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 22, 2018, 4:41 pm
#1726
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,115
But for the remaining seats, sure, keep lowering the price and eventually, you'll find enough demand to fill your seats. This seems to be UA's strategy as well. But if they keep devaluating the product and as a result, keep lowering the price to the point that it would just become more profitable to replace 2 F rows with 5 more Economy rows, what's going to stop them?
Sep 22, 2018, 4:41 pm
#1727
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 15,004
Obvious downside isCPU reduction.
Sep 22, 2018, 4:54 pm
#1728
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Floating around
Programs: UA 1K (1MM), DL Gold (1MM), Marriott LTT
Posts: 10,337
The A319 is also very bad for overhead space in first class and I will stand around and try to board first on this plane type to ensure overhead space.
-RM
Sep 22, 2018, 6:11 pm
#1729
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: UA 1K, Hilton ♦ , Hyatt Carbonado, Wyndham ♦, Marriott PE, "Stinking Bum" elsewhere.
Posts: 4,992
Yup. A couple of years ago I wouldn’t buy F tickets for personal travel . I do now on occasion because advance purchase P fares can be (IMHO) very reasonable. The front cabins between West Ciast and Hawaii are filled with people who would normally be buying economy tickets but can now splurge on F.
Obvious downside isCPU reduction.
Sep 22, 2018, 9:00 pm
#1730
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: UA LT GS | UA LT Club | Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 1,250
New Boarding Process - Hong Kong
Just experienced the new boarding process in HKG this morning. Obsertavtions:
What worked
- GS (3 folks boarded smoothly)
- There were no kids or military
- 1K (15 folks boarded smoothly)
- I didn't see the rest of the groups...
- The GS and 1Ks were wicked fast in getting settled. I boarded last and both aisles were wide open.
What Didn't Work
- Any 1K who showed the mini boarding pass in the app was asked to go to Group 1 line. This created arguments because the mini BP doesn't state 1K. The expanded BP shows 1K, just like the paper BP. United IT should have fixed this before launch.
- During pre-boarding, several Business Class folks tried to cut as they though they were already called. Will take business folks some time to get used to watching 20-30 people board ahead of them on wide bodies.
- 15 1Ks is too few for a nearly full HKG-SFO flight. I bet several business 1Ks got stuck in the Group 1 line.
Overall, I liked it. Feels like 1K status got a nice boost, after five years of mild but steady regression.
What worked
- GS (3 folks boarded smoothly)
- There were no kids or military
- 1K (15 folks boarded smoothly)
- I didn't see the rest of the groups...
- The GS and 1Ks were wicked fast in getting settled. I boarded last and both aisles were wide open.
What Didn't Work
- Any 1K who showed the mini boarding pass in the app was asked to go to Group 1 line. This created arguments because the mini BP doesn't state 1K. The expanded BP shows 1K, just like the paper BP. United IT should have fixed this before launch.
- During pre-boarding, several Business Class folks tried to cut as they though they were already called. Will take business folks some time to get used to watching 20-30 people board ahead of them on wide bodies.
- 15 1Ks is too few for a nearly full HKG-SFO flight. I bet several business 1Ks got stuck in the Group 1 line.
Overall, I liked it. Feels like 1K status got a nice boost, after five years of mild but steady regression.
Sep 22, 2018, 9:20 pm
#1731
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: CHS
Programs: UA GS, Bonvoy Amabassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 2,589
Just experienced the new boarding process in HKG this morning. Obsertavtions:
What worked
- GS (3 folks boarded smoothly)
- There were no kids or military
- 1K (15 folks boarded smoothly)
- I didn't see the rest of the groups...
- The GS and 1Ks were wicked fast in getting settled. I boarded last and both aisles were wide open.
What Didn't Work
- Any 1K who showed the mini boarding pass in the app was asked to go to Group 1 line. This created arguments because the mini BP doesn't state 1K. The expanded BP shows 1K, just like the paper BP. United IT should have fixed this before launch.
- During pre-boarding, several Business Class folks tried to cut as they though they were already called. Will take business folks some time to get used to watching 20-30 people board ahead of them on wide bodies.
- 15 1Ks is too few for a nearly full HKG-SFO flight. I bet several business 1Ks got stuck in the Group 1 line.
Overall, I liked it. Feels like 1K status got a nice boost, after five years of mild but steady regression.
What worked
- GS (3 folks boarded smoothly)
- There were no kids or military
- 1K (15 folks boarded smoothly)
- I didn't see the rest of the groups...
- The GS and 1Ks were wicked fast in getting settled. I boarded last and both aisles were wide open.
What Didn't Work
- Any 1K who showed the mini boarding pass in the app was asked to go to Group 1 line. This created arguments because the mini BP doesn't state 1K. The expanded BP shows 1K, just like the paper BP. United IT should have fixed this before launch.
- During pre-boarding, several Business Class folks tried to cut as they though they were already called. Will take business folks some time to get used to watching 20-30 people board ahead of them on wide bodies.
- 15 1Ks is too few for a nearly full HKG-SFO flight. I bet several business 1Ks got stuck in the Group 1 line.
Overall, I liked it. Feels like 1K status got a nice boost, after five years of mild but steady regression.
My Phone shows me as a 1K both in the app, in the boarding pass in the app and the boarding pass in the apple wallet
Sep 22, 2018, 9:47 pm
#1732
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,586
I know you say this in jest but it's entirely true. I boarded at the end of BG1 (again, around 20-25 people). It was an ERJ-175 which has "overhead bins big enough for standard roller bags" (as mentioned by the gate agent). That's only true on one half of the airplane and the FC cabin is a "huge" 12 seats with enough room for four bags. Standard roller bags don't fit wheels first/last but have to be put in sideways, hence why my bag was way back around row 15.
The A319 is also very bad for overhead space in first class and I will stand around and try to board first on this plane type to ensure overhead space.
-RM
The A319 is also very bad for overhead space in first class and I will stand around and try to board first on this plane type to ensure overhead space.
-RM
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Sep 23, 2018 at 12:19 am Reason: Comments on Moderation removed per FT rules
Sep 23, 2018, 12:50 am
#1733
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 12
Can companion of 1K preboard together with 1K?
Sep 23, 2018, 5:10 am
#1734
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: NYC
Posts: 302
I just checked into a flight and noticed that both my electronic boarding pass in the app has a teal background, and the entire apple wallet card is teal as opposed to the usual United blue. Is this a change associated with the new boarding process (group 1)? This is also a transatlantic basic fare, so maybe that has something to do with it too (but these fares don’t have cabin bag restrictions)?
Sep 23, 2018, 6:26 am
#1736
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 361
My experience continues to be positive, I boarder two flightsthis morning already, RDU-EWR and EWR-HNL, both flights GA follow the script! I was curiously specially about the HNL but pleasantly surprise!
Sep 23, 2018, 6:33 am
#1737
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: NUE
Programs: BAEC Silver, FB Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, SK Diamond, ITA Volare Club Executive, TK Elite
Posts: 365
Sep 23, 2018, 6:47 am
#1738
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: NYC
Posts: 302
I was illustrating what the change looked like. I’m not sure where I indicated I used that in lieue of the Apple wallet one?
Sep 23, 2018, 6:49 am
#1739
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,115
This is very interesting if it is a change to address this. I haven’t used an electronic boarding pass on UA in years because it made GS preboarding awkward. I would very much welcome a clear distinction like this.
Sep 23, 2018, 6:56 am
#1740
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: NUE
Programs: BAEC Silver, FB Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Platinum, SK Diamond, ITA Volare Club Executive, TK Elite
Posts: 365