caiken

Just landed at CLE at 11pm on 10/18/17 from IAH and noticed every UA gate has the attached new boarding signs. All of the group 1-5 signs are gone. Anyone have info?

mherdeg

Interesting idea, so if a GS member shows up 15 minutes before departure, they'll queue in the "bypass" lane with members of groups 1 through 4?

adambadam

I would hope so. With that said, if there is a line in the bypass lane, the GA is going through the numbers too fast and there is probably a line down the jetway anyways, so I hope a GS member could possibly bare to wait a few more moments.

Kacee

Probably a test.

After several recent DL flights, I am significantly less critical of UA's cattle pens. At least there's some order to the process.

I think that would actually be a negative for GS, 1K, and Plat (which I think was mherdeg's point). Currently we can just breeze through the Group 1 line.

DELee

Yeah but many of these gates at CLE are baby small. If they were to try to load a 772 or 789, this could result in chaos.

David

mike2003242

I think united could make boarding better by adding a few groups, especially for widebodies. When there are 30+ F/J seats along with additional 1ks and platinum group 1 can be crazy. However, when i fly on a widebody i just walk on with the end of group 1 because there is plenty
of bin space.

caiken

OP here — so they removed ALL of the old 1-5 signs at every gate. Only the signs I showed remain. Personally, as a GS, this doesn’t really impact me too much, but I do think the 1-5 groups were a useful difference from AA and DL. Oh well.

JerseyCityS

I think the separate lines for 1- 5 has been very successful. Why change it?

flyerbaby19

Eventually, we will end up with the PMUA boarding process. We should just skip to there.

DA201

Depending on how wide the gate area is at a particular airport, it makes more sense to have the passengers sitting down next to the gate instead of stretched out in front of it. So maybe that is the goal here?

On the note of boarding groups, there is a great argument for more boarding groups and a great argument for fewer boarding groups. Every time I fly AA, I leave wanting fewer boarding groups. Every time I fly UA, I leave wanting more boarding groups. Right now, I think the magic number is around 7, but I'm not sure.

Halo117

Gate lice has gotten better with shutes...going back will only make it worse. WN style is the way to go. Pre boards and GS lane A...group 1 lane B...everyone else sit down until called then alternate lanes until all boarded.

CALMSP

I would say that is exactly the goal. Having everyone remain seated until that group is called and then they board through the "current called lane".

I like this concept, however, skeptical anyone will not "remain seated".

findark

+1. On DL I'm always wondering where to stand since there is just one Sky lane and carpet for everyone with any kind of priority.

Or LH in Germany, which is just a scrum to push your way onboard the aircraft. I prefer WN's boarding, but barring an ability to have determined the line ahead of time, UA's system works for me.

swiftaw

This only has a chance of working if gate agents aren't afraid to tell people who try to board ahead of their group to sit down and wait. I have seen many instances where someone tries to board in an earlier group than indicate don their boarding pass and the GA just lets them do it.

dvs7310

I definitely like the 1-5 system, but on widebody flights I certainly see a use for an additional lane for F & C (and GS) separate from group 1, the C cabin is pretty sizable on most UA aircraft and there are often heaps of 1K & Platinum in economy on those flights. I am extremely skeptical that this 2 lane system will work. I imagine the group 4-5 folks will continue to stand in the way of everyone else trying to jockey the first position when their group is called, praying for any sort of overhead space to be left.