

I guess UA is sending out texts to the winners of the "new boarding test" lottery.

canadiancow

The big issue I see is calling it "lane 1" and "lane 2".

Group 2 boards through lane 2, then lane 1. Group 3 boards through lane 2.

If they had Lane A and Lane B, there'd be no numeric association, and I think it would be easier to understand.