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}
Dec 31, 2018, 6:07 am
#2326
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 57,484
In the above scenario where all the "crazy crying kids" board after the "small handful of F passengers" you'd have to endure these kids being their super annoying self as they scuff past you while you are already seated in F.
Having the snots board before you means that -although you have to wait longer to board- you won't have to see them when you board.
Isn't that the better option?
Having the snots board before you means that -although you have to wait longer to board- you won't have to see them when you board.
Isn't that the better option?
Last edited by halls120; Jan 1, 2019 at 8:45 am
Dec 31, 2018, 6:31 am
#2327
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 6,326
Dec 31, 2018, 10:38 am
#2328
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: PHL
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Platinum, Raddison Platinum, Avis Presidents Club
Posts: 5,263
Dec 31, 2018, 2:42 pm
#2329
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Chicago IL US
Programs: UA 1K; National Executive Elite; Hertz PC & Hotels Galore
Posts: 946
Sorry to throw things back on topic a bit -- +1 on Alight btw..
There was LHR discussion in here earlier but even the most robust search engines couldn't find it to reference. My recent LHR experience:
Several 1Ks including myself were sent to the back of the Group 1 line/corral/holding pen by the gate-side passport checkers and not permitted to preboard. Passport checkers (contract security) weren't having the 1K thing ("you go to group 1, over here"). When GA called for 1K preboarding, nobody boarded as we were all penned in. GA didn't seem to react. Anyone else experience this or similar?
I'm thinking about crafting an email to 1Kvoice. What should that ETC be worth
?
There was LHR discussion in here earlier but even the most robust search engines couldn't find it to reference. My recent LHR experience:
Several 1Ks including myself were sent to the back of the Group 1 line/corral/holding pen by the gate-side passport checkers and not permitted to preboard. Passport checkers (contract security) weren't having the 1K thing ("you go to group 1, over here"). When GA called for 1K preboarding, nobody boarded as we were all penned in. GA didn't seem to react. Anyone else experience this or similar?
I'm thinking about crafting an email to 1Kvoice. What should that ETC be worth
?
Jan 1, 2019, 1:43 am
#2330
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: where lions are led by donkeys...
Programs: Lifetime Gold, Global Entry, Hertz PC, and my wallet
Posts: 20,340
Not experienced that on my 3/4 flights since its inception. There was one glitch but that was down to a late gate change and they did the best they could so I firgive them that. It seems to have gone according to script for me since that. I would definitely bring it up with 1kvoice.
Jan 1, 2019, 11:09 pm
#2331
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Between EWR & PHL
Programs: UA MileagePlus dirt (former hard-way Silver); AS Mileage Plan MVP; Hilton Honors Silver
Posts: 1,586
In the above scenario where all the "crazy crying kids" board after the "small handful of F passengers" you'd have to endure these kids being their super annoying self as they scuff past you while you are already seated in F.
Having the snots board before you means that -although you have to wait longer to board- you won't have to see them when you board.
Isn't that the better option?
Although....what IF the crazy crying kids ARE sitting in F? Oh, the insurmountability!
Having the snots board before you means that -although you have to wait longer to board- you won't have to see them when you board.
Isn't that the better option?
Although....what IF the crazy crying kids ARE sitting in F? Oh, the insurmountability!
(And FWIW, my wife and mother were with me and pre-boarded as well; I think 3 adults to manage 2 children isn’t unreasonable, although if I were only traveling with one kid, that might be a bit much.)
Bringing this back OT, the kids will have their first UA experience in April...going to (you guessed it) MCO.
Jan 1, 2019, 11:57 pm
#2332
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SFO, TPE, HNL
Programs: UA GS 4MM, RCC life member (paid), Marriott Lifetime Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, CLEAR
Posts: 1,822
When I was active duty, we were specifically told to travel in civvies and not advertise our military status. I’m happy to let today’s service members board early, especially when the ones traveling to combat zones need to stow a bunch of gear, but it’s something I can’t relate to and I wouldn’t argue if they dropped military from preboarding when we eventually wind down active combat.
Jan 2, 2019, 7:48 am
#2333
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.99MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,732
As the active thread has gotten rather long, have archived the pre-Nov 2018 posts into this thread, the active thread is still
United's New Boarding Process (with Wiki) [starting 18 Sep 2018]
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
United's New Boarding Process (with Wiki) [starting 18 Sep 2018]
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 31, 2019 at 4:57 pm
Jan 3, 2019, 7:29 am
#2334
Join Date: May 2013
Programs: UAL 1k, AA Gold, Delta Silver
Posts: 64
I like to think of the early boarding for active military as a courtesy and a gesture of appeciation that I’m very willing to live with. It’s the ten year old “small children” being led by their parents to “early boarding” that bugs me. Or the wheelchair passenger’s six family members getting on together. Limit that to “wheelchair-plus-one” and it will alleviate some of the crowding. As a 1K I can board before group 1 - but what’s the point of having a group 1 if 1 doesn’t mean “first”? Call the 1Ks group 1, or - even better - call the GS + military + parents with babies + 1Ks group 1, and go from there. It’s just a mish mash of everything right now.
Jan 3, 2019, 9:04 am
#2335
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Houston/DC
Programs: UA 1K, 1MM
Posts: 564
I prefer aisle seats when in economy & am starting to realize that it really doesn't matter when I board in economy as a 1K because I will never get to settle in until the rest of my row is seated. Sure, I will preboard to make sure my carry on has space, but the window seat usually shows up somewhere in group 1-2 and the middle is usually in group 5 or later.
1st world problems, I know
1st world problems, I know
Jan 3, 2019, 9:38 am
#2336
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Honolulu Harbor
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 14,988
Jan 3, 2019, 9:56 am
#2337
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 6,326
The curse of the oblivious back-pack user who without fail turns his/her body 90° to 180° away from me as soon as he/she is next to my aisle seat: 'Whack!', 'Pow!'...."Ouch!"
Jan 3, 2019, 10:19 am
#2338
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,404
Just experienced the new 1K "pre-boarding" at NRT. Hard to feel special when penned in with 30+ other 1Ks 
Not to mention the people standing in the aisle who think my headrest is their armrest.
One of the things I really like about Polaris seat is if you're in an odd-numbered window you've got great separation from the aisle traffic.
One of the things I really like about Polaris seat is if you're in an odd-numbered window you've got great separation from the aisle traffic.
Jan 4, 2019, 6:41 am
#2339
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 957
Inquired over the holidays with PLS GA about where to stand for 1K pre-boarding. She snapped that "there are GS fliers on this plane too". Not sure the relevance, so I simply asked again where those pre-boarding should stand to be out of the way. She told me I'd board with BG1. To be fair, I believe these are all contract employees who are the GA for every airline in that holding pen of an airport. That said, they never called pre-board or BG1, and when I came up to the passport checker the GA pointed at me and said "him", and I was promptly sent over for additional security screening. I guess the good news is that she was the only surly local I met the whole week.
Jan 4, 2019, 6:49 am
#2340
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 6,326
Inquired over the holidays with PLS GA about where to stand for 1K pre-boarding. She snapped that "there are GS fliers on this plane too". Not sure the relevance, so I simply asked again where those pre-boarding should stand to be out of the way. She told me I'd board with BG1. To be fair, I believe these are all contract employees who are the GA for every airline in that holding pen of an airport. That said, they never called pre-board or BG1, and when I came up to the passport checker the GA pointed at me and said "him", and I was promptly sent over for additional security screening.
^
