Santander

I actually have no issue with this. If you're willing to drop the money on full fare (and subsidise prices for the rest of us) you deserve to sit up front if there's space.

Often1

Nor do I. I view it as a positive change. The first shot at an UG goes to the person who paid the highest fare to begin with.

blue47

Continental added this feature a while back and my upgrade percentage went down significantly. But I would not characterize the chance of upgrade as "precious little". I would say "somewhat OK". (excluding hub-to-hub, transcon, and all the new rj route substitutions)

SeattleDavid

This completely depends upon the time of day - from 9.00 am onwards the international security line can get very long and slow, until about lunchtime.

Before 9 or after 2pm it can be very quiet indeed.

lhrsfo

Over the summer it has been a zoo around 5:30 - 6:30 pm but it seemed to have quietened down the other day when I went through.

FriendlySkies

Using the SFO elite security line about three weeks ago, I was shocked to discover that I was the only person in line However, the GM line was stretching all the way to the entrance of the 1K line.. Doesn't help that CAS closed down the second GM checkpoint.


+1

and p.s. F

boolean64

wait, is the 1K check-in line gone too? I know the security line in SFO has been gone for a long time. But last I actually had to check-in (maybe a month ago) there was a separate 1K line...it was incredibly poorly marked, but it was definitely there.

joel67

My last time through SFO, the elite security line was so bad (looked like an hour to get through) that I'd be avoiding that airport altogether if not for the international terminal, where I discovered a First Class entry over on the right side that doesn't seem to require an international ticket. It was quite fast, except that I first needed to print a boarding pass because they didn't have an electronic reader in that line. The added bonus was coming out at the international United Club, which was much much more peaceful than the domestic club.

Ari

There is no distinction between paid and any other International F ticket (i.e. upgrades or awards).

Right.

dgcpaphd

You are missing the realization that the new United has changed for the worse.

Prior to the new implementation of all elites in the same line, there was at least some logical organization of getting to a plane and boarding.

Now, with nearly half of every flight having at least 2P and up, we are talking about disorganization beyond description.

To show more of how ridiculous the situation is with the new United, the screens near each gate that show a waiting list will often list 40 or more people waiting for an upgrade. This is silly because only those with the highest elite status and fare will clear an upgrade at the gate because there are only so many seats available for upgrade. I don't see the "logic" in showing such a meaningless wait list figure for customers to view.

The smiling false prophet will continue to downgrade United to a point it will drive away loyal customers. Eventually, the profit line of the new entity will show in the negative.
-

BH62

Electronic reader lacking? We did the Bart/International/then-to-domestic SFO entry about 3 weeks ago & there *was* a bar code reader in that line to the right. The general line at Intl was packed, but entry via the elite line was about the fastest/smoothest experience you could ever want. But, as they say, YMMV.

Santander

Would explain it, I generally fly to SFO from another airport and catch flights around 1100-1400. Even if I'm in town I don't think I've ever taken a non-UA flight before 0900.

joel67

Good to know for the next trip. Maybe was just a temporary issue that day.

docbert

That depends significantly on the flight. Hub-hub, yes, odds are that only higher status passengers will clear. But for less popular flights even Premier stands at least a chance of clearing.

Limiting the list to anything short of "everyone" would only lead to people wanting to check with the GA's that they were on the list, because their name isn't showing...