Kacee

It would help if UA FAs monitored and protected the F bin space, as the FAs do on AA.

But the E75 is a special problem due to the very limited full-size bin space.

PotomacApproach

The rare times I fly UA is always paid F. But possibly due to having hubs in places like EWR, IAD, and SFO, I've found UA elites to have the worst DYKWIA behavior. AA can match UA for poor service, but I fly out PHX a lot, and the AA elites there are tame compared to the UA elites in SFO or EWR. UA probably encourages this with its boarding process and treating non-elite Y pax like they're lucky to be on the plane, but the airline has a special ability to bring out the worst in people.

seanp7

It's usually ALL pre-boards, but managed well, in sequence. Others can chime in if they've seen 1k only. Here's GRU's (understanding this won't work everywhere due to space):

Aussienarelle

I have said this before and will restate it. Many of my fellow 1K flyers are delightful, pleasant and polite. However, there is a subset that annoy the heck out of me.

1K boards after families with children 2 and under. I have been one of those people and it just takes times with kids, strollers, getting settled. I always appreciated the opportunity to pre-board. However, the few 1Ks that want to shove past these families is just so rude. These families are not going to take the overhead space from them, young children get unsettled if their parents are feeling frazzled and the last thing I want is an upset child on my flight - that is annoying (it cannot he helped at times but the boarding rudeness by 1K members should not be the cause). More often than not I will just stand behind them as they fold the stroller, etc to run interference for them. I hear the heavy sighs and I just ignore them and if someone says something I state they are ahead of me and I am not going to be rude and push past them.

End of rant.

Looking forward to the return of 1K flyers who are pleasant, polite and patient....🤞

bocastephen

Much of these problems could be easily mitigated by direct involvement from the gate agent to get the lines in order before boarding. At wide body gates, there are plenty of gate agents for one to step out and get the pre boarding lines setup in order and use the straps to minimize cutting and pushing into the line. Until everyone is in a single file line, no one should be boarding. At narrow body gates, proactive announcements can get all of the right people int the right lines well before boarding begins, and that includes making sure that the ONLY people standing anywhere near the gate are disabled, GS, 1K and families with strollers and children under 2 (this should really be defined as families with strollers or infant in arms only). If you're not pre-boarding, or in G1 or G2, you should be sitting down or standing far away from the door area.

The fact of the matter is the GAs, for the most part, just don't care - whoever shows up to wave a boarding pass under the scanner is let on, half the time they don't even look.

I'm particularly annoyed with the chaos of United boarding, and Air Canada boarding which is often worse than United with far more aggressive cutters and pushers because when I was a GA back in my college days, I ran my boarding with military precision, and that included paying attention to what was happening in front of me, and I would absolutely call out line cutters and pushers and have them step out and wait to board last in their priority group. I rarely had any of these problems because I wasn't afraid to get on the PA and be proactive so everyone knew how boarding would be handled.

At NRT, for the most part, they can board a widebody in half the time a US based GA can board a 737 because of going out into the line with signs, and sorting everyone into single file groups inside the straps which makes chaos and shoving much more difficult.

diburning

Except DL lumps their GS equivalent (Delta 360) with their 1K equivalent (Diamond Medallion) together in #2. The other difference is that D360 is a "Diamond with distinction" service and not a real higher tier like GS is.

FLYMSY

All.

limey1K

Sounds awful.I regularly see 10-15 people pre-board on a domestic narrow-body. If you double that number for a wide-body and you're standing 20 back as a GS, how do you "pre-board" past all the others standing (or sitting in wheelchairs) in front of you in the chute?

seanp7

At international stations, it does seem to work - it acts as a 2-3 person-wide corral and then you still board by Pre-Board order. I haven't seen GS pushing past wheelchairs since disabilities go first.

I'm not suggesting it works domestically as the gate areas (and departure times) are much tighter.

FLYMSY

Actually, it was one of the most pleasant pre-boarding experiences that I’ve had. Very efficient and quick. It wasn’t a typical U.S. boarding scrum.

jsloan

I saw a UA FA do this on a flight recently — I think it was an A320. I didn’t get upgraded, but was one of the first to preboard*. When I got to the front of the plane, she said something like “oh, please wait a moment” and then closed bins above a couple of first class rows as well as the bulkhead row. She half-apologized for asking me to wait, and I told her that while I didn’t get upgraded on this flight, I might on another flight, and I’d appreciate what she’d done if I were.

* Which I write 20 minutes after I ask why people are in such a hurry to be first on the plane on another thread. But I did have a carry-on, and I certainly realize that nobody wants to be in the middle of boarding where you end up in the long, slow-moving Jetway line. I concur with others that if I could guarantee overhead space, I’d board just before the door closes every time.

threecap

Yes, first to preboard vs last to preboard. The rush to be first to preboard is what causes the problem, not the preboard itself.

nomad420

I generally have to check a bag for business so given I can check up to three bags free my carry on is always very limited (in for a penney in for a pound so to say). I book an aisle and exit row seat when possible, hang at the UC, and basically board dead last. Been doing that for years and the only problem I have had the rare seat poacher.

JALsnipe

The last time I flew out of NRT the pre-boarding line was split: GS in the front with a special sign, 1K/everyone else behind them.

Steve M

I was at NRT a couple of weeks ago. I saw the standard Group 1 / Group 2 sign, plus an additional one for "Preboarding." I don't recall seeing such a sign or separate line like that at any other station.