fastair

Kacee

Doesn't the GA also have to wait until T-15 to offload no-shows (e.g., misconnects)? I get the sense that when the GA expects no-shows, he or she may prefer to wait before processing any gate upgrades, then do them all at once.

elbejt2

silly comment in the context of flyertalk...

nomad420

My last 3 upgrades have all been after I was sitting in E+ and had the FA/GA walk back to me and tell me to take an F seat. I have actually been told when I was #1 on the list and hanging around the podium to take my seat and they would get me later. Does it make sense, well no, but from my experience it happens all the time.

asquare

I'd say that the majority of my gate upgrades have occurred after boarding is well underway, typically somewhere around Group 3 time period which likely matches up with the T-30 start of processing since so many of my flights now seem to start boarding at T-40 or so. My last flight, I saw that there were still 4 open seats, and increasing at the time of boarding presumably from people changing flights or misconnecting because of the Northeastern storms and I was #1 on the list. I mentioned to the gate agent as I boarded I would see her on board later once they processed the upgrades and she told me to just monitor the app and once it updated to go take my seat. That was a first for me in terms of being told to watch for that. She did come on later though and distributed new BPs for the upgrades though.

FlyingNone

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It is not new, it became this way when United merged with Continental (CO's method). Hard to believe they would allow people to board and then have them go upstream (while the flight is still boarding) -- talk about confusion and chaos. Gone are the days when United simply had people wait at the podium and those that cleared then walked right into first class (after being offloaded in coach). Anyone else who didn't clear then took their assigned seat in coach. Simple.

WineCountryUA

It was then but today with the full OHBs, waiting before boarding can nowadays lead to issues with carryon space.

Today both methods have problems.

FlyingNone

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Full overhead bins should never be a problem if the airlines would put a stop to bin-hogging and poaching of bins not in one's assigned row - I've seen many very small items up there as well that could easily fit under the seat in front of the passenger thereby allowing for more room for true rollaboards. But, alas, we have a society full of too many selfish people.

anc-ord772

Flew LAX-IAD today on a 739 and the flight left with 5 seats open in Y. During group 5 boarding, the FA said there was still space in the OHB and they didn't have to make people gate check their carry-on. I was surprised. There was one battlefield upgrade after boarding was completed and they were able to find space in the F OHB for a nice sized carry-on and a coat. I was surprised again.

flyerbaby19

That happened to me. F ticketed SFO-ORD (came in from HKG i think). got in early, got on the earlier flight from SFO-ORD. I had looked ealier and there was F avail. But when i actually made the change it was gone. This was about T-32 if I recall. so my paid F ticket got me a nice Y seat but I did get in 90 mins early. Would have been nice to fly in F.

jsloan

While I've seen the same thing, and it bothers me as well, the fact of the matter is that by (a) charging for checked luggage and (b) increasing the seating capacity of the aircraft by ~10%, the airlines have created a problem that no amount of policing on-board would help. They've increased the demand dramatically while reducing the per capita supply. The misbehaving passengers are more visible, but they're a smaller segment of the flying population.

Also, the increased seating capacity has probably led directly to some passengers putting personal items in the overhead; perhaps they're justifying it by pointing out how uncomfortable the seat is with an item underneath the next seat. I'm not saying it never happened on the sparser planes, but I bet it happens more now that the seats are so close together.

sinoflyer

It's really a personal choice whether to hang by the gate or to board with your group. I prefer to board right away in order to guarantee myself a bin space -- I was burned once by a late connecting "runner" and ended up boarding with Group 7 or some lousy number like that. Needless to say, one gate checked bag experience is one too many.

Bingo.

Flyingwasabi

Happened to me once before. I same-day-changed to a flight pretty much when the boarding begins (probably has already begun, I don’t know i was in lounge when processing all this). When i got to the gate only 2 guys from group 5 are in the line boarding. I was the first on the list and there is 1 free seat left. The agent just handed me the new boarding pass and i went directly to the first class seat.
If the GA begin clearing upgrades earlier, prior to boarding, i will not be getting the upgrade. Almost feel sorry for the guy behind me

Bonehead

Always seen battlefield upgrades take place after boarding is essentially complete, never when there is still a line of boarders.

HNLbasedFlyer

I prefer this approach also - when I take my seat, if I have a shot at an upgrade, I'll monitor the UA app to see if it cleared - if it did, I'll start to make my way up front even before they come get me.....