gawhite411

So GS/1K is after all of F and business. Excellent. Finally this airline is learning how to treat actual F/C passengers and not to fawn on status. No reason GS/1K in Y should be clogging up the boarding for those of us in paid F.

GunsOfNavarone

I am a uniformed military Pax and fly weekly, my command requires us to fly in uniform. The GSA contract allows us to check bags for free, so I never have a carry on. I do it out of respect for others. I don't want to take up space that others may need.

On UA, I almost never get a pre-assigned seat, always check with gate agent for seat assignment, which typically results in a middle seat. Oh well, its a GSA fare- UA treats GSA fare as the bottom of the barrel, and they should as it has zero restrictions and is super cheap.

I would never take advantage or early boarding. I think it is simply weird. I have been loaded onto Army buses for years. We often load with rucksacks and weapons. We always load from rear to front. Anything else is a disaster when bringing stuff on a bus.

Maybe we should consider the Army method for loading UA aircraft. Rear to front. Keep is simple. I promise it is super effective, quick and always works...

At ORD tonight, go to MSP tomorrow, back to ORD on Sunday and off to PHL on Monday. After PHL off to PVD. I don't get to pick the airline I fly I don't compete for status, but I do get to experience all the airlines and compare.

UA-NYC

So a $50K/yr+ customer (who might be sitting in Y for whatever reason) should potentially go behind a Kettle who paid $99 for an UG? Not even $misek is that dumb...at least I think. But who knows...

Antipode

I don't have a huge problem with this, although on elite heavy routes splitting elites up by level makes sense (I'm sure many of us have seen upgrade lists that are 70+ long). It is a little strange when UA does W-M-A boarding which is more efficient, even if only slightly so than back-to-front boarding but the back-to-front method is the one being retained. Maybe it's only slightly worse, but why would you go out of your way to pick the worse one?

UA-NYC

There are no shortages of aspects of this merger where "the worse one" has been chosen, and will continue to be chosen

Antipode

This is a little different though - when it comes to policies such as award fees, compensation levels, or what not, former UA policies were preferable from the customer's side, but you can make the argument that those changes make UA/CO more profitable (you can also make the argument that customer-friendly policies create loyalty and goodwill, but the point is that even if you don't agree with UA/CO's decisions, you can at least understand them), but there's really no benefit to this one. If anything, choosing what has been shown to be a slower boarding process as the standard can only hurt UA/CO if there are delays and you're trying to get a flight out as soon as possible.

So in that sense, even though this specific decision isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, it makes me a bit concerned that everything is just blindly going the CO way without really considering what's best for the combined airline.

JSlo

I don't know why I am even responding, clearly you have some confusion it seems. UA narrow bodies start boarding 30 min before "departure" and wides usually 40-45 before "departure". Why do you keep saying "it won't work". How UA has boarded planes has worked just fine and has (with block time of course) given them best ontime. Just not sure what you are talking about in this case.

That is an example of why the new "UA" will be worse than the old UA. But in the end I don't really care, as long as elite's are boarding by some type of level, then sanity can reign. Maybe CO has such smaller planes (mostly 737) and less elites(?) and so they have no idea what kind of bumrush they will create on a domestic config 777 DEN-ORD when they call "elite" and 150 people rush the gate at once...

This is really a small issue, but just another reality bite in the a** of the CO mentality SMI/J will bring to this airline.

channa

Best on time isn't necessarily a positive. Remember that more delays mean more time spent with the staff. Since the staff are the "best in the business," a delay may be a net positive from an experience perspective.

dukyluky

First off...welcome to PVD in advance...my home!!!

As a fellow Military member who flies all the dang time (as of may first, already hit 1K for the year! If i wasn't already a GS member), I personally don't care who goes in front of me, or behind me, as long as noone sits in my seat! I either check my bag for free or gate check it if I dont want the hassel of dealing with bin space. As for military first...I don't think military should travel in uniform to begin with, purely for safetly reasons, and now everyone is traveling in the camies, travel should be in dress uniform if at all.

JOSECONLSCREW28

Nope I'm not confused at all. Boarding closes 10 minutes before departure. Yeah it might say board flight 123 out of gate B5 at 145pm depart at 215pm. So in reality it gives gate staff to load a full 7573 in 20 minutes yeah i'd like to see the UA method try to board a 753 in 20 min and see how it wrks out. But since I'm battling a bunch of UA fan boys who seem to think the UA method will wrk with a 753 more power to you. Theres a reason CO boards 757s/widebodies 50 minutes prior to departure.

FriendlySkies

I'm not saying that the UA policy will definitely work. In fact, I am saying that 50 minutes for a 753 is unnecessary, and that I believe with the UA zone system, you could get it done in 30-40.

Oh, come now, no need for the attacks... "UA fan boys"

If you want to play it that way, then I could say that you are a CO Fan Boy, as you refuse to believe UA methods would work.

belynch

And the reality is neither legacy system was perfect. I hate the boarding scrum with legacy CO and I hate the if I have a tight connection, or am stuck on a call while boarding starts, I can't use the red carpet as a 1k on legacy UA. But life goes on. I've always gotten on the plane and sat in my assigned seat.

Okay, so maybe my carry-on isn't always directly above my head, but big-freaking-deal.

We're talking about boarding airplanes. Presumably the same airplanes that will retain E+, the same planes that will get us to our destinations safely, and the same ones that we'll be able to redeem our miles on, and receive upgrades to sit in F. Those are the things we should really be caring about with the merger of the two programs.

Folks that are crying bloody murder over such trivial matters have lost all credibility in my opinion. Just be thankful that all you're complaining about is a change in boarding policies that will result in more or less a 0 net impact.

I've been on the a$s end of mergers before and this, this isn't bad at all (so far).

hobo13

LOL! ^

JOSECONLSCREW28

I wrk for CO so of course I'm gonna chose CO. I can understand boarding a 737/319/320 UA style since it's a smaller aircraft but a 753 no way it will take longer maybe CO can shave off A few minutes of 753 boarding but any more it will be chaotic and for the record I dnt hate UA jus dnt care for their boarding method.

FriendlySkies

Obviously you work for CO

I know what a 753 is, how long it is, and have been on it before. I still feel as through the zone system could shave off at least five minutes, or more. If only I had a 753, and a bunch of people who would grab luggage and try and demonstrate the PM UA system